TAPEO

This dessert was sweet and seductive. The picture suggests nothing less.

A recent rise in the number of new Tapas restaurants has caught my attention. It started at 388 Moody Street in Waltham, Mass., where you can find Solea, an open-air restaurant with fantastic Tapas. Around the corner is the excellent Embassy Cinema, one of a few theaters to showcase primariliy independent films (the other one that comes to mind is Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge, Mass.). Unfortunately, I will not be writing about Solea right now. It is time to look at TAPEO.

Located at 266 Newbury Street in Boston, this restaurant and Tapas bar is tucked underneath the sidewalk, but the walk in gives way to the smell of many wines at the bar in front and the overwhelming but welcoming scent of a long list of tapas (blurry list of the hot tapas menu below) "Best Spanish Restaurant" signs hung on the brick wall to the right of the front entrance. The room was dimly lit with flowers and brush dangling from above the bar. My girlfriend had called for priority seating (no reservations) at 8:00 p.m., and we were seated within 10 minutes. We were led up a staircase to the upper-level, which was slightly congested and much lighter but still homey and fabulous like below.

The tables were set with candles in the middle and thin slices of italian bread were served with, surprise, hummus within a few minutes. The small heap of hummus was even dotted with a single chickpea on top, which I was given permission to pop up in my mouth.

I was beginning to think to myself that the bread was going to fill me up and for good reason. The list of tapas, both hot and cold, was quite extensive. Luckily, for the sake of us eating before midnight, she had previously looked at the menu online and narrowed down the selection. We stayed away from the cold tapas and focused on the "Tapas Nuevas" (new tapas) and the hot tapas. From the hot tapas list, we chose the following: Gambas con Gabardina (Saffron-Batter Fried Shrimp w/Mojo Sauce - $8), Ravioles de Mariscos (Lobster/Crabmeat Ravioli w/Langostino Sauce - $8), Faisan a la Alcántara (Boneless Pheasant w/ Mushroom & Serrano Ham - $7.50), Conejo Escabechado (Braised Rabbit w/Red Wine, Juniper & Garlic - $7.50) and the Codorniz de Castilla (Broiled Herb and Garlic Quail stuffed with Bacon - $9.50). We also had an item off of the "Tapas Nuevas" list, but it is escaping my memory, and Tapeo's online menu is not updated yet with the new "Tapas Nuevas" list.

Luckily I was still starving after the abundance of bread to begin, but even if I had been full, I would have finished every last morsel of food on the table. I found myself repeating the same phrases over and over throughout the meal. "This is my new favorite," "actually this one," "I can't really decide anymore." As I tried each dish, I fell in love with them. First it was the rabbit. The tender meat fell off the bone (there were several bones, the one downside) and into the thick, sweet sauce of red wine, juniper and garlic.

.....I will finish this entry later. But I want to post for anyone that needs plans for the weekend...I will also sort the pictures out soon...

TAPEO continued...

After the rabbit came the lamb (see comments on this entry), then the shrimp, the lobster raviolis and the quail (right and below). While the shrimp (below center), which was fried just right and served atop a sea of mildly spicy green Mojo sauce, and the lobster ravioli in a creamy, yellow Langostino sauce were both great, they were overshadowed by the phenomenal quail.

When I am at a good restaurant, I will always try foods I have never had before if on the menu. At Tapeo, the quail was the new choice. I was not disapointed. After briefly speculating whether or not the little bird could fly when alive, I began tearing it apart. The meat was tender and tasted somewhat similar to chicken, but the spices created the reality, and maybe the illusion that pheasant tastes significantly better than chicken. One way or another, the quail was one of the best tapas, hands down.

Almost as good was the pheasant (right), which came wrapped in bacon and served over a sweet, dark sauce. Perhaps the best thing about the pheasant was that unlike the rabbit, you could chow down right on through the bacon and into the delicious meat without having to dig around a superfluous amount of little bones.

Last but certainly not least came desert, but it was much more than that. I think the picture at the top of this post does the dessert more than justice, but there is another picture, which is not quite so incredibly seductive, below. The dessert was the Filloa al Licor (Fruit-filled Dessert Crepe accented with Chocolate Sauce and Orange Liquor - $7.50). The fruit (blueberries, raspberries and blackberries) was very fresh and cool, the encasing crepe was soft, thin and warm, and the cool chocolate sauce with an orange hint. All together, the dessert created a hot and cold sensation that was a perfect ending to a vast array of different tapas dishes from various countries.