In Spain, I hope it won't rain

By tomorrow, we’ll be off to Spain for a much-needed rest and recreation, though I don’t know if we can call a two-week tour by car restful! It’s certainly going to be fun, a real holiday for the family (minus one, my daughter Tin (DJ Suzy to her Magic 89.9 listeners) who can’t go on extended leaves like this). We’re touring the whole country by car, my son Ray Louis and I taking turns at the wheel, starting off in Madrid and ending in Barcelona with my brother Rey and his wife Evelyn.

Well, that’s my mind-set—a holiday, when actually I’ll also be filming and producing a travel docu to show on our TV show Business & Leisure and similarly share our travel experiences with readers of this column for The Star.

Asian Carmakers Corp. (ACC) has very generously agreed to provide us two BMW vehicles for this trip, so it’s going to be comfortable driving in great style!! Thanks to Bobby Rosales, former president of ACCC and now Ms. Maricar Parco, the present president, who two years ago when we first planned this trip, both readily offered for us to do it aboard luxurious and high performance Beemers. Can’t wait to jump into the BMWs (I don’t know what models yet) that we will pick up upon arrival in Madrid. To be sure, it’s going to be a very long drive through Salamanca, then a side trip to Estoril and Lisbon where we will spend two nights. We’re taking the opportunity to make a short pilgrimage to Fatima and explore this part of Portugal as well.

Then, we’re off to Seville, exploring the city for two days. From there we proceed to Cadiz and Marbella, pass through Malaga and spend another night, spend two nights in Granada, another two nights in Valencia, and end up in Barcelona where we will spend some three days to rest before flying off to Milan, Italy en route to the Philippines.

This is the route we gave to BMW so they can program the GPS on the vehicles they are so generously providing for us. We’re backpacking in style, something I should have done when I was much younger and more adventurous, but I’m looking forward to flooring the pedals and navigating alien new roads with more certainty, thanks to BMW and their GPS-equipped vehicles.

To be sure, I will be sharing the adventure with our readers via this column upon our return. I know for a fact that a lot of Filipino travelers would like to see what many of us consider as our “mother country” but are clueless as to what places to go to and what’s the best way to enjoy them. It’s not only going to be a great driving experience on board BMW, it’s also going to be a learning one as well as we imbibe the diverse culture of this great country. And, of course, the whole trip will be one lo-l-o-o-n-g exciting culinary experience as well.

We’re certainly looking forward to this summer trek—an honest combination of business and leisure.

PIVO Resto-Bar

The Ortigas Home Depot area has turned into a food/bar strip. Particularly, bars are sprouting very fast here, and the yuppies can’t be any happier.

One of the bars we recently discovered is the Pivo Resto-Bar owned and run by four young entrepreneurs. The group bought an already existing restaurant-bar (opened in 2004) and remade it in 2008. Tiffany Gatchalian is the only girl in the group, and Mark Z. San Diego and Mack Chua only recently joined in.

What sets Pivo apart from the dozens of new bars around? They have over a hundred brands of beer in their bar!! The resourceful group sourced out the best brands from Brazil, Hawaii, Japan, Germany, Puerto Rico, Chile, France, Italy, you name it they have it, thus creating a niche for themselves in the bar scene. It is unique, no one has come up with the idea before Pivo, and the idea is making waves with the yuppies who are the real denizens of these bars. So unique in fact that we decided to feature their bar in one of our Food Trip episodes of our TV show Business & Leisure.

From the strong brew, to the medium, down to the mild—they showed us samples of the brands they carry. For the ladies, they even have the mild and fruity beers, some from France which I gleaned from the names. Trust the French to come up with fruit-flavored beers! They also have the San Miguel brand which, if I recall right, is brewed in Chile, or is it Puerto Rico? Of course, they also proudly carry our local brands, right alongside the foreign ones.

Mark San Diego, a fast-rising furniture designer who just held a one-man show a few months ago, wanted us to try some of their best-selling food items in the menu. They have several Wagyu-based selections, again hitting it off with the discerning crowd. From the feast they prepared for us, I zeroed in on a hearty sandwich that looked big enough to feed two. The meat was definitely Wagyu, tender slices drenched in melted cheese and served in generous portions.

There was a plateful of pork spare ribs, glistening in barbecue sauce, and very flavorful, though I like my ribs falling off the bone. It was sweet, tangy and spicy with a rich smoky flavor.

The Wagyu burger was just as hefty, big enough for a healthy appetite. Being unmistakably Wagyu, the burger was juicy and tender, grilled just so to char the outside and keep the inside moist, and packed with flavor. It also comes with a generous serving of fries.

Their buffalo wings, which they take particular pride in, come very spicy, a little too spicy in fact for my taste, but don’t take my word for it. I am particularly averse to hot food, and chilis are not my best friend. What could be very mild for some would be too hot for me. But everyone else in the group said the buffalo wings, served with a Guiness aioli sauce were lip-smacking good.

Much of their sauces and their cooking are flavored with Guiness (the beer), giving it a distinctive tangy flavor. They are also big on heat!

Their pizza features chunky cuts of buffalo wings, perched on a generous blanket of cheese, so if you’re a pizza lover and can’t decide whether to get the wings or the pizza, you can have both in one big bite.

They also have garlic fries that go best with beer, and other equally interesting selections in their menu, but the tummy can only take in so much in one sitting. I’ll leave the rest for another day and make sure I go to Pivo with a very empty stomach and raring to go on another food and beer binge.

One of the best, if not the best

The Marylyn McCoo and Billy Davies, Jr. concert last Thursday at the Dome did not have a few audiences but also didn’t have a lot—and that’s too bad for the many that missed it, especially the baby-boomers.

The amazing duo who used to be lead singers of the 5th Dimension sang all their hits and much more to the delight of the spectators who showed genuine appreciation for the great entertainment they were having the whole night—“walang tapon” as many would describe the repertoire of the married tandem for more than 40 years—something not quite common especially for showbiz couples.

I’ll have to hand it to another long-married duo of successful impresarios; Cel and Renen de Guia for bring these two multi Grammy awardees to the country after their last visit a good more than two decades ago. 

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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