It seems as if the tapas scene is picking up steam again (three new local incarnations in the last several months), and if anybody is going to hop on that trend train, it's chef Dudley Nieto. His culinary resume is an alphabet soup of openings, transitions and closings: Adobo Grill, Xel-Ha, Zocalo and Zapatista. Now there is Eivissa. And Eivissa is all about tapas, sangria and pintxos.
(Scott Stewart/Sun-Times)
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Pintxos? In short, pintxos are small plates in the Basque tradition -- or just another another name for tapas served on toasted bread. (In the Italian culinary idiom, that would be bruschetta.)
Nieto has reinvented himself, moving with alacrity from Mexican cuisine to Spanish in one giant leap. I did not use the word "giant" lightly. The menu at Eivissa (the Catalan name for the sun-kissed island Eivissa, which is off the coast of Spain) rambles on from cured meats to olives to "artisan cheeses" to tapas to paellas and chupitos (chupito translates as "shot glass," so items like octopus, scallops and shrimp become part of what Eivissa suggests are "liquid tapas," which is not entirely correct, but I must move on).
Eivissa was rocking along nicely during my visits. Keeping those customers coming back more than a few times is the trick these days, but I feel no strong desire to rush back to Eivissa; it didn't show me anything special. Yes, I had some good food there, but anyone who has had a tapas experience or two knows full well that you can run the tab up the flagpole pretty fast, so most of the time the value/price/satisfaction equation doesn't compute.
Let's start with a couple of pintxos, which at $5 a pop is a leap of faith for a few ingredients piled on top of a small slice of bread. The oca a la planxa was all about a mixture of shredded duck breast, caramelized onion and a fuzz of tomato-mint foam (Nieto is no Ferran Adria, that's for sure). More duck and less onion would have made this pintxos a lot more interesting.
Much better in every way was the pintxos called lomo embuchado (cured pork loin). Thin slices of pork got together with a smear of grilled eggplant, zucchini and guindilla peppers (a Basque pepper similar to a banana pepper). An incredibly good combination of flavors reminiscent of a well-made Italian caponata.
On to alubias blancas, which in English has to do with white beans and grilled calamari. Interesting dish, and one that I would order again (and one of the higher-priced "tapas clasicas " at $9). The total of the dish consisted of a baby squid (tender, delicious and glazed with a delicious roasted-pepper foam) surrounded by a bevy of small white beans. Basically, three ingredients, but each played to its full strength, especially the meaty al dente beans.
What can I say about the pollito chilindron tapa that makes sense, except that the arrangement --pieces of chicken, rice, potatoes -- reminded me way too much of chicken gumbo (though, in fact, it is a classic dish from the Aragon region of Spain). There was a soupy consistency to this dish and, frankly, not a whole lot of flavor to speak of (not to mention that the meager bits of chicken that almost got lost in the rice and the one small piece of jamon serrano were more garnish than goodness). Maybe some tomatoes and peppers, as the original version calls for, would have helped.
On to the gambas al ajillo -- garlic and oil glazed shrimp, five small shrimp in all and all very flavorful, with an extra zing coming from a dusting of spicy paprika along with a tangy lemon/saffron aioli. Expensive at $9, but the goodness compensated for the high price.
The solomillo was one of the better dishes tried. The Black Angus beef was cooked perfectly medium-rare, bringing out tender, deep mineral flavor. The wedges of rustic mint potato were roasted to the point of meaty. I didn't get the idea of the sage cream at first, but it kind of grew on me.
Two desserts were tried, tarta platano and arroz con leche. The tarta was a composition made up of pieces of roasted bananas saddled onto a well-made slab of tender and flaky pastry. Along for the ride was a tasty lemon coulis and passion fruit gelee.
I should not have ordered the arroz con leche (rice pudding). I have had too many versions of this classic dish, and most have been disappointing. Why did I think this would be any better? Even the added flavors of cinnamon, pineapple and orange couldn't breathe life into this dessert.
Pat Bruno is a local free-lance critic and author. E-mail brunoeats@aol.com. Listen to Pat Bruno talk about food and wine Tuesdays at 6:23 p.m. and 10:23 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 7:53 p.m. on WBBM News Radio 780-AM.
