Tag Archives: spain

Tinto - Tapas Espana

November 5, 2008

Riding the wave of Spanish indulgence from my experience at The Spanish Kitchen, I decided to try a restaurant that I pass several times a week. Tinto, in West Hollywood, offers a great way to try a variety of Spanish dishes by way of the Executive Chef from Balboa — the North-Western region of Spain.

Enjoying Happy Hour at any restaurant is a double-edged sword. Cheap plates, are generally small, and cooked in bulk — the care that goes into them isn’t always the best that it can be. Ordering nearly every tapa from the starter menu, I would think I was able to get a good cross-section of what the restaurant has to offer, but from the looks of the menu, the truth of the restaurant’s cuisine lies in the entrees.

While the tapas are fairly priced for a varietal consumption, at $5 each during Happy Hour, the entrees are in the $30 region. With so many great restaurants in Los Angeles such as Animal, where you can enjoy Spanish inspired dishes and products from all over Spain, it is difficult to commit to spending $30 on a dish that is not represented fantastically by the tapas.

Though it is great to be able to try six different tapas for only $30, the portions are very small. Perhaps the portions were so small because they were served during Happy Hour. Even with the assumption that the portions for each tapa at other times may be larger, not all the tapas are worth trying.

Tinto’s Spanish tortilla lacked flavor, and was served at room temperature. The only other time I’ve eaten a Spanish tortilla, it was also served at room temperature as well so this may be true to form, but the lack of seasoning is not. At $5 for four small squares and the lack of seasoning, this item is not worth trying. The chef attempts to spice up the tortilla by adding a garlic aioli for dipping, but it proved invaluable as the aioli itself lacked flavor as well.

One tapa includes Spanish chorizo from Basque, Spain, wrapped in a thin layer of what appeared to be bacon, and baked in a shallow layer of a white wine-garlic sauce. The chorizo was as good as it can be as it is a prepared sausage which is merely heated, but the real complexity of the tapa came by way of the white wine-garlic sauce. The flavors of the bacon and the chorizo formed a symbiotic relationship with the white wine-garlic sauce to create a beautiful flavor.

The Albóndigas a la Española consisted of medium-sized meatballs made of beef and pork which sat in an onion, leek, carrot, and garlic sauce. The meatballs were a bit overcooked, but the flavor makes them the second best I’ve ever had. The sauce was reminiscent of a gravy, yet does not seem to contain the makings of a roux according to the description divulged. Both the meatballs and the sauce were fantastic, but didn’t seem to pair. The sauce does well with the sliced baguette, and the meatballs would have paired well with the white wine-garlic sauce, or stood alone quite well, too.

Being a fan of dates, and a huge fan of salty and sweet pairings, I ordered the
Dátiles Rellenos de Queso de Cabrales con Bacon, which consisted of madjool dates, stuffed Cabrales cheese, and wrapped in smoked bacon. Cabrales cheese, being a Spanish blue cheese, gave me the impression that I should expect a sharp contrast to the sweet dates and the cheese, but the cheese was washed out completely by the flavor of the dates. While the bacon was tasty it was not as flavorful or crispy as I hoped. This dish is worth trying for $5, but could certainly be better if a sharper cheese and a saltier bacon were used.

The sultry atmosphere of the dark lit restaurant makes this a perfect place to bring a date. Delicious sangria makes this the perfect place to start a night off as well. And as far as comfort goes, the bar stools are the most comfortable I’ve ever sat in.

No restaurants seem to have as great of chemistry as Tinto does — from the bartender, to the hostess, to the chef, and the waiter, everyone meshes very well together and the chemistry is so apparent that it immediately makes you comfortable. I have never felt an aura from any other restaurant before, like I did at Tinto. It seems as if everyone cares about the success of the plate; about the success of the restaurant; about the experience of the patrons. If for no other reason, go to Tinto to experience the art of the restaurant through the synergy of people that work there.

Spanish Tortilla

Spanish Tortilla

7511 Santa Monica Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 512-3095

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Spanish Indulgence

November 5, 2008

I sat down and opened up the menu at The Spanish Kitchen in West Hollywood. To my dismay the menu features mostly Mexican dishes. I opted for one Spanish dish, and one Mexican dish.

The Spanish dish that I ordered was the lobster crepe, with a Mexican cocoa crepe, sautéed lobster, leeks, Manchego cheese, and a tequila-lobster cream sauce. For a Spanish dish, it incorporates two dishes synonymous with Mexico: tequila and Mexican cocoa.

The lobster crepe was overtly sweet, with subtle undertones of savory Manchego cheese. The tequila was not a prevalent flavor, and sadly, nor was the lobster. Though the lobster itself seemed to be cooked to the proper degree, its flavor was masked by the cream sauce and the cheese. Attempting to taste the indiscernible flavor of the lobster, one solitary bite with as little sauce as possible was necessary — the lobster still had no flavor of its own.

Subsequently, the Mexican dish arrived. The plate consisted of three small tacos. There were six options of meat to choose from, so I selected the best cross-section for taste-testing: chicken, bbq pork, and mesquite steak.

Each taco was topped with lettuce, diced tomato, and Manchego cheese. Every topping added to the overall taste of taco. I started with the chicken taco because it was on the far left. The meat appeared to have been stewed and all the ingredients of the pot were soaked into the meat like a sponge. This chicken was both savory and sweet — an apparent theme for The Spanish Kitchen. Its only pitfall was that it was overcooked; making the chicken a bit mushy.

Overcooking was not the problem of the bbq pork; in fact the texture of the bbq was great. The meat separated, but did not feel mushy. If the caramelized surfaces of the pork were crispy, the pork would have had the perfect texture. The flavor of the bbq pork is comparable to that of carnitas, but again it was a bit sweet and didn’t have the apparent flavor of bay leaves. The flavor of the chicken reigns supreme over that of the bbq pork, but the texture of the bbq pork quelled that of the chicken. A combination of both meats would be ideal.

Both the chicken taco and the bbq pork taco were not improved by the addition of the tomato salsa that came with a basket of chips, but the mesquite steak tacos certainly was. The stand-alone salsa was the only thing saving the mesquite steak which was less than lukewarm by the time I took my first full bite, but not because I took too much time eating the first two tacos; the first two tacos weren’t very hot either. This certainly was not satisfactory, but even less enjoyable was the flavor of the meat. The steak was nearly bland, with a subtle smoky flavor that was somehow incorporated into the steak. Without the salsa, mesquite steak taco is not worth eating.

All in all The Spanish Kitchen is worth a visit, especially to sample starter dishes for $5 a piece during happy hour, although happy hour may have been their detriment as well. All too often happy hours consist of appetizers being cooked in bulk, and unfortunately in haste. Perhaps the salt missing from the mesquite steak and the unfavorable temperature of it can be attributed to haste in making bulk happy hour food.

The verdict is still out on whether or not The Spanish Kitchen will become a place of recurring dining for me, but the flavors of the chicken, the bbq pork, the tequila-lobster cream sauce, and the sweet salsa are reason enough for me to come back and try a few more dishes so I can find out.

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