Text 13758, 126 rader
Skriven 2008-09-14 19:36:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
Ärende: Tapas
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I had mentioned here early that we had a glut of Asian restaurants
here and that one Filipino and three Chinese places had shut down.

Well out of the ashes we have three new places that just opened up,
each one with new owners, chefs, menus and extensive renovations to
the decor.

The first was an ill conceived Persian restaurant, created by some
hopeful Armenian diamond cutters and staffed by their wives. We have
just 300 people here from all of North Africa, the Middle East and
India combined who might appreciate various aspects of the dishes
and it just isn't a universally popular cuisine like, say, pizza or
Chinese food. I said to my co-diners, Roslind, Kevin and Lori (the
dog mushing wine buffs), "Let's try them out once before they fold."
Too late! It was boarded up last night. After putting down a three
month deposit in June and opening in August, they couldn't make the
Sept. rent.

So we wandered over to Fuego's International Cuisine, which is the
new people's makeover of Otto's venerable steakhouse. Decor both
inside and out looked promising (Sato hadn't updated his 60's look
steak house since the 80's) but we were turned away for lack of a
reservation; both the 6 and 8 PM sittings were fully sold out. (We
weren't surprised by that as it has become YK's hot spot of the year
and is getting great reviews. It was Fuego people who catered our
recent company riverfront retreat and they managed to tart up all
the old standards of a classical summer steak barbecue and tweak
everything in a novel way. I'd say "take it up a notch" if that
wasn't such a cliche.)

We were successful at the third place: Thorton's Tapas and Wine Bar.
We strolled in at 6:30 and got the last table. It is not in an
auspicious location, the corner of a bowling alley that used to
house a sports bar and a small hot dog joint, but it has its own
entrance and lots of soundproofing, plus a massive makeover. They
have an extensive winelist by the bottle and by the glass but we
chose their tasting flights.

The first flight was a Portuguese verde, a French rose and a German
Gewurztraminer. I didn't note the makers. The verde was a real find:
very dry, very acidic, slightly petillant; it tasted unbalanced on
its own but was really nice with buttery, garlicky seafood. I will
get the details the next time I go (and order a full bottle). The
rose seemed characterless (I love the concept but have never found
a rose that lived up to my expectations) on its own but was quite
pleasant with some grilled pork. The Gerwurz was less spicy and
lighter than most, more subtle and quite good. We ordered four tapas
to be brought forward one at a time so that we could all have a
taste of each one. We started with a garlicky shrimp dish on a bed
of flavourful, herbed moirpoix (this is the one that made the verde
shine), followed by a roasted onion pizza, nicely caramelized) with
some sort of Spanish white melting cheese, then chevre baked in a
vol au vent puff accompanied by a tasty salad of mixed baby greens,
blueberries, raspberries and a very light fruity vinaigrette that
didn't kill the wines (the chevre was mild and had just a hint of
that goatish ammonia-ness) and finally some spice rubbed skewered
pork tenderloin (the menu said seven skewers but the waiter noted
that four people were tasting every dish and we got eight). There
was some delay in the pork arriving (kitchen received two orders but
only made one) so we had a nice complimentary amuse bouche in the
interim, scallop shooters in an jellied oniony brown broth.

The red flight was composed of a Cote du Rhone, a Rioja and a
Chianti. All nice, the Rioja being the best of the three (again, I
must get the particulars next time) both on its own and with food.
For food we had four duck breast wanton shooters (the only
disappointment all evening - the duck wanton was delicious but the
broth was an overly salty beef bouillon that had to have come from
a cheap cube), then a Spanish flavoured (minced olives!) beef
tartare with a good mustard sauce and lots of pickled green
peppercorns, waffle cut potato chips with a spicy aiole and a smoked
paprika dipping sauce (these two served together and truly
synergistic) and a marinaded (very limey) grilled flank steak on a
bed of fried potatoes and red peppers.

We were full enough from the tapas that we passed on dessert except
for a tiny complimentary spoonful of raspberry-champagne sorbet.

All the dishes were highly seasoned, with lots of fresh herbs strewn
around and loaded with flavour. Lori, being an almost vegetarian
with a seafood allergy, had the lion's share of the pizza and salad
so I got an extra big share of the pork and beef, Roslind a couple
of extra shrimp and Kevin the extra scallop. Every taste of that
meal was a real delight (except that duck broth). We are definitely
returning again soon.

Dining of this calibre (and let us not forget Pierre's French
places) is almost unheard of in little hick towns of 20,000. If
Fuego's is also as good I will be truly blessed.





























Cheers

YK Jim


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