Amigos! I am writing to you from southern Spain, where I love to spend time in the summer with my family and friends. My wife Tichi is originally from the town of Algeciras in Cadiz, and now we spend our summers very nearby in the town of Zahara de los Atunes.
Today I am lucky because it is my birthday and I’m surrounded by the people I love, in one of the most beautiful parts of the world. I swear to you, if you haven’t seen a sunset in the south of Spain, you need to put it on your list very very soon.
And in the last few days I was in Lanzarote, a beautiful island in the Canaries in the North Atlantic. With my daughters, we met food producers and fishers from the island, including these guys who fish for carabineros, which in English you would say “cardinal prawns”…these are definitely some of the most amazing prawns in the entire world. They are from the deep sea and can only be found in the waters around the Canaries, and they eat so much pink plankton that they get this beautiful scarlet color. I love them for arroces (rice dishes) or for fideuà, the special pasta from Catalunya that’s cooked like paella.
Here I am in Lanzarote with the men who caught these incredible carabineros (and two of my daughters!)
To me, this is the perfect thing to do for you birthday…taste something new, go on a food adventure, visit a place you have never been before…and hopefully you will be there with someone you love.
So tell me, people of Longer Tables! What do you like to cook for yourself on your birthday…? To what place or restaurant in the world would you visit if you could…? What food adventure would you go on…? Tell me what you think in the comments below, and we will celebrate together!
If you like Longer Tables and want to share it with someone you love (maybe it’s their birthday as well!) you can always give them a gift subscription … don’t forget that 100% of the net subscription revenues will go to World Central Kitchen until the end of the year!
Happy Birthday, chef, and many more! I like to cook Crab Ciopino for my birthday. Sadly for the past couple of years crab season has been shortened due to fishing nets entangling whales as they migrate through Dungeness crab territory. At least when they are available I can buy them right off the boat. P.S. Chef Andres, you deserve to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for your dedication to bringing food, good food, to people globally who are experiencing cataclysmic shortages of nourishing food.
My Birthday is the 21st of December, several years ago we drove to Maine on the Seacoast and spent a long weekend looking at Nubble Lighthouse decorated with Christmas lights.
For breakfast I had Lobster Benedict
For lunch I had Lobster Roll & fixings
For supper I had Lobster Bisque and then Lazyman’s Lobster!
Also a July birthday here and a great lover of Mexican food. For my 50th birthday took a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico to take cooking classes, pick mushrooms in the mountains, visit local markets and eat fantastic street food and experience some of the incredible local chefs. Also a bit of an urban chile farmer so brought back many chiles and am now trying to grow some of the rarer varieties in my Canadian garden.
I have so many favorites and most are around food, family & friends....BUT...now it is a night of PASTA. As a newly diagnosed (4yrs) diabetic I cannot eat pasta without paying some long (24hrs) consequences. So since I was born in Italy and Pasta is my love language.....I eat pasta on extra special occasions...like my Bday...or Christmas Eve....or a really BiG celebration....and when I do....I go all out....Only the besssst places in NYC (or wherever I am) and I bathe in the glory of the moment. I pretend for that moment I do not have diabetes...and I enjoy every divine, delicious morsel...and my heart is fuller than ever....It's a magical moment for sure🌟🌟🌟❤️
Feliz Cumple! For my August birthday I would love my late Mom's empanada Gallega of pork and real churros y chocolate from either the little shop in Coruna or the cafe in Sada.
Feliz cumpleaños! I also celebrate my birthday in the month of July. At the end of the month my family and I are visiting the Canary Islands for the first time. We are very excited! Looking forward to eating some carabineros and drinking some wine from the islands.
Last October I turned 50. I had never had much fuss made about birthdays because I'm the youngest of 9 children and growing up I think my parents had all their energy focused on managing to feed us and bringing us up. But this year, my partner David and my sister Yolanda prepared a surprise party for me with friends coming from different parts of Spain, Iceland, Israel and London. The whole veeeeeery large family was there, and everyone cooked something from the place they came from. It was a feast. But the best part was just being surrounded of so many people I love. Happy birthday, Chef. I was reading yesterday that gratefulness turns everything into enough. Life is such a blessing and such a privilege.
Feliz cumpleaños! Mi abuela es de La Línea. Disfruta tu día. Once I scored a reservation at Minibar for my birthday and quickly bought plane tickets. I told my Judy we were spending my birthday in DC! Now, because my birthday is early November I order a large white truffle and some caviar and over indulge. The caviar goes on potato chips and the truffle on simple buttered pasta. Next day, it goes on my tortilla!
