What is pintxos?

With last year's closure of El Bulli in Catalonia, the Basque region has become the most prominent destination on the Spanish gastronomic map, if not Europe as a whole. Its mecca, San Sebastián, has the highest per-capita number of Michelin stars in the Western world (16) and its pintxos, or bar food, is unrivaled.

But there hasn't been a great deal of change or innovation in the higher realms of Basque gastronomy in the past few years. So on a recent visit there to attend the annual Gastronomika food congress, I asked various friends to recommend some interesting new places to eat.