Asador Etxebarri

There are restaurants you visit and restaurants you return to. Asador Etxebarri is, after one quiet Sunday in Atxondo, very much the second kind.

The room is exactly what you want it to be: Basque hillside, Bittor Arginzoniz at the grill. We were seated near the back, given menus we hardly needed, and brought a small bowl of olives without being asked.

We started with country pâté with cornichons, which set the tone — generous, unfussy, and confident enough not to crowd what was coming. With it we ordered a Napa cabernet old enough to drink itself, and were glad of both.

Then the main event: chuletón of old dairy cow, the dish that puts Asador Etxebarri on every short list. Was it the very best steak I have ever eaten? No. Was it among the dozen I think about most? Yes. The signature touch — everything kissed by wood smoke, even the ice cream — is not a gimmick; it is the reason to come.

For sides we asked for potato gratin with a dark crust and skin-on fries, twice-fried. Both arrived hot, both arrived early, both were exactly large enough to overdo it. We overdid it.

Dessert was the bread pudding with bourbon sauce, mostly because the waiter raised an eyebrow when we hesitated. He was right to.

A perfect Sunday lunch, which is what I came for.