Dear Jose - we share a Happy Birthday! My fav birthday memory is when I was perhaps 10 years old. I invited all my girlfriends over to my house to play on our climbing structure and eat cake. My cake said "Enjoy!" instead of Happy Birthday - which my Mom thought was strange. But that's what I wanted. To enjoy my birthday with family and friends. Still have that attitude...
Happy birthday Chef. I am a July baby too. My parents loved Spain and we spend many summers on the Costa del sol. My husband d is amazing when it comes to birthdays. He is great at finding fun and new restaurants to celebrate my birthday.
I too was recently in the south of Spain. My mother and sister live in Jerez de la Frontera.
I was there for the Feria.
You are 100% correct in saying the seafood in Spain is world class. My boyfriend was with me and he fell in love with the country and wants to return soon.
Happiest of birthdays, Chef! We drove around Spain and Portugal in 10/19 but didn’t make it that far south. We loved these two countries: the people, the food, the countryside, the cities. My favorite meal was a sautéed whole artichoke in Madrid! We’re gearing up for my husband’s 7/15 bday. Oysters are a favorite so likely on the menu.
Happy birthday, Chef!!! I used to work in Barcelona during the summers, and my birthday is July 19. In 2019, my husband joined me in Barcelona, and we spent my birthday week partying, adventuring, eating, and drinking our way through Lisbon! It was our first time in Portugal, and we would love to recreate that memory when it’s safe again for us to travel. I can almost smell the sweet sea air from cozy Western MA. Enjoy your special day, Chef!
Happy birthday, Chef! So glad to hear that you are spending it in your beautiful, beloved Spain with family.
Being half Belgian, my favorite birthday meal involves a big pot of moules accompanied by thin, crispy frites! And then a very good ice cream - chocolate, hazelnut or mocha, with a generous amount of fresh whipped cream. Ah, complete happiness!
I have been too Barcelona which I loved, and hope to discover more of your lovely homeland soon.
Thank you for sharing your birthday with us and allowing us to share what makes us happy on ours!
My favorite Birthday was the one my nephew treated me to your restaurant in Los Angeles. My next treat will be at the Conrad Hotel. I have had your wonderful food in Barcelona. OH, to be young again!!!!
Happy Birthday to you in your beautiful place there. Any birthday with loved ones is great. My husband and I went to Jaleo on our first date and someone approached him thinking he was Christopher Walken. Hilarious. I am always happy to go there. Patatas Bravas, here I come. Look forward to eating out again in the not-too-distant future when my immune system improves.
Happy Birthday. In the Philippines we celebrate birthdays with a noodle dish- signifying long life. Even though I lived far from home most of my adult life, my family would celebrate my birthday by cooking up my favorite meal and buying a cake for themselves to celebrate with me, regardless of the distance. I love this tradition and I often serve up a cocktail or create a meal in honor of my family and friends near and far.... we know love and intentions travel, so we like to create positive energy as a birthday blessing. I send you such love as well...
I recently had the privilege of visiting the island of Santa Cruz in the Galapagos Archipelago and while I was there I had some of the best food I've ever tasted (outside of Spain) I can not recommend Midori on Av. de Charles Darwin enough. Its definitely in my top ten restaurants and would go back to the islands just to eat there again 😍
Hope you slowed down and enjoyed an easy day Chef.
My favorite food memory for my birthday was at a restaurant that no longer exists. Chef Chris and his team created a special tasting menu for me, culminating in woodcock imported from Scotland. The restaurant, "Henri", was more than my favorite restaurant. It was my food family. Hard to forget meals that are made by people who love you.
Feliz cumpleaños pasados. My husband on one of my birthdays took me to The Bazaar. It was one of my best dining ever. Now that you opened in DTLA, next year we may make a trip. Closer to home.
Happy belated birthday! If I'm cooking, tagliatelle with blistered heirloom tomatoes, lots of garlic and a handful of basil. Travelling would be sitting in a cafe in Rome eating whatever looked good. If I'm stuck in DC, garlic shrimp and Catalan spinach at Jaleo.
Happy Birthday many wishes for a happy and healthy year. For my birthday I like chocolate cake. If I bake it myself I use a Ghirardelli recipe, moist and rich
My perfect birthday dinner? Cooked by French Chef Paul Bocuse at his inn, L’Auberge, near Lyon, in 1959.
