ZONA D’OMBRA
Two friends came back from Venice with the bacaro model in their heads and opened this narrow enoteca in the Call, and the thing that has kept it alive for well over a decade is a piece of arithmetic most wine bars would never dare: it started as a shop, and you can still drink any bottle off the shelf for a corkage that costs less than a glass elsewhere. Two hundred–odd references, strong on Catalan and Spanish producers, with an Italian corner that reflects the founding idea rather than a marketing decision. The food knows its place — goat’s cheese croquettes, beef carpaccio, jamón de bellota, bread from a proper bakery — and the spritz arrives without irony. What people remember, though, is the hosting. The person behind the counter will take an interest in what you like and steer you somewhere better than where you were heading, which is the entire job and is performed here with unusual generosity. The street changed its official name a few years back and the bar didn’t blink. Average spend hovers around fifteen euros. In the most touristed square kilometre in Barcelona, that is close to a public service.
