Follow-up to Despaña, Princeton

As promised, and long overdue, here's a follow-up to the Despaña post.

We sat out on the upstairs terrace and ordered from their tapas menu.  I was tempted to order one of everything, but the waitress brought me back to my senses.

We didn't order the pan con tomate, but they brought a basket of it out - wonderful.  They couldn't, however, bring plain bread when we asked for it to go with our jamon serrano. Oh well.

The absolute best thing we ate were the croquetas with jamon iberico - 1) seems so wrong to use the world's most expensive ham in croquettes, but 2) tastes so right! We had these at the preview event, but when they are fresh and hot from the fryer, they are heavenly!

 

We also ordered eggplant fritters - not what I was expecting - instead of pancakes, these were like eggplant fries; and a paella mixto. We had also ordered a gazpacho that never came, so was cancelled; and last were shrimp which were super garlicky, but a little too salty, and just too much after the paella.

Definitely a place we'll be going back to. They serve a different menu at lunch, with salads and sandwiches that you purchase at the counter and bring upstairs.

I also loved the Cow Statue of Liberty glasses -- too bad they weren't for sale!

Despaña Princeton
235 A Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ 08540

Despaña, Princeton, NJ

We've been eagerly awaiting the opening of the Princeton outpost of Spanish food market and cafe Despaña.  It's finally opening this Friday June 21.

We were lucky enough to get to the sneak preview event last Friday, along with other locals, New Yorkers come down on the train, and we even met a Spanish couple who had come from as far as Ottawa. The wine was flowing, a trio of Spanish musicians were playing, the weather was beautiful, and they were serving up a huge paella and fideos on their rooftop deck.

Inside, they were carving up a leg of jamon iberico -- we spent some time parked by this station, where we each ate probably at least $50 worth of meat.

 

There was also croquetas, papas bravas, tuna on crostini, cheese, jamon and more... 

Here's a picture of the jamon iberico about halfway through the evening...

We are hoping to get a table for a real meal this Friday - will report more later!

Despaña Princeton
235 A Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ 08540

Ole Tapas Bar, Newark, DE

There is a dearth of good restaurants in Newark, DE where I grew up. So when my parents told me about a new tapas place in Newark, I was skeptical. Plus, it's location was in the spot of a childhood favorite that had been torn down - Lum's Family Restaurant where we used to go after church on Sundays and I would get Ollie Burgers with Thousand Island dressing and mozzarella cheese.

But I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the Ole Tapas Lounge. Best dishes were the pulpo a la gallega (grilled octopus), the wild mushrooms with chorizo, and the bacon wrapped figs with chorizo and cabrales. The patatas bravas were piping hot and crispy.

Grilled baby lamb chops were well cooked. Boquerones were nicely done with piquillo peppers and a pesto-like sauce. There was a little over-reliance on a paprika mayonnaise sauce - not a real complaint as the sauce was tasty, but it was on a lot of the dishes.

The only disappointments were the complimentary starter of tomato-rubbed bread should have been crusty (though my dad said on their earlier visit it was), and the empanada, which was huge, but mediocre in both the crust and the filling.

For Newark, Delaware, though, it's a great find. Reasonably priced satisfying tapas and friendly service.

Ole Tapas Lounge
1126 Capital Trail
(Kirkwood Highway)
Newark, DE 19711
302-224-9378

Pazo, Baltimore

I went with Kelly to try Baltimore's Pazo restaurant, a Spanish tapas place that's been a hit in town for the last 3 years.
Kelly really liked the sunflower seed crackers they gave us once we sat down- they were a little sweet and were really fresh tasting.
We started with some small plates. I had to try the white anchovies with first press virgin olive oil. They were yummy.





This was the romaine lettuce hearts with sweet peppers and reggiano- simple, but good.






We tried the bruschetta with a shallow confit and goat cheese. It was nice and sweet.






Our last small plate was probably the best, the croquetas made with mashed potato and manchego cheese.






For our entrees, we shared two items. First we got the pizza bianca with squash, ricotta and pine nuts. The crust was thin and had a really great flavor.
We also shared a plate of Maloreddus Pasta Alla Norma, saffron gnocchi with tomato and roasted eggplant. The gnocchi was ribbed- reminding me some of pupa, but there was a clear distinct saffron flavor.
We finished with a drunken cake with vanilla ice cream and blueberries.


1425 Aliceanna St.
Baltimore, MD 21231
(410) 534-7296

Tinto, Philadelphia

To celebrate my dad's and my birthday (yep, it's the birthday season), we went to Tinto, Chef Jose Garces's Basque-style tapas bar.

I only had my cameraphone on me, so only have a couple crappy photos, but the meal was amazing!

Here's the run-down of the small plates we shared:

Chicken liver pate with orange gelee;

Sampler of salados (salty snacks) with olives, spiced almonds, homemade potato chips with smoked paprika cream, figs wrapped with serrano ham, anchovies with melon;

Montadito de panceto -- open-faced bruschetta with pork belly, honey, and apples;

Brocheta de pollo -- skewers of chicken served in individual tall shot glasses with delicious garbanzo puree and truffle jus;

Bocadillo de salmon -- smoked salmon and caviar on a croissant with goat cheese and crispy shallots;

Gambas a la Plantxa -- grilled prawns served with white asparagus flan and morel mushrooms, with a morel brandy foam;

Vieiras con Panceta -- sea scallops with benton's bacon, cider emulsion and apples;

Gatxutxa -- Basque-style paella with chorizo, prawns, and rabbit;

Hongos a la Plantxa -- roasted wild mushrooms, potatoes and shallots.

The mushrooms were my favorite of the evening -- simple, perfectly seasoned and wonderful. The pork belly montadito and the scallop dish were also great. The ones I would pass on next time were the bocadillo de salmon (just not that interesting) and the grilled prawns (foam was weird). Just the right amount of food, and beautiful presentation.

For dessert, we tried a traditional basque cake with cream and black cherries (3 mini cakes), and flourless chocolate cake with caramelized bananas and saffron cream.

Tinto
114 South 20th Street
Philadelphia
215.665.9150

Girls Cooking Night: Tapas

We've reached the point where in girls cooking night, a lot of us are starting to bring 2 dishes -- we thought this would be fine for Tapas Night, but well, no one really made tapas-sized small plate portions... Still even with all this food, we managed to devour most of it!

Melissa, as host, actually felt compelled to make 3 dishes: a spicy potato and chorizo; a salad with apples, cheese, and walnuts; and a classic Andalusian gazpacho with wonderful homemade croutons.


















Brownie made a baked mushroom, potato, onion dish. Debbie brought a green salad dressed with peaches and a tasty dressing, and sauteed spinach with pine nuts.








Kim supplied us with virgin and regular sangria, and two kinds of marinated olives.






I brought a crab and roasted pepper dip, and for dessert, toasted bread with chocolate drizzled with olive oil and sea salt.





And Marian brought the other dessert, a reprise of her delicious flan. She even went out and bought ramekins especially for the occasion!