My husband and I were traveling with friends and their three-year-old daughter, Laura. We arrived in the afternoon at ‘LAuberge and arranged with Madam Bocuse for the kitchen to serve Laura a small dinner early in her bedroom and hoped she would fall asleep so we could eat dinner later in the inn’s dining room. When Laura’s dinner arrived: a small steak, green beans and mashed potatoes, she took one look and said, No, she didn’t want it.” What to do? We couldn’t send the food back; we didn’t want to throw it away, and the meal wouldn’t keep for us to take it away in the morning. So we decided we had to eat it. I was assigned the mashed potatoes. They were fabulous. Laura fell asleep, and we adjourned to the lovely dining room for a magnificently prepared birthday dinner, followed by a toast from Mr. Bocuse featuring 100-year-old brandy. What I don’t remember is the menu. What I do especially remember were those mashed potatoes – they were silken.
A while back, Chef Andre's, you wrote about comfort food: the best comfort food? Paul Bocuse’s mashed potatoes.
my favorite birhtday adventure is a good cocido with all the ingredients and to end up with Tarta de San Marcos with a good liqueor to relax and pass the food.
Happy Birthday.
I wish you could send a little sample sometimes but I know you are very busy with good causes and restaurants.
birthday is those occasions where i stop caring what I eat and just fill up myself with so much food. pancakes and eggs is a must for breakfast while lunch and dinner are usually decided by what's special in the market and I'll grab them to make some hearty dinner. always love having fresh seafood, local catch!!
Happy Birthday!! Polynesian dinner at Chan's in NJ, was my birthday celebrations for decades, until they closed. One year I celebrated my birthday on a school trip to Spain, and ate paella for the first time! In Cuenca. Now I celebrate with a seafood lunch and dinner, because live at the shore.
Feliz cumpleaños Chef! Every year on my birthday my daughter and son take me to a new restaurant in the DC area where we live. We've been to several of your wonderful establishments, many Italian ones and various others. The food is always important, but eating it with family is the best part. I'm happy with a picnic as long as we're together!
We have been vacationing in Mallorca for over 20 years, and very often it is over my birthday (August 16th). On that day we will celebrate at Restaurant Marc Fosh in Palma and always get the Menu Marc with the wine pairing. We then finish off with a Poli Grappa (last year Chef Fosh served my favorite —Poli Grappa di Sassicaia).
Happy Birthday Chef! The 13th is a great day for a birthday. Our daughter's is April 13th and our son's is coming up on September 13th. I plan to make him paella in the way that I have learned from you!
Bon fèt ("Happy birthday" in Haitian Creole :) ), Chef! I am an April baby and would love to spend my birthday (or any day) back in Haiti with my friends at the SAKALA community center in Cité Soleil and taking a walk in their beautiful urban garden. I first started going to Haiti in April 2009 (a birthday trip, in fact) and one of the first things I learned was how wonderful Haitian food is -- the marinated pork griot, pikliz, mayi moulen creamy corn porridge, the lanbi(conch) and lobster. The fresh fruit juices that are like no place else I have found in the world. But of course it is not just the food but the people and the place -- every meal, no matter how simple, is special there because of that. I try to make Haitian food at home in the US and it is never nearly as good no matter how hard I try because I am missing the magical ingredient of Haiti itself. Because of the extreme political instability in Haiti right now, I am in a bit of an exile and am even more missing Cité Soleil -- to me the most beautiful place in the world -- and can't wait to get back. Enjoy your birthday week, month, year (a day is really too short to celebrate. :))
Happy Birthday compatriota! What an awesome adventure! Seafood is one of my favorite foods! Here in Tampa, Florida, the mix of Spanish and Italian cultures has produced one of my favorite birthday foods, Jaiba “Enchilao”. Because blue crab was abundant in the waters of Tampa Bay, families would gather to crab and then clean and eat them in a simple but slightly spicy tomato sauce served over spaghetti with a side of Tampa Cuban bread for dunking! Although not available in any restaurant that I can think of (we did in ours before we closed), it is still one of my favorite holiday and celebration meals!
For my own birthday, I like to make a special version of Mississippi Mud Pie. But, I use a few adjustments: less sugar in each component, a chocolate shortbread for the 'crust', and I top it with a chocolate infused mascarpone instead of simple whipped cream. My husband and I horde this decadent treat for our birthdays. If there will be others with us, we make a second pie. :)
Oysters, hands down! But I love lobster and crab as well and am also a fan of Mexican cuisine. But as far as my birthday is concerned, the important thing is to be with family and friends you love.
