Day 14: Zarzuela of Seafood

Today we spend the day on the beach, alternating between time spent roasting in the sun and splashing in Atlantic. After a while we got hungry and wandered down the beach looking for the best of the highly touristic restaurants available. The one we chose, Don Quijote, was surprisingly good. Like other touristic places, the menu was enormous. After much deliberation, we ordered several starters and 2 main dishes to share. Of the starters, we tried the traditional Canarian potatoes that were cooks whole with wrinkled skin and salted. They were served with a side of sauce native to the islands. The other starter of sizzling garlic shrimp was also good, seasoned with large chunks of garlic, chilly peppers, and parsley. We also tried a gazpacho, which, unlike others we have tried, came with a side of veggies and croutons to dump into the soup.

For our main dishes we shared fried squid rings, similar to calamari, and the zarzuela. Zarzuela is a stew-like dish with potatoes, hard boiled egg, and, in this case seafood. The whole thing is cooked and drenched in tomato-based sauce in a pan similar to a paella pan. We all really enjoyed the zarzuela and found it quite filling.