SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain -- Elena Arzak has been called the most important female chef in the world. The Madonna of chefs, even. But she seems oblivious to all of her press as she leads you through the elegant streets of this seaside resort on your way to one of her favorite little pintxos, or tapas, bars.

''What a shame you have to leave today. If we had more time, I would have taken you around to taste all of my favorite pintxos,'' says the slight and soft-spoken Elena, daughter of Juan Mari Arzak, who is known as the father of modern Basque cuisine.

Juan Mari and Elena share the kitchen at Arzak, the homey, three-Michelin star restaurant that has been in the family since 1897 and is the gastronomic beacon of the Basque region. Especially when she's in her chef whites, Elena seems like that shy but brilliant science geek back in high school. Not like a culinary rock star. But don't be fooled.

A tapas crawl with Elena Arzak through a corner of Spain considered foodie mecca (San Sebastián has one of the highest concentrations of Michelin stars in the world) would be like riding in the limo with J-Lo. Like guzzling bubbly back at the hotel with Beyoncé. It's 10:30 on a Monday morning, and Elena, in street clothes, is questioning your request for café con leche.

''Bueno, we can start with coffee. But after that we have to drink txakoli, no? At least one glass,'' and straightaway, a woman at the tiny Bar Haizea (air in Basque), begins the dramatic ritual, pouring the region's signature white wine from more than two feet above glass tumblers. The height of the stream increases the gentle effervescence of the txakoli, which, you notice, half the crowd is drinking for breakfast. The other half is drinking beer.

Folks here smile and nod at Elena, who smiles and nods back. But her focus is the succession of small plates she has ordered. There are several platters of everyday pintxos displayed on the bar, but she doesn't pick any of those. Instead she asks the kitchen for a few special orders.

While you're marveling at the sweetness of grilled langostinos, the freshness of cod fish wrapped in paper-thin pastry and tied with leek, she pulls a history lesson from her briefcase.

''It's very important, if you are going to talk about my father, that you speak about several other chefs in this region,'' she says, placing in front of you a press packet that includes a list of Basque chefs: Pedro Subijana, Ricardo Idiaquez, Pedro Gomez and others.

''The New Basque cuisine started between 1975 and 1976 with my father and a couple of others who were inspired by the nouvelle cuisine of France. But it was a movement, and you have to mention others in the movement,'' she says, highlighting one of the most remarkable aspects of the contemporary Spanish culinary scene: Instead of engaging in clichéd competition, Spain's top chefs present a united front, which has a lot to do with why today the country boasts the most highly-regarded food scene in the world, blowing even France out of the water with its avant-garde strides.

Its undisputed superstars are Elena's dad and Ferran Adriá of Barcelona. They also happen to be best friends (they just chartered a yacht for a Caribbean vacation with their wives). Juan Mari Arzak was a mentor of Adriá, but Adriá took the idea of modern Spanish cuisine to the stratosphere with his foams, deconstructions and mad-scientist creations. The Salvador Dalí, the Picasso, the Beethoven of the food world, Adriá has been called. And his ''molecular gastronomy'' has become a movement, with roots that lead back to Juan Mari's earlier movement. When Elena decided she wanted to follow in her dad's footsteps, she went to culinary school in Switzerland and then on to internships in some of the world's top kitchens, including Adriá's.

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