Happy birthday! Sounds like you had a wonderful time! Thank you for all you do. One day I’d like to visit Poland and see how the food there compares to what my grandma and her sisters used to make—pierogies and stuffed cabbage. I can’t get those stuffed cabbages quite right but I keep trying! I’d top it off with some chocolate chip cookies or chocolate mousse for dessert. Not Polish, but certainly delicious.
Happy Birthday Chef . Since my birthday falls in late October , I would love to have rack of lamb in Castilla. However, I really remember having pez Espada in Huelva at a cafe on the beach one summer many years ago. The taste and the memory remains.
My birthday is near the end of July and we usually have seafood - either scallops or salmon collar or lobster or calamari; or pulpo (from one of your restaurants), or fish tacos (from another of your restaurants); or crabs from the Bay ( we are in DC); and tomatoes and corn from the local farmers markets.
So happy you are in Spain for your birthday. Salud!
We have been to Madrid and Valencia and would love to go back and explore more of Spain.
I lived in Sotogrande, Cadiz for years and years before returning to Boston.
I loved the chocos and insalata mixta and of course whichever fish of the day in one of the many seaside ventas. Now the costa del sol from Gibraltar to Estepona is a parking lot with cement hi-rises. Que lastima!
I love to be with people on my birhtday, around a LONG table with lots to eat and drink. Since my birthday is in October, I like to make hearty foods such as chicken mole with rice, And Pork stew with corn. My husbands birthday is in June, and we live of the coast of Delaware, so seafood is the thing we love. Steamed Blue crabs, soft shell crabs, shrimp, steamed muscles. There are wonderful seafood places tucked in and around the Chesapeake Bay. Long tables and loved ones - great beverages and desserts complete the meal.
Bueno cumpleanos. My favorite 2 birthdays...each I had the rare occasion of enough money one year to take my sister my sister to dinner and a film. On another to trat my closest friend to dinner and a raucous night at a music bar. Those years were 'hard come by' and made more joyous by the sharing.
Feliz Cumpleanos y que sean muchos mas. Growing up in Puerto Rico my favorite food became my mother's Bacalo a la Viscaina or Beef Stroganoff but in both cases it had to be accompanied by White Beans Stewed (Frijole Blancos Guisados) with white Rice and Pork Belly (arroz blanco con tocino). For desert it was either Flan de Queso or Strawberry Shortcake
My birthday is dangerously close to Christmas, when I am trying to finish my cookie orders, so no cooking for me. We celebrate when the Christmas rush is over. My husband usually takes me to somewhere nice during the holidays, Barcelona and Bilbao are my favourites. Those cities never cease to amaze me with the variety of their food. I would love to be able to go back to the Three Chimneys restaurant to the island of Sky, where we had a fabulous meal. Seafood, of course!
Feliz Cumpleaños, Chef. So glad you can celebrate your birthday with your family in such a wonderful spot. My sweetest memory was my first pandemic birthday - Dec 2020, when we made smoked brisket and BBQ ribs despite the snow and freezing temps to deliver to all my fiends in to-go containers with cupcakes and then gathered by zoom to Feliz Cumpleaños! laugh, eat, and make merry. Reminded me of how much we mean to each other.
Happy Birthday! My birthday was the 11th!! Summer birthdays are so fun. After having blue crabs from Virginia on the weekend, as a tradition went to a local mediterranean restaurant for Pecorino Romano Roasted Rack of Lamb
Served with braised baby carrots, roasted potatoes, and mint-fennel demi glace.
Happy Birthday, Chef Jose! The South of Spain sounds lovely. I love coconut cake and I try new recipes around my birthday so that I can have the absolute best coconut cake for my birthday. My bucket list food adventure would be to tour Italy and try all the foods along the way!
My birthday (and my mother's) is around Labor Day, which is the symbolic end of summer in the US. So I always associated my birthday with the smell of grilling meat as we invited the family over for a BBQ..
Happy Birthday, Dear Chef Jose! I am happy to hear that you are enjoying your special day with your family in a spot you hold so dear. Enjoy!!
For my next birthday, (in February) I'd love to travel to Asturias and indulge in the pleasures you have described about that area. Your show with Anthony Bourdain in your homeland was such an inspiration to me! Of course, I'd also love to include my grown kids and their families on the trip.
