What Tourists Get Wrong About Spanish Food, with PABÚ’s Coco Montes

<p>On Episode 69 of Taqueando, Bill Esparza returns from Barcelona with a challenge to the way Americans talk about Spanish food: Michelin-starred temples may dazzle, but they’re only part of the story, and the country’s simplest dishes lose something essential when removed from their context. He moves from a spectacular tasting menu at Esperit Roca in Girona to bocadillos, tortillas, croquetas, conservas, rice dishes, vermouth and the no-nonsense neighborhood bars most food tourists overlook, asking whether great food can ever be separated from the place and people that give it meaning.</p><p>Then Bill sits down with Coco Montes, chef of Michelin-starred <a href="https://www.restaurantepabu.com/en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">PABÚ </a>in Madrid, after watching him discover California’s extraordinary produce at the Santa Barbara farmers market. Montes brings French technique shaped by Alain Passard’s L’Arpège to a produce-first, microseasonal restaurant that changes its menu daily and is run alongside his mother, Rita González. It’s an episode about destination dining versus everyday eating, technical ambition versus simplicity, and what it really means to taste Spain.</p><p>Produced by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/robert_haleblian/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Robert Haleblian</a></p><p>Buy your tickets to <a href="https://www.level8dtla.com/Taqueando-After-Dark-at-Level-8-2026/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Taqueando After Dark</a></p><p></p>