Txori's Tamborrada Drums Through Belltown

Wondering what the racket was in Belltown last night? A tamborrada. Here's the background.

The city on Spain's northern coast that we call San Sebastian is known as Donostia in Euskedi, language of the Basque Country. From here the Corsairs sailed, from here comes the chef Joseba Jimenez di Jimenez, founder of Madison Park's Harvest Vine and Belltown's Txori. And on the Feast of San Sebastian, Donostians everywhere celebrate a symbolic military victory over the French: the festival of Donostia.

They march to the sound of drums, any kind of drum, though kitchen pots and wooden spoons, are favored; barrels and hammers are acceptable. So last night, half a dozen drummers from Roosevelt High School's marching band, clad in cooks' whites, with snare drums and kettle drums and clashing cymbals, made their noisy way through Belltown. Most folks thought it was part of the Obama celebration, no doubt, but that was entirely coincidental; San Sebastian's feast day really is January 20th. A Festival of Cooks, they were calling it at Txori; cooks, banging away for 24 hours, supposedly frightened off the pusillanimous French. Bam-bam-bam, BaRACK!