Argentine cook crowned tops in tapas world

MADRID, Spain — Tapas — the Spanish finger-food that is delighting palates around the world — have a complex new champion: a delicacy of roast peppers, pickled eggplant, horse mackerel and dried leeks.

The award was announced Wednesday night at Spain's only nationwide tapas contest, held in the northern city of Valladolid.

Pablo Vicari, 31, an Argentine who cooks at a restaurant in the Basque city of San Sebastian — known around Spain for its excellent cuisine — defeated 73 other chefs to take the top honor, worth $7,600.

His pride and joy is a glazed, multilayer cube of fish and vegetables, seasoned with mustard leaf and a sprinkle of salmon eggs and edible flower petals. He calls it a Sea Toboggan.

"It tastes like heaven," Vicari told Spanish National Radio on Friday.

The runner-up honors went to a sandwich-like morsel featuring fresh sardines cured in rock salt, peeled and sautéed grapes and diced tomato. Third place went to a caramelized version of a black, mushy sausage made from pig's blood and onions.

Last year's winner was lamb's tail stewed with goat's milk and a tough thistle-like vegetable called borage.

Sound like you're in the wrong country?

Elaborate dishes like these are a far cry from the humble chorizo sausage or potato omelets that average Spaniards snack on with a pre-meal beer or wine and which have been exported across Europe, to America and as far as Japan.

But Valladolid is among Spanish regions known for taking great pride in their tapas, and it has held a regional competition for years. Last year it launched the National Tapas Contest, with chefs from all over the country, said Ana Mediavilla, a spokeswoman for the contest.

It is sponsored by the Town Hall in Valladolid, where the surrounding region is also known for producing some of Spain's best wines.

The contest is not open to public tastings, but all the competing appetizers are later cooked up in local bars and restaurants and people can sample them at $1.90 a pop, Mediavilla said. Last year the eatery offering the stewed lamb's tail had lines pouring out the door.

"You simply cannot imagine what the sales were like," she said.

So this year eight restaurants rather than just one will be offering the winning delicacy dreamed up by Vicari, who has been cooking since he was 23.

One of the conditions for taking part in the contest is that recipes later become part of the public domain rather than guarded as culinary secrets.