Tasty Tapas at Tasca
Tasca is one of my favorite restaurants in the Boston area, so it was just inexcusable that I hadn’t been there in years and hadn’t introduced my husband to this great restaurant. Tasca serves Spanish cuisine which I love for its robust flavors and Meditteranean ingredients.
Tasca is known for their delicous tapas, but they also offer full Spanish entrees and great Spanish wines. Tapas, if you aren’t familiar with the concept, are small plates of food and are traditional Spanish fare (although many American restaurants are adopting the notion). It allows you to try small amounts of several different foods. In Spain, the locals hop from tapas bar to tapas bar to try specialties at different restaurants. This isn’t an option in Boston, but Tasca offers more than enough delectable options to keep you happy and full.
On our recent visit, my husband and I ordered about 8 or 9 tapas dishes – a little too much for two people, but it was so difficult to choose! Our tapas included chicken and ham croquettes, patatas bravas (fried potatoes), a petit filet mignon in a mushroom sauce, a timbale (or tower) of vegetables, a leek quiche, and herbed goat cheese empanadas.
Everything was flavorful, cooked appropriately, and delicious. Many of the dishes were augmented with tasty sauces. The croquettes, for example, were lightly fried and served in a Romesco sauce. They were soft inside and each bite revealead a delicous combination of meats and herbs. The petit filets were served with crispy onion strings and a hearty red wine mushroom sauce that was able to stand up to the rich meat. The leek quiche had two cheeses including Manchego, and it was soft and almost creamy, but never mushy. The timbale of vegetables was a tower of grilled vegetables including eggplant, zucchini and tomato and was our only disappointment - it wasn’t bad, but was very basic compared with most of the tapas we received.
I ordered a glass of Vina Perguita from Navarra Spain. The wine is a mix of tempranillo, cabernet and merlot. It was fruity and full-bodied with a slightly dry finish. It was incredible.
We split two desserts, the Pastel Vasco which was ensconced in chocolate cookie crumbs and filled with soft banana and milk toffee. It was very sweet and rich and everything I could ask for in a dessert. We also had a piece of cheesecake – a special on the day we visited - which was made from goat cheese and covered in a blackberry topping. It was a little tart with a creamy texture – much less firm than a traditional New York style cheesecake. It was good but didn’t come close to the Pastel Vasco.
Insiders know to sign up for e-mails to get a birthday coupon worth up to $15 off your bill (or a free entree of a lesser value). E-mails also notify customers of prix fixe menus, holiday specials, flamenco dance performances, wine dinners, and more. Even without the birthday coupon, the meal would have felt like a good value for the quality and quantity of food. Valet parking is reasonable at $6. I don’t plan on letting another few years pass before revisiting one of my favorite tapas restaurants!
Tags: Spanish, Spanish wine, tapas, tasca restaurant brighton
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