Flamenco dancers, matadors, banquet scenes and Bacchus. And those are just the murals that grace the walls, offering up a colorful pictorial of what La Tasca in Arlington Heights is all about: A lively and fresh tapas restaurant. I haven't seen a restaurant this spirited since the crowds that rocked the aisles at Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba! (one of the original tapas restaurants in this area) the first few years it was open.
Ah, tapas. You either love this style of eating or hate it. When the words "small plates" landed in the culinary pool, it diminished, to my way of eating, the whole aura and idea of tapas. The fact is, there is little or no connection between tapas and small plates. In most instances, small plates are simply appetizers with a higher price tag, while tapas have an identity and long culinary history. I have spent a lot of hours haunting the tapas bars in Barcelona, and when a tapas restaurant is good, it rocks -- in spirit and in variety of food choices.
Ah, tapas. You either love this style of eating or hate it. When the words "small plates" landed in the culinary pool, it diminished, to my way of eating, the whole aura and idea of tapas. The fact is, there is little or no connection between tapas and small plates. In most instances, small plates are simply appetizers with a higher price tag, while tapas have an identity and long culinary history. I have spent a lot of hours haunting the tapas bars in Barcelona, and when a tapas restaurant is good, it rocks -- in spirit and in variety of food choices.
La Tasca definitely has a menu ripe with choices to please the most demanding tapas aficionado: Familiar dishes that range from a simple patatas alioli to pan con tomate a la Catalana to a wealth of good eats in between. The former is nothing more than potato salad with the zing of the alioli, a garlic mayonnaise that gives star status to the lowly potato. The "pan con tomate" is toasted bread rubbed with a puree of fresh tomato that has been enhanced with garlic and olive oil. In Spain (in Barcelona, it is called pan am Tomaquet), that's as far as it goes, but La Tasca adds shingles of delicious manchego cheese (one of the glories of Spanish cheesemaking), and that takes this simple rustic dish to an even higher level of enjoyment.
La Tasca definitely has a menu ripe with choices to please the most demanding tapas aficionado: Familiar dishes that range from a simple patatas alioli to pan con tomate a la Catalana to a wealth of good eats in between. The former is nothing more than potato salad with the zing of the alioli, a garlic mayonnaise that gives star status to the lowly potato. The "pan con tomate" is toasted bread rubbed with a puree of fresh tomato that has been enhanced with garlic and olive oil. In Spain (in Barcelona, it is called pan am Tomaquet), that's as far as it goes, but La Tasca adds shingles of delicious manchego cheese (one of the glories of Spanish cheesemaking), and that takes this simple rustic dish to an even higher level of enjoyment.
Manchego cheese comes back with a vengeance with plato de jamon y queso Manchego. Ham and cheese? How good can it be? Quite good when the ham is Serrano and the cheese is manchego. The nuttiness of the cheese balances ideally with the sweet-salty flavor of the ham.
Into the hot tapas we go. So many tasty possibilities, and everything tried had flavor and more flavor. The mussels got all steamed and fired up with a spicy tomato sauce. Grilled baby octopus got a simple dressing of lemon, garlic and oil, so the real flavors of the octopus were not masked. Queso de cabra al horno, or herbed goat cheese baked in a tomato-basil sauce, was outstanding. Scooping up that lush "sauce" with chunks of bread did it for me.
More substantial fare, the house specials and the paella, didn't let up on flavor one iota. There are three paellas to choose from, but for my money the paella Valenciana is the most interesting. The magical melange of meat -- spicy sausage, nuggets of chicken and pork --surfed up with clams and mussels. Cue the saffron-tinted rice and you have a dish that sparkles with good taste and style.
One of the "especialidades," or entrees, is better said in Spanish, but eats fine in any language. Simply put, it was tenderloin of beef that got a healthy coating of cracked black pepper. The tender and flavorful beef, duly enhanced by the pepper (OK, I like a lot of black pepper), got an escort of sauteed peppers, a sluice of Cabrales cheese sauce (very intense flavor) and boiled red potatoes. The nice part, too, is that all of the entrees are available in a small or large portion.
All of this was accompanied by terrific sangria and ended with a traditional Spanish rice pudding (arroz con leche) that got a flavor boost from citrus and cinnamon. Or, consider instead, a fragrant and filling arrangement of sauteed bananas that got the beauty-parlor treatment of ice cream, caramel and pistachios.
Pat Bruno is a free-lance writer, critic and author. Email brunoeats@aol.com.
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