Last night my husband and I had dinner at Tinto's Spanish Restaurant and Wine Bar. The restaurant was pretty crowded, and once again, we had to get comfortable with our neighbors. This time we were surrounded by a James Cameron look-alike who was chatting about the BP oil spill and an awkward first date who were chatting mostly with the waiter. Oh well ... it still beats talking about discovery.
We decided to do tapas and a bottle of wine. Both menus are impressive, with a huge range of flavors and prices. We settled on a $38 bottle of Spanish white wine (good choice!) and 4 different tapas (varying ... see below).
First we tried the carpaccio. I order this pretty much everywhere, with my gold standard being the one at Capital Grille in Washington DC. The carpaccio at Tinto's doesn't top that one, but it's a close second. They ODed on horseradish, but the meat was extremely tender and the little salad on top was lovely. Definitely a win.
Next we had the Campinones al Ajillo (mushrooms in spicy garlic sauce). The mushrooms were crimini and button, served warm in an oily and very spicy sauce. Everything was well done and it was tasty, but nothing special. The best part of this dish was sopping up the sauce with the complimentary bread.
We also had the Caricoles Anduluces (snails with roasted artichoke). I love snails, and these little guys certainly did not disappoint. However, the real standout of the dish was the artichoke. Drenched in the slightly sweet goat cheese sauce, the pungent artichoke provided an amazing balance, and I wish they were a dish all on their own. Totally worth the price of admission.
Finally, we had the empanadillas. The crust on these little babies was a lot flakier than on other empanadas I've tried, and the filling was serviceable, if a little bland. Not a total score like the artichokes, but I'm glad we tried them.
For dessert we settled on churros with chocolate dipping sauce. My husband was a churro virgin and he really liked them. The chocolate dipping sauce was a real treat -- I only half joked about drinking it straight out of the bowl after the churros ran out. Ok, I licked some of it off my fingers. Our only complaint is that we wish the churros hadn't been drizzled with caramel -- we felt like it took away from both the crispy texture of the pastry and the amazing flavor of the chocolate. Still a very successful dessert though -- leave room for it!
Tintos is a little on the pricy side. It's not terribly fancy, but not an everyday choice. We enjoyed the tapas concept -- nothing is more fun than making a meal out of appetizers -- and we wished our table and our stomachs were a little bigger, so we could sample more. My best advice is to try and stay away from anything you could have anywhere else (ie, the mushrooms) and go for the more "exotic" offerings (ie, the snails). The small portions mean that you won't have to taste anything you don't like more than once, and chances are you'll find something you love.
