Spent an evening last week at a pop-up of sorts here in San Sebastián that was just so special. Where else on Earth can you just pop up to one of the world’s top culinary schools for an ephemeral dinner from one of the country’s hottest new restaurants?

The answer? Not many.

This event was part of a series at the Basque Culinary Center called Cocinando Con…. (You can follow them on Facebook here to stay up to date).

It’s a sort of pop-up that happens every few months, in which students getting their masters in culinary work over a period of several weeks to create a pop-up with restaurants across Spain.

This time the restaurant popping up was Nublo restaurant, a restaurant that has been serving incredible food from the Riojan village of Haro. The brilliant chefs and entrepreneurs behind it are Dani Lasa, Llorens Sagarra and Miguel Caño, of ex-Mugaritz fame.

The meal was exquisite. The cooking of Nublo is a sort of ode to product and simplicity, although as any chef can tell you, simplicity is so often the most difficult to pull off.

Take the above dish, spider crab with almond milk, monochromatic, suprising, and beautiful. Or the below dish, one of my absolute favorites— a lip-sticking, umami-rich tendon dish with some fresh, virtually raw peas and a shaving of black truffle. Wow, just wow.

One of the main dishes was a magical piece of meat with a hint of blue cheese flavor, served alongside a roasted “crystal” pepper and a reduction of steak, an intense jus with a smoky flavor.

The event would have been impressive in any setting, but it was gorgeous to watch the students do their job in such a professional way. They represented Nublo’s essence, uniting earth, air, fire and wind to transmit the flavor of the Rioja terroir. The restaurant is located in a 16th century palace, deeply rooted in the local grapes, vines and smoky aromas.

I loved the dish below, both for the incredibly tender fish (cooked on one side and pressed with an ice-cold pan on the other while it cooked to encourage a slow cooking throughout the loin) and the innovative use of the pil-pil sauce, an emulsion of olive oil and fish gelatin, as a sub for milk/cream in creamed spinach. So cool!

The appetizers were the most jaw-dropping, though, including the crunchy potato with egg yolks, truffle, porcini and almond praline.

And this one. So simple but WOW. A tartar combining steak and lobster, with a drizzle of mayo and caviar.

This was such a great night and a great initiative. If you’d like to eat at Nublo, though, make sure to get reservations early…they are booked full through June for the weekends!

Follow Nublo here: https://www.instagram.com/nublo.restaurant

Follow the Basque Culinary Center: https://www.instagram.com/bculinary/