This place isn't own by the famous artist Picasso, but the food sure seems like art
Picasso Tapas, San Diego CA
3923 4th Ave, San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 294-3061 www.tapaspicasso.com
Happy hour is always good at Picasso Tapas :) Owner David and son runs the specials here daily. They serve up some really good gourmet food from the Northern part of Spain. I love their cilantro dressing salad tossed with fried calamari. And I always get their vegetarian potato tortilla (shown below); it taste like a potato quiche almost. Their albacore mousse pate is smooth and serves as a really good spread over bread (not too fishy smelling). They offer fried potatoes served with chipotle aioli which is also very yummy. Let's not forget they also have escargot served with tongs just like you've seen it in the movie Pretty Woman. The owner claims their sangria tooks years to perfect and I wouldn't doubt it because it tastes really GOOD ;) All tapas are served on small plates (that's how they do it in Spain). Entrees are also available though. But I only come here for the tapas and order a bunch of them; combining them as my dinner makes me a full girl by the end of the night.
Featured on The Best Thing I Ever Ate
AVEC
615 West Randolph Street Chicago, IL 60661
(312) 377-2002 http://avecrestaurant.com/
Chris Cosentio had talked about Avec on the Food Network TV show 'The Best Thing I Ever Ate' as being one of his favorite places for Mediterranean eats. Taken his recommendation, my friend and I tried it while we were in Chicago. Everything met my expectations. After all, it was featured on TV so you would think that the food is good right? Stepping away from the cold, you'll find yourself in a warm and packed room of diners. The space is quite narrow and small. The bar and kitchen is on your left and the tables are on your right. The tables and seats are all arranged next to each so it's like one long dining table from Harry Potter or King Arthurs Court. The only separation you'll have with the strangers around you is elbow space. I think it adds a little of bit uniqueness to the ambiance. Everyone is there to have a good time so you get a warm and fun vibe from it. Enough about the venue, let's talk about the food. Everything is tapas style; small plates meant to be shared. We went with the chorizo stuffed dates that was what Chris had raved about. I really liked the smokiness of the dates and sweetness of it; the chorizo gave brought it up a notch with a hint of spicyness. An order of roasted brussel sprouts was the best way I could have asked for my daily vegetable intake. We also had ordered one of the specials that night which was the roasted manilla clams in chile broth with bacon and potatoes. Talking about a millions things that went so well together. This was that dish ;) Of course I had a favorite, that would be the foie gras dish. If you've read the other food posts, you probably figured out by now I love foie gras. Most places would serve it in its own form terrine style. Avec took it to a whole different level. They had seared it and served it with a sweet pineapple sauce. We had ordered a bottle a wine and it went well with everything. What a pleasant evening we had ;) Kudos to Chris for this place.
Top Chef contestant Mike Isabella's restaurant
Graffiato clearly showed us why he was runner up for Top Chef 707 6th St NW(at N G St)
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 289-3600 www.graffiatodc.com
This was the restaurant I was seeking for during my 48hr trip to DC. Walking around the different areas of Georgetown and Adam Morgan, I didn't get the feel I wanted. There were bars and coffee lounges open during a Sunday evening but they weren't what I was in the mood for. I wanted something rustic, urban, and quaint. THIS WAS IT! I read an article on this place on the plane so I googled it and told our taxi driver to take us there. The place closes at 12 and kitchen closes at 10. It was my last stop in DC and I'm so glad I made it that way. The place is warm yet textural with brick walls, open kitchen, and bar. The menu is quite interesting for everything is in small plates, perfect for snacks, drink, and good company. I would say the menu is American style with an Italian flare on tapas? I'm not quite sure how to categorize it. I read reviews on their pizza and bone marrow. I was full from an earlier dinner but I had to get an order of the bone marrow. I now know why they all raved about it; it was topped with bacon, chestnuts, and scallions. Who doesn't love bacon??? It was good (don't get me wrong) but I only got a few chunks of marrow that was in that mixture. I'm use to have just bone marrow grilled with the marrow intact. But the dessert was out of this world!!!! It deserves an award. We had the pistachio cake served with fresh homemade fig gelato, with some creme, and poached pears. It was simply devine! My friend said 'all the flavors complimented one another'. Nothing was over sweetened; the warm cake with the cold gelato with the fall warm pears was perfect. They took the plate away from my friend before she could lick it ;p And yeah the staff was friendly and attentive towards us. Definitely would come here again on my next 48hr visit ;)
Tapas are found under a freeway at
La Bodega, Kansas City MO
703 Southwest Blvd, Kansas City, MO 64108
(816) 472-8272 www.labodegakc.com
My friend took us here for a happy hour with the girls and we had a happy time ;) I was surprised to arriving at the place being underneath a highway/freeway. The venue itself was quite charming, it really felt like a Spanish restaurant decorated with many artistic paintwork on the walls. We came in close to the end of happy hour so we ordered 8 different tapa plates and one pitcher of sangria; and then we doubled our order. That means we had 2 of everthing; 2 pitchers of sangria and 16 plates to share ;) Our waitress was pretty surprised when we said we wanted to double up our order. We surprisingly finished most of it. You would too if you had their food. The potato tortilla that I like from Picasso Tapas (refer to above review) is also found here under the name Tortilla Espanola and the ones here are also very yummy ;p Our sauteed spinach in orange juice, raisins, pine nuts and apricots was amazingly delicious; it made me want my greens that night. Their meatballs in creamy garlic sauce was very tasty and wasn't dry. We ordered a unique dish that was red bell peppers stuffed with ahi tuna and rice and it was pretty tasty. Their clams and mussels in wine sauce was addicting. Their sauteed squid in lemon sauce was also good. The only things we had thought would be gone fast that wasn't were their chicken and pork skewers (not shown); they were a little disappointing. However, we were quite pleased with our happy hour and I would recommend you try it.
