Occupation: Chef at Solera, 900 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis; 612-338-0062; solera-restaurant.com. (Editor's note: We caught up with Guzman after he returned from a trip to Spain to learn more about the type of food he serves at the restaurant.)

Age: 33

How long have you been with Solera? Going on 2 1/2 years.

Was this your first trip to Spain? Yes.

How long were you there, and where did you go? We went to the Basque region. I was there six days.

What was the best thing you ate there? One of the most memorable things I ate was txangurro, a traditional dish from the Basque region. It's spider crab cooked with tomatoes, onions and carrots and stewed down and put back into the shell of the crab. It's topped with bread crumbs and baked. It was really simple and delicious. Spider crab is very hard to get in the States. In Spain, it's almost readily available.

What was the most memorable thing you did? One of my vendors at Solera took us into the hills to learn about Idiazabal cheese. We spent most of the afternoon with shepherds and their sheep. They didn't let us watch while the sheep were milked because they wanted the animals to be calm. But we did watch a husband-and-wife team go through the rest of the cheese-making process. That was really cool because we serve that cheese at Solera.

Why is gin big in Spain now? We were bar-hopping at pintxos bars, and we saw everyone drinking huge wine glasses full of a clear liquor. A bartender told us they were drinking gin. He said gin wasn't very accessible during the Franco era, due to a lot of rules and regulations. So now, it's become sort of a fad.

What are pintxos? There are two definitions: Either small tapas or to spear and stab with a skewer (usually meats).

What's the biggest difference between how we eat and how Spaniards eat? I think they have closer ties to the culture behind their food. (Although here in Minnesota, we do, too.) Especially in the Basque region, life revolves around food. They spend 65 percent of their income on grocery shopping and cooking and eating. They eat very fresh products. It can be very simple food, but it runs the gamut to the most intricate. I mean, they spearheaded the molecular gastronomy movement. We don't have that rich food culture yet in the U.S.

Why is it so important for chefs to travel? To get ideas. You have to travel and be open to accepting new ideas and be humble enough to understand that people are doing different things. They might be doing it better. The more you see, the more you learn, the better the chef you're going to be. It's a continuous education. If you get bored, you're just not trying hard enough.