Tapas vs. Pintxo

Prior to going to San Sebastian I was under the impression that tapas and pintxos were essentially the same thing with different names. Before the trip I spent a week in Sevilla and had tapas for almost every meal. While sometimes you could pick up a tapa at the counter, most of the time you had to sit and be weighted on. This was very conducive to a fun sit down meal. I also really liked tapas because you could try so many small things and the portions were never overwhelming. Pintxos are very different from this because they are always purchased at the bar and are meant to be purchased one at a time. This was an important lesson because it is what distinguishes the locals from the tourists. Tourists usually get a large plate and fill it with pintxos but the locals get one pintxo and a beverage and move on to the next pintxo bar. Knowing this was very interesting because at one more snooty bar that we went to the waitstaff got mad at my friends and I for refusing the large plate. They seemed angry because it meant that we were going to spend less money in their restaurant.

Here are photos of a pintxo (top) vs.  a tapa (bottom). As you can see, the pintxo is significantly smaller than the tapa and the tapa is not something you could've eaten at a bar with one hand holding a glass of wine.