Sagardi

Some rooms tell you exactly what to order the moment you sit down. Sagardi, in Barcelona, is one of them.

The room is exactly what you want it to be: cider-house energy, long shared tables. We were seated near the back, given menus we hardly needed, and brought a small bowl of olives without being asked.

We started with chopped salad with too much bacon, exactly right, which set the tone — generous, unfussy, and confident enough not to crowd what was coming. With it we ordered Rioja gran reserva, decanted at the table, and were glad of both.

Then the main event: txuleta, the dish that puts Sagardi on every short list. The seasoning was simple — salt, pepper, restraint — and it was the right call. The signature touch — pintxos at the bar, then the chuleta in back — is not a gimmick; it is the reason to come.

For sides we asked for asparagus with hollandaise and thick-cut onion rings, stacked. 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.

It is not cheap. It is, in this case, worth it.