Muchas Felicidades!! I am going to Asturias in a couple of weeks, and I can't wait to eat fabada. An authentic tortilla, chorizo con pan and Serano ham would be my favorite birthday treat!
We were married on my birthday 37+ years ago. We use that as an excuse to travel to some pretty fabulous places. My favorite has to be sipping Brunello and enjoying a charcuterie plate in Montalcino while watching the sun set over the vineyards from the Airbnb's patio.
Happy Birthday, chef, and many more! I like to cook Crab Ciopino for my birthday. Sadly for the past couple of years crab season has been shortened due to fishing nets entangling whales as they migrate through Dungeness crab territory. At least when they are available I can buy them right off the boat. P.S. Chef Andres, you deserve to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for your dedication to bringing food, good food, to people globally who are experiencing cataclysmic shortages of nourishing food.
My Birthday is the 21st of December, several years ago we drove to Maine on the Seacoast and spent a long weekend looking at Nubble Lighthouse decorated with Christmas lights.
For breakfast I had Lobster Benedict
For lunch I had Lobster Roll & fixings
For supper I had Lobster Bisque and then Lazyman’s Lobster!
I was in pure heaven! My wife spoils me so!
Also a July birthday here and a great lover of Mexican food. For my 50th birthday took a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico to take cooking classes, pick mushrooms in the mountains, visit local markets and eat fantastic street food and experience some of the incredible local chefs. Also a bit of an urban chile farmer so brought back many chiles and am now trying to grow some of the rarer varieties in my Canadian garden.
I have so many favorites and most are around food, family & friends....BUT...now it is a night of PASTA. As a newly diagnosed (4yrs) diabetic I cannot eat pasta without paying some long (24hrs) consequences. So since I was born in Italy and Pasta is my love language.....I eat pasta on extra special occasions...like my Bday...or Christmas Eve....or a really BiG celebration....and when I do....I go all out....Only the besssst places in NYC (or wherever I am) and I bathe in the glory of the moment. I pretend for that moment I do not have diabetes...and I enjoy every divine, delicious morsel...and my heart is fuller than ever....It's a magical moment for sure🌟🌟🌟❤️
Feliz Cumple! For my August birthday I would love my late Mom's empanada Gallega of pork and real churros y chocolate from either the little shop in Coruna or the cafe in Sada.
Feliz cumpleaños! I also celebrate my birthday in the month of July. At the end of the month my family and I are visiting the Canary Islands for the first time. We are very excited! Looking forward to eating some carabineros and drinking some wine from the islands.
Last October I turned 50. I had never had much fuss made about birthdays because I'm the youngest of 9 children and growing up I think my parents had all their energy focused on managing to feed us and bringing us up. But this year, my partner David and my sister Yolanda prepared a surprise party for me with friends coming from different parts of Spain, Iceland, Israel and London. The whole veeeeeery large family was there, and everyone cooked something from the place they came from. It was a feast. But the best part was just being surrounded of so many people I love. Happy birthday, Chef. I was reading yesterday that gratefulness turns everything into enough. Life is such a blessing and such a privilege.
Feliz cumpleaños! Mi abuela es de La Línea. Disfruta tu día. Once I scored a reservation at Minibar for my birthday and quickly bought plane tickets. I told my Judy we were spending my birthday in DC! Now, because my birthday is early November I order a large white truffle and some caviar and over indulge. The caviar goes on potato chips and the truffle on simple buttered pasta. Next day, it goes on my tortilla!
Dear Jose - we share a Happy Birthday! My fav birthday memory is when I was perhaps 10 years old. I invited all my girlfriends over to my house to play on our climbing structure and eat cake. My cake said "Enjoy!" instead of Happy Birthday - which my Mom thought was strange. But that's what I wanted. To enjoy my birthday with family and friends. Still have that attitude...
Happy birthday Chef. I am a July baby too. My parents loved Spain and we spend many summers on the Costa del sol. My husband d is amazing when it comes to birthdays. He is great at finding fun and new restaurants to celebrate my birthday.
Felicidades Señor Chef Andrés.
I too was recently in the south of Spain. My mother and sister live in Jerez de la Frontera.
I was there for the Feria.
You are 100% correct in saying the seafood in Spain is world class. My boyfriend was with me and he fell in love with the country and wants to return soon.
