As another month of Foodies approached, I was excited for the Spanish tapas menu that awaited us at Bocado. As we arrived, we were greeted warmly by a waiter who politely showed us to our designated section for the evening’s event. The best way to start a meal is with a nice cocktail. The red sangria was a nice touch with a bright splash of Spanish red wine, brandy and fresh fruit juices.
As our meal began to come out, we were given a nice cutting board of serrano ham, and manchego cheese. The chese was creamy and firm and added a nice complement to the saltly, thinly sliced cured ham, which is very similar to proscuitto. As our appetizers continued on, the Tortilla Espanola that Bocado offered up was closer to a quiche or a frittata. The scalloped potatoes were combined nicely with a red pepper aioli, with a side of olive tapenade. The tapenade on its own was extremely bitter, however when put together with the potato dish it was a nice offset to the creamy potatoes.
Our next offering was a roasted chicken dish that was extremely tender, to the point where it fell off the bone. It was a stick to your ribs sort of dish that would be perfect for a cold winter evening. The seasoning was perfect with a subtle hint of orange and rosemary. This chicken would be perfect in a homemade chicken soup, like Mom used to make.
Still in our appetizer section, we were treated to fried Calamares Con Ajo with an orange horseradish cream. The Calamares Con Ajo was cooked perfectly and the breading was nice and light. However, I found the sauce a little too acidic. I personally would have liked a little more kick from the horseradish and less of the lemon and orange that seemed to overpower the whole dish.
Our main course consisted of two different paella dishes: Paella Clasica and Paella de Carne. One dish was the meat paella featured chorizo, chicken, duck and veal. This was my personal favorite. The meat provided a really rich flavor to the dish and it was something different. Being an adventurous eater, I liked the unusual meats that you normally wouldn’t try in restaurant circumstances. The other paella was their classic paella offering. This was a rice dish with assorted seafood, calamari, little neck clams, mussels, and chorizo. The only negative thing that I could say about the dish was that it was quite salty. But with that said and knowing that there was a lot of seafood, that didn’t really surprise me.
Next was onto dessert: Postres Churros y Chocolate. A traditional Spanish dessert included a wonderfully fried churro with a chocolate dipping sauce. The churros were nicely dusted with a sugar and the semi-sweet chocolate was not overpowering and a really nice way to end the meal. Needless to say, we left Bocado with a full stomach, in good spirits and with another story to tell. -ED
