Little Barcelona in Prescott elevates simple Spanish dishes

You can tell a lot about a restaurant by the leg of ham it proudly displays in the lobby.

As I left Little Barcelona last month, I mused aloud about what its prized leg of Joselito brand Gran Reserva Iberian ham would cost if I wanted to buy the entire thing.

“Guess,” I was told.

“$500? $600?”

“$2,100,” said Marc Gomez Segu, the chef-owner of the bright, cozy restaurant in Prescott, just off Highway 401 and not quite an hour from Ottawa’s west end.

No wonder my lunch’s admittedly pricey ham sandwich ($25) tasted so good. Its faultless house-made baguette, simply rubbed with tomato and olive oil, contained slices of a fabled delicacy, the long-aged, additive- and preservative-free Spanish charcuterie made sweeter, nuttier and more melt-in-your-mouth because the free-roaming pigs involv