<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" Episode four is set in picturesque Basque Country\u2014quite a contrast to the somewhat rural, seaside city of Galicia. To showcase both sides of the region, Bitty and Claudia drive through the breathtaking green cliffs of the country while Mario and Gwyneth head to the city for a trip to the Guggenheim Bilbao.  As they drive, Mario and Gywn chat about the Guggenheim&amp;#039;s impact on the area, Mario remarking that it took Bilbao from &amp;quot;zero to 60 in 10 years.&amp;quot; According to Mario (and many experts), the museum revitalized the port city, drawing millions of tourists and making it more urban and sophisticated. As they pull up to Frank Gehry&amp;#039;s landmark building, the &amp;quot;Googie&amp;quot; as Mario calls it, the chatty pair is almost dumbfounded by the museum&amp;#039;s curvaceous titanium magnificence. I feel the same way. No matter how many times I&amp;#039;ve seen Bilbao Guggenheim on TV or in pictures, the architecture is so arresting, it&amp;#039;s like seeing it for the first time. In true rock star style, the two get a private tour with a museum guide, who takes them through an exhibit of pop art commemorating the museum&amp;#039;s 10th anniversary. Gwyneth, teetering somewhat precariously in some majorly high-heeled booties, says Cy Twombly is one of her favorite artists. Mario, our resident art expert, inspects an Ellsworth Kelly painting of red and orange rectangles and calls the shade of orange Kelly used &amp;quot;my orange.&amp;quot; Sure, Mario.  The guide takes them up to the rooftop of the museum for a fantastic view of the city and surrounding mountains. And out of nowhere, the master himself, Frank Gehry appears. In one of the most interesting segments of the show so far, Mr. Gehry\u2014it seems weird to call him &amp;quot;Frank&amp;quot;\u2014discusses the process of building the museum (he says he laid out a flat pattern of each individual piece on the wall of his office, like a tailor), why he used titanium (it shines even in cloudy weather), why the museum was created (to bring more notoriety and vitality to Bilbao), and how it was, remarkably, created on time and under budget. Mario, probably thinking of the massive, massively expensive, and massively delayed build-out of Del Posto, seems particularly impressed by this. The dynamic duo seem star-struck as they leave Gehry and his creation. Mario calls it a &amp;quot;mind-boggle.&amp;quot; Which might explain why they spend the next ten minutes discussing the virtues of Dora the Explorer and Teletubbies. (Po, not surprisingly, is Mario&amp;#039;s favorite.) Meanwhile, Bittman and Claudia arrive in San Sebasti\u00E1n to visit chef Victor Arguinzoniz&amp;#039;s innovative seafood restaurant Asador Extebarri. You might remember Arguinzoniz from an episode of Anthony Bourdain&amp;#039;s No Reseravtions. If not, Arguinzoniz, one of Spain&amp;#039;s most well-regarded chefs, is known for cooking seafood in a deceptively simple, yet elegant way. He has a tricked-out stove that can be raised or lowered with steering wheels, and he cooks, steams, and grills almost everything in custom-made pans. With Claudia as translator, Arguinzoniz prepares seaweed-smoked caviar, and grilled langoustines and sea cucumber. Remarkably, Arguinzoniz hardly touches the seafood, simply adorning it with a sprinkle of salt, or splash of olive oil. Each bite is a revelation, even for blas\u00E9 Bittman, who&amp;#039;s been to the restaurant before, and especially for Claudia who&amp;#039;s never tried caviar or sucked the delicious juice from the head of a shrimp. You can tell Bittman is in minimalist heaven. He even gets to hold Claudia&amp;#039;s hair for her while she slurps shrimp-juice. The foursome reunites in the wine country, at Gehry&amp;#039;s totally twisted hotel in the middle of nowhere, the Marqu\u00E9s de Riscal Vineyard and Hotel. I can&amp;#039;t really explain it, other than it looks kind of like a metal roller coaster that crashed into a country B&amp;amp;amp;B. The ladies lounge around in fluffy robes, awaiting spa treatments, while the guys head off to &amp;quot;work out at the gym,&amp;quot; A.K.A. hit up the tapas bars back in Bilbao. The next scene juxtaposes Gwyn blissfully soaking in a red wine bubble bath and Claudia (in a bikini!) walking in circles on hot stones with Mario and Bittman stuffing their faces. I won&amp;#039;t list everything they consume, but it&amp;#039;s a smorgasbord of tantalizing tapas\u2014duck, monkish, squid cooked in beet juice, crab foam shooters, plates of thinly-sliced jamon (shown here), and tomato-rubbed toast, all washed down with glass after glass of booze. Mario offers to split every morsel, but of course, always takes the first bite himself. I feel a little ill watching Bittman chow down on his sloppy seconds. Back at the hotel the next morning, Gwyn coyly asks Mario how his workout was. Mario says he did a lot of &amp;quot;half-ounce curls,&amp;quot; meaning picking up things that weigh about a half an ounce and putting them in his mouth. Bah-duh-dum! Highlights: A truly interesting and informative conversation with Frank Gehry. Mouthwatering food at Asador Sagartoki and the tapas bars. Gwyn&amp;#039;s wine-infused bubble bath. Sounds a bit hokey, but looks like pure relaxation.  Lowlights: While on their tapas run, Mario takes a bite of squid in a viscous black ink sauce, and suggests it looks like the mud being packed on Claudia&amp;#039;s legs back in the spa. &amp;quot;Interesting thought,&amp;quot; says Bittman, his mind clearly wandering to places it shouldn&amp;#039;t go. Claudia Bassols in a bikini. Which, while awe-inspiring, makes me never want to eat another bite of food or get off the treadmill. Ever. Mario expounding on the trippiness of the Teletubbies. Dude, we don&amp;#039;t care. Really. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.delish.com/restaurants/a29462/basquing-in-the-glow/>