Martin Hotel

Considering the frequent turnover of restaurants, it seems rare to find a restaurant that has been around a decade or longer. It’s even rarer to discover a restaurant that’s still around over a century after it first opened. Things haven’t changed much inside the Martin Hotel since it first opened it’s doors in 1898.

Sure, the place has changed hands over time and the original structure is long gone. But the restaurant has been consistently serving Basque meals since it first opened over a century ago. In the traditional Basque setting, service is family-style. This means you’re going to be seated with complete strangers. There’s no experience quite like the camaraderie of sharing good food with new friends.

What should I eat at Martin Hotel?

Dinner begins with a simple salad of iceberg lettuce with oil and vinegar. Creamy corn chowder arrives along with French bread. An array of sides consume the long table. This includes tarragon-laced carrots, smokey Basque beans, a garbanzo bean dish loaded with spicy chorizo sausage, and garlic mashers. Burgundy house wine comes with the meal.

Just as you’re enjoying the seemingly endless parade of side dishes, the main course arrives. Each diner chooses their own main course, which comes with fresh-cut french fries made with locally grown spuds. We chose the solomo, a Basque specialty. The thick-cut boneless pork loin yields a porcine flavor. This stands up to the pimentos and fresh garlic cloves that its simmered in.

The meal concludes with a cinnamon-rich bread pudding, an appropriate ending to a monumental meal. *Original post Dale Fine*