First Look: Espana Wine & Tapas Bar
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- January
- 3
So what do you think it is about tapas and small plates? The tapas restaurants have been around these parts for quite a while. Small plates have been popular for at least 5 years, maybe more. Why is everyone sitting up and taking notice now? I’m working on a story to that effect, and would love to hear your thoughts.
Because of my story, a visit to Espana Wine & Tapas Bar in Larchmont was in order. The restaurant opened in November, and with the busy holiday season I hadn’t had a chance to check it out yet. I’m sorry I waited so long.
We started with patatas bravas, shown above. The potatoes were good, but the sauce was fantastic. Smoky paprika really lent depth.
We were equally impressed with the cheese croquettes.
We were told they were stuffed with manchego, but I didn’t detect that nuttiness. Still, you could tell it was no ordinary melting cheese, and we were thankful and surprised.
Those of you who have seen the restaurant in its former incarnations  Larchmont Avenue Oyster House, Aperitivo Plus, Lanterna East  will recognize the bones of the place.
It hasn’t changed much. The decor is traditional, with little nooks displaying pitchers and other ceramics. And the music is, traditional too, by the way: a lot of classical guitar and the like.
My friends and I sat at the bar, where they have little sushi cases to keep some of the tapas out on the counter. They also have several Spanish beers, shown above.
On the beverage end, I loved the wine list. I’m trying to learn more about Spanish wines, and this list might as well be a textbook…. in a good way. There’s a map on the first page, and then the sections of the list are divided into the wine regions of Spain, which you can then go back and match up on your map. (This is especially helpful when you’re early for dinner and waiting for your friends to arrive.) The other good thing  good, that is, for Spanish wine dilettantes like myself; it’s probably annoying for connoisseurs  is that there is a label with every wine on the list. So even if I didn’t remember the name, I recognized bottles I’d had before.
Our host for the evening, the very amiable bartender, suggested we have the oyster special. We saw one going to another guest, and knew he was probably right.
He was. They’re cooked in cava and served with serrano, manchego and leeks. Not your usual “tapa.” More of an app. Rich and creamy, and the leeks were a very nice foil to that.
We also shared the brandada:
Unfortunately, not my favorite. It was an OK version but didn’t knock me down crying.
This pepper dish, on the other hand, was a real winner:
Pimientos del Piquillo Rellenos de pato y Morcilla: braised duck and blood sausage-stuffed red peppers. The dish was delicious, and very well balanced: earthy from the duck and the lentils; acidic from the peppers; rich from the sausage. Everyone loved it.
I was also a big fan of the cauliflower soup, a special:
It wasn’t too creamy, but the lobster (which was at the bottom of the dish and a little hard to find at first) made up for that, giving the soup body and depth.
For our final savory course, we had the daily egg special. It came mixed with mushrooms and duck and was probably my favorite of the night:
We saw the fabulous-looking cheese plate near the door and couldn’t resist ordering a plate:
Unfortunately, they hadn’t all been handled well. I don’t have all their names written down, unfortunately, so I only remember the two at 10 and 2 o’clock: manchego and cabrales. The cabrales was delicious, as was the cow’s milk cheese at 7 o’clock. But there was some ammonia on some of the others, and a hard edge I would have preferred been cut away. The nuts, membrillo and the fruit compote in the center were all delicious.
And so was the dessert, a red-wine soaked French toast of sorts served with a sherry ice cream.
It was so good I shot it twice:
I was impressed with Espana, and hope to get back soon to try some of the other dishes, including the entrees. Here is the menu:
Espana Wine & Tapas Bar, 147 Larchmont Ave., Larchmont. 914-833-1331.
Let me know your thoughts  both on this restaurant and the tapas trend in general….
(1 votes, average: 3 out of 5)
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on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 at 10:48 am by Liz Johnson.
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(4.62 out of 5)
Had dinner there a couple of weeks ago and was really turned off when the waiter asked if we wanted olives from the bar and then added them to our check. Wasn’t impressed with the food either.
I ate there tonight almost solely because I was sucked in by your nice picture of the patatas bravas!! I haven’t found great patatas bravas since the old Solera in Irvington, of which I still mourn the loss…
I was looking forward to going to Espana but was very disappointed. We got 6 tapas and I’d say only 2-3 I’d even care to order again. Maybe we just happened to order their weakest tapas?!
The good news is they did have a Spanish dessert wine I’d been looking for for a long time….
Oh! And I forgot to mention, the prices were quite a bit higher than Barcelona in Greenwich (my current favorite tapas place) and the food was not as good.
Also, the waiter tried to take our plates TWICE when were were still eating! Then, it took us 45+ minutes, literally, to get the check.
Wow. Sorry folks. Seems like Espana isn’t getting such a good reception. Can you all share what you had? Did you order different things than I had?
Hi Liz,
I can recall getting
Patatas bravas
some kind of seafood salad
chorizo
spanish omelette
The seafood salad was ok but the chorizo and spanish omelette were shockingly NOT tasty. I mean, how can you make boring chorizo?!
España restaurant is really a gem in larchmont. The food is extraordinary. My husband is from Spain-Barcelona and we used to go often to Spain. Being in España restaurant is like being in a tapas bar in Spain.