Frequent readers might have noticed that I’m quite a fan of tapas, aka small plate dining, grazing on appetizers, izakaya, or whatever name you like for tasting many small savory items and calling it a meal. It might not have escaped you that I’m also a fan of good wine, so a place that specializes in tapas and the fruit of the grape would naturally be one I’d find exciting.
When an eatery called Tapas & Vino opened in Redondo, I was intrigued. When I heard that the owner was Andy di Girgis, former owner of the excellent wine shop located upstairs in the Galleria mall, it was another good omen. Though the catering facilities at that location had serious shortcomings, I had enjoyed several wine dinners there, so a full kitchen would mean things would be even better, right?
Unfortunately, after four months in business, Tapas & Vino is still firmly in the “interesting, but inconsistent” category. A recent dinner showed considerable potential but also highlighted elements that needed rethinking.
The first impression of the restaurant is promising; the patio is delightful, and while it’s loud inside and the tables are closer together than is ideal, the acoustics aren’t bad and you actually can hear your companions. The menu is long on California small plates – there are a few things on the menu with a real Spanish lineage, but corn chowder, tabbouli, and sliders all make appearances. The descriptions are brief but tantalizing, and we ordered our first plates with high expectations.
Then it was time for the vino part of the experience. Over 50 wines were offered by the glass, and flights are available – short pours of any three wines from the list for $15. Well-considered wine flights allow you to taste variations on a theme – say, a New Zealand, Oregon, and French Pinot Noir, or tempranillos from three different years. Three of us asked our server to suggest red flights from wines that he thought were particularly interesting, while our fourth requested three white wines. We were nonplussed when our server came back to our table with nine different red wines and put them down at random. He named each producer as he did so, but we quickly lost track and asked him to write them down so we could know what we were tasting. “They’ll be on the receipt at the end of the meal,” he assured us, and went to get the white flight. When he came back, we had him recite all the names so we could write them on some scraps of paper I had in my pocket so we could have some idea of what we were tasting. Most were good but not exceptional wines, with an Evodia Garnacha and a Layer Cake Malbec tasting well and a New Zealand Pinot very appealing. The only dud was a leathery, tannic French Malbec that caused one of my companions to suggest that the French leave Malbec to Argentines. The diner who had requested whites received a Vionta Albarino, a Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc, and a Conundrum blend – all acceptable, but not one of them adventurous or boutique wines.
We had decided to start with salads – a daily special of roasted beets with cherries and goat cheese, and a standard menu item of a baked pear topped with Cabrales blue cheese with Belgian endive leaves, arugula, and candied walnuts with a sherry vinaigrette. The beet and cherry salad was beautifully served and quite good, fruitiness moderated with a dressing that had a little vinegar for a sweet and sour tang. The pear salad was a good idea marred by the sweetness of the pear fighting with the very strong, sharp Cabrales and losing; it would have been fine with a milder cheese, but this one took over every bite.
We continued with a house specialty of “lamb lollipops,” delicious individual lamb chops crusted with pepper and herbs and grilled. The menu said these were served with Serrano mint pesto and pureed hominy, and at first I thought the kitchen had forgotten that this was part of the dish. After I moved the first chop, I saw a dollop of hominy about the size of a dime, with an even smaller dab of pureed mint on top. I popped the half-spoonful in my mouth and found it delightful but quickly gone– if about four times as much had been provided, I would have still considered it a modest amount, but at least there would have been enough to alternate bites of lamb with vegetable. At $16 for four chops, a little generosity with the garnishings might be expected.
Portion size was not a problem with the bruschetta porchetta, a heap of succulent herbed roast pork atop a toasted baguette. Porchetta is like an Italian carnitas, and though it was stacked high we ate every morsel. This was a bargain at $8 for a portion that fed four, and having the two dishes next to each other was quite a contrast.
Next were tapas of squash ravioli and grilled mushrooms, plus an entrée of roasted duck breast with green peppercorn sauce served with couscous and asparagus. These all passed muster, the mushrooms with warm balsamic vinaigrette a simple dish well executed, the homemade ravioli warm and lightly sweet, natural flavors subtly accented by brown butter and sage. The duck breast hit the spot too, the very tender sliced meat in a tangy brandy-pepper sauce getting the approval of everyone at the table. The couscous almost stole the show, the most flavorful version of this dish I’ve ever had. I would love to know how to make couscous that tastes this luscious, and now that I know it can be done I’m going to experiment.
We were so happy with the excellence of the main courses that we were looking forward to dessert, a cheese platter followed by bread pudding. Unfortunately the former turned out to be two modest slices of a very good brie, a few thin slices of standard manchego, a large serving of the sharp cabrales blue that had sabotaged the pear salad, and a couple of tiny wedges of quince jelly. For $12 we had expected a more generous portion and a better variety, especially since we had told our server that we didn’t like the cabrales. The blueberry bread pudding was also a disappointment, a sugary cake topped with store-bought ice cream and caramel topping, and even the sweet-toothed stopped eating after a bite or two.
Dinner for four with five flights of wine ran $203 – which would have been reasonable if everything had come up to the standard that this kitchen is obviously capable of. Tapas & Vino shows promise and once they get their act together they’ll be a valuable addition to the Riviera Village scene.
Tapas & Vino is at 1729 N. Catalina in Redondo – open daily for lunch and dinner, weekend brunch. Street parking only, wine and beer served, patio dinning, vegetarian friendly. Menu at tapasyvino.com. (310) 791-8200.
