The Torro Crema Cremada
Every year for Christmas, the Torro Crema Cremada makes its grand entrance at gatherings across Barcelona, Catalunya, and beyond. It’s an open secret amongst locals that La Colmena Pastisseria makes the best ones in Barcelona and is also one of the oldest pastry shops in the city. Every year people cue up in a line and patiently wait their turn to get one. The wait in years past has been relatively short, but this year was much different. I arrived in Barcelona from Athens a few days ago and Rosalia told me that the Torro Crema Cremada from La Colmena was voted “Best in all of Spain” this year taking the top spot from 52 pastry shop submissions. My only job this year was to remind her to go online and order one (just one) to be picked up this Friday after work and then we would swing over to Boada’s for an early celebratory and festive Christmas cocktail to ring in the holiday season. The beauty of this plan is found in its simplicity. Win – Win!
How Do You Make God Laugh? Make A Plan.
Things started going sideways when Rosalia was finding issues with La Colmena’s online ordering system. La Colmena shut down taking orders only for its Torro Crema Cremada. My IT brain thought this must be a bug that needs fixing. Since this has been going on for a few days, I started to think like a rational person and realize this was more of a supply-demand issue going on here. High demand + low supply = no more online orders. Our modern digital plan was scrapped and redrawn into an old world analog plan, requiring a little legwork and tact. Procrastination was not going to be an option like years past. The new plan was to take the metro down to Liceu, take an eight minute walk past Conesa (more on that later) in Placa Sant Jaume to La Colmena in Placa De L’Angel; but, first I had to swing by Correos in the neighborhood to drop off some shoes Rosalia sold online. I would order one large Torro Crema Cremada and let them know we would be back on Friday to pick it up. Easy Peasy!
Herd Mentality
Arriving at La Colmena around 11:00am, I was shocked to find that many people waiting to get their dirty little fingers on one of my Torro Crema Cremadas. Herd mentality describes how people can be influenced to adopt certain behaviors on a largely emotional, rather than rational, basis. Within this herd outside La Colmena were the obvious long time customers of La Colmena peppered in with the new younger, digitally connected, information consuming, tik toking, instagramming set. There were your pensioners and older folk in wheelchairs that have been coming here for years and I shared their expression of disbelief in their faces. In years past, Rosalia and I were usually found within the younger spectrum of the people waiting in line.
Upon arriving, I asked some people what the deal was?!?! This site has been transformed into a mob. I was instructed to go inside, take a number, wait to be called, and they were currently serving #14. My number was #74. WTF?!?!?! Simple math would conclude that I’m going to be here for a while. After a quick headcount outside, I thought this must be a mistake, but you could see the comings and goings of people peeking their heads in the window to see what number they were currently serving inside before dashing off again. I hung out for 15 minutes to get a sense of what the cadence for service was, made a few calculations, and made the executive decision to go to Conesa to get a sandwich.
This photo was taken outside La Colmena on December 23, 2020. Just a few people in front of us.
Conesa is another one of these places that always has a line coming out the door. Since it was before noon, I would be able to walk right in, order up a sandwich, and be back to La Colmena in 20 minutes where they would be serving #73 and my number would be called without a minute to spare. I would walk right in, place my order, and be back home 20 minutes later. That was my totally unrealistic assessment of the situation, but i’m more optimist than pessimist.
Conesa is a Barcelona sandwich shop in Placa Sant Jaume popular with the locals since 1951 and is the forerunner and credited with introducing Catalans to the German frankfurter. I don’t get the frankfurter at Conesa; instead, I always go with La Catalana. It’s made with three country sausages, gouda, caramelized onions, grilled green pepper, and pressed under a hot iron. Alioli is my preferred condiment to put on this masterpiece. It’s been a while since I’ve been to Conesa and it did not disappoint. I didn’t get a beer this time, because I didn’t know how long I would be waiting at La Colmena without a bathroom in case I needed to go. I’m getting older, wiser, and less careless with my bladder. I felt a little uneasy staying longer at Conesa and hurried back to my place in line at La Colmena where I was mildly irritated to find out that they were only serving #37. My calculations were WAY OFF and I was thinking about the beer I could’ve had.
Fahrenheit 451
I’ve learned long ago that waiting in Greece and Barcelona is just something you learn to do. You need to get used to it and accept it or you will make yourself go insane. The best way to ride out the time difference between #37 and my #74 is to read a book, because I find fidgeting with my iPhone makes waiting worse. I always have my Kindle Paperwhite with me when I leave the house. I’m currently reading Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Written in 1953, it’s about an oppressive society that attempts to eliminate all sources of complexity, contradiction, and confusion to ensure uncomplicated happiness for all its citizens. In order to do so, they have to fill its citizenry with ‘facts’ that they feel stuffed, but absolutely ‘brilliant’ with information. But since all books are banned and they burn all books, people were getting fed their information from one source. I felt like this was playing out in its entirety right in front of me. You see, La Colmena hasn’t changed its recipe for its Torro Crema Cremada in over 100 years, but this information is now being broadcast to a larger audience that is obviously listening.
Bah Humbug!
Finally #74 was called and I wedged my way through the crowd to the front. There were people anxiously awaiting their number to be called around the perimeter of the store. I get to the front to tell the lady that I want one large Torro Crema Cremada and I’ll be back to pick it up Friday afternoon like years past. She says, “not possible this year”. I asked her whether it might be best to come back the day before Christmas and wait? She strongly suggested against it, because she couldn’t guarantee that I would get one. My only option was to buy one today, three days before Christmas. “Ok! I’ll take the large one.” She says, “No More large ones today.” I said, “Fine! I’ll take two small ones.” I hand her two twenties and while she gets my change I ask her how am I supposed to keep these until Christmas. She said I should freeze them and take them out to defrost it the night before. At that point, I felt defeated. It went from being an annual tradition coming here to being a financial transaction. Everything should go back to normal next year. This year was bittersweet. La Colmena is a victim of its own success. On the one hand, I think it’s great that La Colmena received all the accolades and recognition for being the best; but, success comes with a price and we definitely paid it this year.