Happiest of birthdays, Chef! We drove around Spain and Portugal in 10/19 but didn’t make it that far south. We loved these two countries: the people, the food, the countryside, the cities. My favorite meal was a sautéed whole artichoke in Madrid! We’re gearing up for my husband’s 7/15 bday. Oysters are a favorite so likely on the menu.
Happiest of birthdays Jose. Wishing you many sweet moments.
Happy birthday, Chef!!! I used to work in Barcelona during the summers, and my birthday is July 19. In 2019, my husband joined me in Barcelona, and we spent my birthday week partying, adventuring, eating, and drinking our way through Lisbon! It was our first time in Portugal, and we would love to recreate that memory when it’s safe again for us to travel. I can almost smell the sweet sea air from cozy Western MA. Enjoy your special day, Chef!
Happy birthday, Chef! So glad to hear that you are spending it in your beautiful, beloved Spain with family.
Being half Belgian, my favorite birthday meal involves a big pot of moules accompanied by thin, crispy frites! And then a very good ice cream - chocolate, hazelnut or mocha, with a generous amount of fresh whipped cream. Ah, complete happiness!
I have been too Barcelona which I loved, and hope to discover more of your lovely homeland soon.
Thank you for sharing your birthday with us and allowing us to share what makes us happy on ours!
My favorite Birthday was the one my nephew treated me to your restaurant in Los Angeles. My next treat will be at the Conrad Hotel. I have had your wonderful food in Barcelona. OH, to be young again!!!!
Happy Birthday to you in your beautiful place there. Any birthday with loved ones is great. My husband and I went to Jaleo on our first date and someone approached him thinking he was Christopher Walken. Hilarious. I am always happy to go there. Patatas Bravas, here I come. Look forward to eating out again in the not-too-distant future when my immune system improves.
Happy Birthday. In the Philippines we celebrate birthdays with a noodle dish- signifying long life. Even though I lived far from home most of my adult life, my family would celebrate my birthday by cooking up my favorite meal and buying a cake for themselves to celebrate with me, regardless of the distance. I love this tradition and I often serve up a cocktail or create a meal in honor of my family and friends near and far.... we know love and intentions travel, so we like to create positive energy as a birthday blessing. I send you such love as well...
I recently had the privilege of visiting the island of Santa Cruz in the Galapagos Archipelago and while I was there I had some of the best food I've ever tasted (outside of Spain) I can not recommend Midori on Av. de Charles Darwin enough. Its definitely in my top ten restaurants and would go back to the islands just to eat there again 😍
Hope you slowed down and enjoyed an easy day Chef.
My favorite food memory for my birthday was at a restaurant that no longer exists. Chef Chris and his team created a special tasting menu for me, culminating in woodcock imported from Scotland. The restaurant, "Henri", was more than my favorite restaurant. It was my food family. Hard to forget meals that are made by people who love you.
Feliz cumpleaños pasados. My husband on one of my birthdays took me to The Bazaar. It was one of my best dining ever. Now that you opened in DTLA, next year we may make a trip. Closer to home.
Happy belated birthday! If I'm cooking, tagliatelle with blistered heirloom tomatoes, lots of garlic and a handful of basil. Travelling would be sitting in a cafe in Rome eating whatever looked good. If I'm stuck in DC, garlic shrimp and Catalan spinach at Jaleo.
Happy Birthday many wishes for a happy and healthy year. For my birthday I like chocolate cake. If I bake it myself I use a Ghirardelli recipe, moist and rich
My perfect birthday dinner? Cooked by French Chef Paul Bocuse at his inn, L’Auberge, near Lyon, in 1959.
My husband and I were traveling with friends and their three-year-old daughter, Laura. We arrived in the afternoon at ‘LAuberge and arranged with Madam Bocuse for the kitchen to serve Laura a small dinner early in her bedroom and hoped she would fall asleep so we could eat dinner later in the inn’s dining room. When Laura’s dinner arrived: a small steak, green beans and mashed potatoes, she took one look and said, No, she didn’t want it.” What to do? We couldn’t send the food back; we didn’t want to throw it away, and the meal wouldn’t keep for us to take it away in the morning. So we decided we had to eat it. I was assigned the mashed potatoes. They were fabulous. Laura fell asleep, and we adjourned to the lovely dining room for a magnificently prepared birthday dinner, followed by a toast from Mr. Bocuse featuring 100-year-old brandy. What I don’t remember is the menu. What I do especially remember were those mashed potatoes – they were silken.
