Chesscafe, Where They Do American Food Better Than America.

I'm sorry I haven't blogged in a while.  I'm currently working on my blog about Bilbao and going through my hundreds of pictures, but here's something to read for now:

Today Rachel and I ate at Chesscafe for the fourth time.  Chesscafe is this restaurant about 2 blocks from our apartment, and it specializes in American-style food.  The menu includes items named after both the Spice Girls and Mel “Miel” Gibson (just those two, not sure why) and the walls are covered with pictures of Friends, as in, the show.  There’s even a whole mural of Friends on one wall.  It’s decorated in bright colors and the red awning outside boasts “The Best Orange-Juice In Madrid.” Usually I’d be skeptical about American food in Spain, but this place knows what’s up.  The first time we went, we just got smoothies, which were delicious.  The second time, we ordered cheeseburgers.  Omigod.  The burger I ordered had bacon, cheese, sautéed onions, lettuce, tomato, and a fried egg.  Essentially a heart attack on a bun but it was SO good.  We initially went there for pancakes, which we saw on the menu, but they told us they only served them in the morning. 

**EDIT** The thing about only being able to get pancakes in the morning was UNA MENTIRA.  I don't know why the guy told us that.  Renato, our favorite server, was aghast that we were told that and thought it was ridiculous.  I have since ordered pancakes at night.

Naturally, we told all our American friends about the pancakes and a couple girls met us there for breakfast one Sunday morning before we went to El Rastro, the big market which is also nearby.  For a mere 5 euros I received an enormous glass of orange juice, a cup of coffee, two pancakes, a small fruit salad of apple and kiwi, a cup of Nutella for the pancakes, and a cup of whipped cream topped with a single mini Oreo.  This warmed my little American heart.  It was good too.

Tonight, our fourth visit, we had dessert.  I ordered an Oreo milkshake and Rachel ordered something called a “Mr. Cookie.”  The milkshake I received was huge, topped with a mountain of whipped cream, six mini Oreos, and two sticks of pocky.  It also came with 2 straws.  This makes a lot of sense to me, considering the size.  It tasted as beautiful as it looked, rich with Oreo goodness.  But it was so big I had to ask for a to-go cup.  I really wish I’d had my camera with me to take a picture, but I’m sure I’ll be ordering it in the future. Rachel destroyed her Mr. Cookie, which consisted of vanilla ice cream between two huge chocolate chip cookies, covered in dark chocolate.  I had two bites and couldn’t eat any more of it.

As we sat there we compiled a list of reasons why Chesscafe is awesome:

1.    They have pancakes.

2.    Menu items named after the Spice Girls and Mel Gibson, for no apparent reason

3.    Posters of Friends all over the walls

4.    Great music (tonight they were playing Depeche Mode and some more 80s stuff)

5.    Really nice servers, all from Latin America (Spain needs to change its attitude towards immigrants)

6.    Amazing burgers and ice cream dishes

7.    Really close to our place

8.    The names of the dishes are mostly in English, but they don’t really understand how our adjectives work so there are lots of unnecessary hyphens

9.    They seem to be really into mini Oreos

There are probably more reasons but I can’t think of them now.  When we were leaving we saw a waiter bring the very same items we ordered to another table.  Yes.  We are trendsetters.  I feel very accomplished.

I swear I’m still eating lots of Spanish food.  I’m practically made of tortilla at this point.  But this place is just so delicious, I can’t resist sometimes.