Essentially Basque - Ryan Bartlow, Laurie Woolever

Essentially Basque takes on a cuisine that has had more influence per capita than any other in Europe, yet remains barely documented in English.

The Basque Country is small. Yet San Sebastián has one of the highest concentrations of Michelin stars in the world, and it was here that nueva cocina vasca emerged in the 1970s, the movement that made Spanish cooking a force to be reckoned with long before elBulli existed. Today, Etxebarri and Elkano are found in the same region and rank among the most influential restaurants in the world, both built around fire and a single perfect ingredient.

Ryan Bartlow learned the cuisine from the inside. He worked at three Michelin starred Akelarre in San Sebastián while living above a simple village restaurant, two very different educations at the same time. In New York, he runs Ernesto's, which Pete Wells ranked as the city's third best restaurant in The New York Times in 2021. The name comes from Ernest Hemingway, another Midwestern American who lost himself in Spain.

The text is written together with Laurie Woolever, Anthony Bourdain's longtime collaborator and co-author of Appetites and World Travel. It shows, as the book is as much a travelogue as it is a collection of recipes.

The contents range from bar food to restaurant technique. Pintxos, which are not tapas but small dishes on bread that you take yourself and pay for according to the number of sticks. Bacalao al pil pil, where salt cod and olive oil are emulsified into a sauce without adding anything else. Txuleta, the aged beef chop cooked over glowing coals. Marmitako, kokotxas, piquillo peppers, Idiazabal and txakoli, the lightly sparkling wine poured from a height to bring it to life.

There are also menus, a section on txokos, the Basque gastronomic societies where members cook for one another, and a travel guide for anyone who wants to make the journey themselves.

For anyone who has been to San Sebastián and wondered why the food was better there than anywhere else, this is the book that explains why.

Number of pages: 240
Co-author: Laurie Woolever
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 9781419784422
Language: English
First published: October 2026