A while back, Chef Andre's, you wrote about comfort food: the best comfort food? Paul Bocuse’s mashed potatoes.
my favorite birhtday adventure is a good cocido with all the ingredients and to end up with Tarta de San Marcos with a good liqueor to relax and pass the food.
Happy Birthday.
I wish you could send a little sample sometimes but I know you are very busy with good causes and restaurants.
birthday is those occasions where i stop caring what I eat and just fill up myself with so much food. pancakes and eggs is a must for breakfast while lunch and dinner are usually decided by what's special in the market and I'll grab them to make some hearty dinner. always love having fresh seafood, local catch!!
Happy Birthday!! Polynesian dinner at Chan's in NJ, was my birthday celebrations for decades, until they closed. One year I celebrated my birthday on a school trip to Spain, and ate paella for the first time! In Cuenca. Now I celebrate with a seafood lunch and dinner, because live at the shore.
Feliz cumpleaños Chef! Every year on my birthday my daughter and son take me to a new restaurant in the DC area where we live. We've been to several of your wonderful establishments, many Italian ones and various others. The food is always important, but eating it with family is the best part. I'm happy with a picnic as long as we're together!
We have been vacationing in Mallorca for over 20 years, and very often it is over my birthday (August 16th). On that day we will celebrate at Restaurant Marc Fosh in Palma and always get the Menu Marc with the wine pairing. We then finish off with a Poli Grappa (last year Chef Fosh served my favorite —Poli Grappa di Sassicaia).
Happy Birthday Chef! The 13th is a great day for a birthday. Our daughter's is April 13th and our son's is coming up on September 13th. I plan to make him paella in the way that I have learned from you!
Bon fèt ("Happy birthday" in Haitian Creole :) ), Chef! I am an April baby and would love to spend my birthday (or any day) back in Haiti with my friends at the SAKALA community center in Cité Soleil and taking a walk in their beautiful urban garden. I first started going to Haiti in April 2009 (a birthday trip, in fact) and one of the first things I learned was how wonderful Haitian food is -- the marinated pork griot, pikliz, mayi moulen creamy corn porridge, the lanbi(conch) and lobster. The fresh fruit juices that are like no place else I have found in the world. But of course it is not just the food but the people and the place -- every meal, no matter how simple, is special there because of that. I try to make Haitian food at home in the US and it is never nearly as good no matter how hard I try because I am missing the magical ingredient of Haiti itself. Because of the extreme political instability in Haiti right now, I am in a bit of an exile and am even more missing Cité Soleil -- to me the most beautiful place in the world -- and can't wait to get back. Enjoy your birthday week, month, year (a day is really too short to celebrate. :))
Happy Birthday compatriota! What an awesome adventure! Seafood is one of my favorite foods! Here in Tampa, Florida, the mix of Spanish and Italian cultures has produced one of my favorite birthday foods, Jaiba “Enchilao”. Because blue crab was abundant in the waters of Tampa Bay, families would gather to crab and then clean and eat them in a simple but slightly spicy tomato sauce served over spaghetti with a side of Tampa Cuban bread for dunking! Although not available in any restaurant that I can think of (we did in ours before we closed), it is still one of my favorite holiday and celebration meals!
Happy, happy birthday, Chef! Felicidades!
For my own birthday, I like to make a special version of Mississippi Mud Pie. But, I use a few adjustments: less sugar in each component, a chocolate shortbread for the 'crust', and I top it with a chocolate infused mascarpone instead of simple whipped cream. My husband and I horde this decadent treat for our birthdays. If there will be others with us, we make a second pie. :)
Oysters, hands down! But I love lobster and crab as well and am also a fan of Mexican cuisine. But as far as my birthday is concerned, the important thing is to be with family and friends you love.
Happy birthday! Sounds like you had a wonderful time! Thank you for all you do. One day I’d like to visit Poland and see how the food there compares to what my grandma and her sisters used to make—pierogies and stuffed cabbage. I can’t get those stuffed cabbages quite right but I keep trying! I’d top it off with some chocolate chip cookies or chocolate mousse for dessert. Not Polish, but certainly delicious.
Happy Birthday Chef . Since my birthday falls in late October , I would love to have rack of lamb in Castilla. However, I really remember having pez Espada in Huelva at a cafe on the beach one summer many years ago. The taste and the memory remains.
Feliz Cumpleaños!
