The Tinned Fish Pantry

I’ll never forget traveling to the Costa Brava in Spain for the first time and drinking a vermouth on the beach while watching the sunset at Boia Nit, a cocktail bar in Cadaqués. I ordered a tin of cockles, which was served with just a drizzle of sherry vinegar, a few grinds of black pepper, and a proportionately small bowl of potato sticks. I was blown away by how much an assemblage of pantry ingredients could bring out the clean, fresh taste of the cockles.

It may seem counterintuitive to order canned fish at a restaurant when it’s so cheap and easy to eat at home. But when I see the tin list on the menu, I can’t help myself. Even when there’s a slight price markup from the seven or eight dollars that the tin might cost at the grocery store, I am always curious to see how the restaurant will put its own twist on the tin. You could order a tin of Ramón Peña sardines at five different restaurants, and each experience might be wildly different.