Salud To Your Health!

Mike and I went to Espana last night for our Valentine's Dinner. We have eaten there once before, but last night's meal tipped me from "like" to "love." I don't know if we ordered a better selection of tapas, or if the chef was having a better night, but I was truly wowed by the food this time.

We started off, of course, with their wonderful Margaritas. Served in a slender juice glass, Espana's Margarita is made with tequila and orange juice - no syrup or fakey lime sugar water. Delicious. And nutritious!

Our first round of tapas was cold. We ordered white asparagus in aioli and a fish/scallop seviche with baby spinach and plaintain chips, and we also received a plate of crusty bread. White asparagus can sometimes be a little on the bland side, but no so in this case; it was tender but full of flavor. The aioli was marvelously tangy and made a nice dipping sauce for the crusty bread. The seviche was one we have ordered before but had to try again. The best way to eat this is to pile the seviche and a leaf or two of spinach onto the plaintain - the flavors together are delightful. Seviche is seviche, but if it's fresh and light, it's good.

Next we had our hot tapas (with another round of Margaritas, of course). We had grilled shrimp in garlic, olive oil, white wine, and lemon... or so it said. I tasted lime, which was tart and sweet and wonderful. Shrimp is very hit or miss for me - if the shrimp itself is bland or too soft, I can't stand it. But this was firm, just a tiny bit crispy on the outside, and full of flavor. 

The low point of the meal was the bowl of steamed clams, I'm afraid. They were a bit tough and sandy, and the white wine sauce was fairly ordinary. Not bad, just a little predictable. But I will forgive one weak spot.

Finally, we tried one of the special tapas of the evening - parsley pesto crostini with divers scallops. And oh. my. god. Wow. These completely blew me away and erased any memory of substandard clams. Each bite just melted in your mouth. The scallops were a bit carmelized on the outsides and tender beyond belief. The bread was soaked in pesto just enough to be soft but not soggy. They were warm and rich and... just wow.

We opted out of dessert, but maybe next time we'll see what they've got. The Margaritas were sweet enough that I wasn't really craving a dessert by the end of the meal. In all, it was a little pricey at $80 plus tip, but well worth it based on quality.