My birthday is near the end of July and we usually have seafood - either scallops or salmon collar or lobster or calamari; or pulpo (from one of your restaurants), or fish tacos (from another of your restaurants); or crabs from the Bay ( we are in DC); and tomatoes and corn from the local farmers markets.
So happy you are in Spain for your birthday. Salud!
We have been to Madrid and Valencia and would love to go back and explore more of Spain.
I lived in Sotogrande, Cadiz for years and years before returning to Boston.
I loved the chocos and insalata mixta and of course whichever fish of the day in one of the many seaside ventas. Now the costa del sol from Gibraltar to Estepona is a parking lot with cement hi-rises. Que lastima!
Happy birthday, Chef! My favorite birthday dinner: a medium-rare steak, some good red wine, and dark chocolate cake!
I love to be with people on my birhtday, around a LONG table with lots to eat and drink. Since my birthday is in October, I like to make hearty foods such as chicken mole with rice, And Pork stew with corn. My husbands birthday is in June, and we live of the coast of Delaware, so seafood is the thing we love. Steamed Blue crabs, soft shell crabs, shrimp, steamed muscles. There are wonderful seafood places tucked in and around the Chesapeake Bay. Long tables and loved ones - great beverages and desserts complete the meal.
Bueno cumpleanos. My favorite 2 birthdays...each I had the rare occasion of enough money one year to take my sister my sister to dinner and a film. On another to trat my closest friend to dinner and a raucous night at a music bar. Those years were 'hard come by' and made more joyous by the sharing.
Feliz Cumpleanos y que sean muchos mas. Growing up in Puerto Rico my favorite food became my mother's Bacalo a la Viscaina or Beef Stroganoff but in both cases it had to be accompanied by White Beans Stewed (Frijole Blancos Guisados) with white Rice and Pork Belly (arroz blanco con tocino). For desert it was either Flan de Queso or Strawberry Shortcake
My birthday is dangerously close to Christmas, when I am trying to finish my cookie orders, so no cooking for me. We celebrate when the Christmas rush is over. My husband usually takes me to somewhere nice during the holidays, Barcelona and Bilbao are my favourites. Those cities never cease to amaze me with the variety of their food. I would love to be able to go back to the Three Chimneys restaurant to the island of Sky, where we had a fabulous meal. Seafood, of course!
Feliz Cumpleaños, Chef. So glad you can celebrate your birthday with your family in such a wonderful spot. My sweetest memory was my first pandemic birthday - Dec 2020, when we made smoked brisket and BBQ ribs despite the snow and freezing temps to deliver to all my fiends in to-go containers with cupcakes and then gathered by zoom to Feliz Cumpleaños! laugh, eat, and make merry. Reminded me of how much we mean to each other.
Happy Birthday! My birthday was the 11th!! Summer birthdays are so fun. After having blue crabs from Virginia on the weekend, as a tradition went to a local mediterranean restaurant for Pecorino Romano Roasted Rack of Lamb
Served with braised baby carrots, roasted potatoes, and mint-fennel demi glace.
Yum!
Happy Birthday, Chef Jose! The South of Spain sounds lovely. I love coconut cake and I try new recipes around my birthday so that I can have the absolute best coconut cake for my birthday. My bucket list food adventure would be to tour Italy and try all the foods along the way!
Happy birthday.
My birthday (and my mother's) is around Labor Day, which is the symbolic end of summer in the US. So I always associated my birthday with the smell of grilling meat as we invited the family over for a BBQ..
Happy birthday chef! My birthday is often around Labor Day and I love to be surrounded by friends and family at an outdoor bbq
Happy Birthday, Dear Chef Jose! I am happy to hear that you are enjoying your special day with your family in a spot you hold so dear. Enjoy!!
For my next birthday, (in February) I'd love to travel to Asturias and indulge in the pleasures you have described about that area. Your show with Anthony Bourdain in your homeland was such an inspiration to me! Of course, I'd also love to include my grown kids and their families on the trip.
Best wishes for a terrific day!
XOXO
Ellen
Muchas Felicidades!! I am going to Asturias in a couple of weeks, and I can't wait to eat fabada. An authentic tortilla, chorizo con pan and Serano ham would be my favorite birthday treat!
Happy Birthday, Chef! You are an inspiration!
We were married on my birthday 37+ years ago. We use that as an excuse to travel to some pretty fabulous places. My favorite has to be sipping Brunello and enjoying a charcuterie plate in Montalcino while watching the sun set over the vineyards from the Airbnb's patio.