I spent 18 days in Spain this past may. This meant lots of food and drink thus San Sebasti�n was a must. We did five days in the beautiful seaside town and ate as good as I ever have without stopping in at any of the Michelin spots. I got nothing against the Fat French Tireman and even had reservations for two places but we canceled them for the love of pinxtos. These are small bites that cost anywhere from 1-5 Euros and can come prepared and ready to eat or made to order. The idea is to eat a few from one spot while enjoying a drink or two and then moving on to the next place for more of the same. Spaniards know how to eat and the Basque region there takes their food as serious as anyone in Europe. The hot pinxtos tend to be better but you’ll be hard pressed to taste a bad one. Unfortunately it would take months to upload and copy and paste all the pictures from the entire trip but I’ll share important tidbits here and there. Feel free to check my http://chibbqking.blogspot.com/2014/06/eating-big-in-spain-san-sebastian.html complete San Sebasti�n report with almost everything we ate and please enjoy this tip listage that I’m sharing here today. No doubt about it San Sebastian was the highlight as far as food goes of the four stops we made traveling thru Spain (Madrid, Seville, San Sebasti�n, Barcelona). So without further ado my top ten pinxtos I ate while in San Sebasti�n.

Donostia – (considered by many to be the best place to eat in the world)
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10) Battered Prawns from Tamboril

In a word: Satisfying

Notes: I munched on these while we bar hopped during the Real Madrid vs Athletico Champions League Final. They’re fried to order and come with three prawns inside the airy almost dessert like dough. They were the perfect snack paired with a beer and are one of the favorites of the locals and also
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9) Arroz Del Dia from Atari

In a word: Comforting

Notes: This hopping spot by the church in Olde Towne was packed on each of our visits. They have pinxtos on the bar as well as hot ones made to order. You can also get half and full portion plates and they make a handful of different gin and tonics and have a nice patio with outdoor seating along one side. The rice of the day can be ordered as a pinxto or full serving and whichever one you choose it will really hit the spot. On this day they had a deep chicken broth with crisped up jamon and roasted cherry tomatoes on top. Due to the fact it was raining and only about 50 degrees out this really hit the spot.
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8) Txangurro (Rock Crab) from Ganbara

In a word: Savory

Notes: On our first night in town we had a pinxtos tour of the Olde Towne area booked and this was one of a few stops from it with an item that made my list. Our tour guide Eli (pronounced Elly) was fantastic and brought us here for their signature pinxto which is basically a Basque version of a crab cake. We found ourselves stopping in for one, amongst hordes of other people, on more than one occasion. I’d encourage everyone visiting to take the tour with http://www.sansebastianfood.com San Sebastian Food as there’s so many stops in town that they switch it up often and you eat and drink the price of the ticket while getting a locals scoop of what to order, not just at the places you visit but also the spots you pass. Not to mention the different people from around the globe you’ll,29,784516,0,30497,108.231.189.202
784515,666249,784180,2014-07-21 18:56:16.973000000,Re:What’s For Dinner TONIGHT…???”

Nifty report! I don’t know about Spanish pinxtos at all, and I’m glad to learn from your great time.

Thank you for such a lovely report!  I spent several vacations (when I lived in France) in the Itxassou/St. Jean de Luz, San Sebastian area.  Delicious food, wonderful people and beautiful scenery.  In the late 70s this was a relatively unknown area and none of the restaurants were “completo”. We ate a lot of seafood, especially conger eel and small pan fish, along with the traditional piperade Basquaise.  I would love to go back and try your top 10 pinxtos!      

Great food…it looks like it was a great trip.Are pinxtos like tapas? When we were in Madris we went bar hopping for tapas. Thanks for sharing your trip!!