I%26#39;ve been craving a tapas restaurant ever since Ciento in Portsmouth closed more than five years ago and lo and behold here it is in Ogunquit, Maine.
Sure, we%26#39;ve got our restaurants with small plates on the menu to share and that%26#39;s great, I love it, but here at Tapas and Tinis, there%26#39;s a list of 37 little appetizers to share and they%26#39;re all very good, using interesting yet simple ingredients in preparations both creative and traditional.
Dining Out: Tapas and Tinis
Tapas and Tinis
188 Main St., Ogunquit, Maine, (207) 646-9700
Hours: Open seven nights from 4 p.m, from 1 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Food **** Vibrant dishes with simple ingredients in creative flavor fusions.
Service *** and a half. Friendly, but need to know more about the menu
Ambiance ****. While you won%26#39;t be able to dine outside much longer, the vibe is hip and fun.
Overall **** This is the way to dine — sharing tasty cuisine in a upbeat, lively atmosphere.
***** - Excellent
If you like small plates to share, try:
Black Trumpet Bistro, 29 Ceres St., Portsmouth, 431-0887, www.blacktrumpetbistro.com
Sit upstairs in the wine bar and share some small and medium plates with exotic ingredients rooted in New England local cuisine.
Four, 189 State St., Portsmouth, www.fouronstate.com, 319-1547.
OK, so they don%26#39;t have small plates, but they%26#39;re new and cool!
According to culinary legend, tapas came about as slices of bread to put on your sherry glass to keep the flies away between sips. This evolved into putting a tasty tidbit atop the bread and now, here in the United States at least, it%26#39;s a whole cuisine — and why not? If you order enough variety, you get to try many flavors, not just an appetizer and entrée and how fun is it to share, reaching across the table with a mutter of ';excuse my arm'; to spear a deviled egg stuffed with anchovy and cheese ($7)?
The restaurant is the brainchild of David Giarusso, who owns Angelina%26#39;s down the road, and he%26#39;s created a lively spot in which to enjoy all these little dishes. Our group of four sat in the patio area, which was sheltered by wall o%26#39; plastic to keep out the evening chill, facing the lively streets of tourist town Ogunquit. Soon everyone will have to move inside, but the bar area seating is nice too.
There%26#39;s an ';ultralounge'; upstairs, which means sleek décor and very cushy couches to sip martinis and cuddle up or make out in when the %26#39;tinis kick in. Not me. I didn%26#39;t do that.
We asked for our waitress%26#39;s advice on how many dishes to order and I think she undershot it. We wound up with 12, plus a salad and two desserts and that was the right amount for us. Prices range from $4 to $13 and if you do order this way, it turns out to be a much more inexpensive meal for four than usual. We started with a round of vegetarian appetizers — the menu gets progressively meaty as you read down. The tortilla espanola is a simple, fluffy potato, egg and onion ';omelet'; but seems more like a fritatta in our culinary vocabulary. Fried plantains were crisp outside, tender and hot inside with just a sprinkling of sea salt on top, the texture robust and the ';meat'; slightly sweet.
We loved the Brussels sprouts roasted with garlic, the veggies still slightly firm with a delightful roasted caramelization. Spicy chilled marinated olives come with a nicely chewy bread, while a plate of red, yellow and green roasted peppers, these roasted right outside on a grill were sweet and smoky and served with some tangy miniscule pickled onions.
We were on our third round by now — fried artichoke hearts were good, but the hearts were from a can instead of from fresh artichokes, which was a disappointment, still there was a mild horseradish cream to add to the flavor. Big Spanish meatballs in a deep bowl came in a spicy tomato sauce with cracked olives and were very tasty, but better was a juicy plump chorizo sausage, grilled to make the skin crackly and served with tender white cannellini beans.
But wait, there%26#39;s more! Sauteed tiger shrimp are buttery and aromatic with bits of garlic and a kabob of fresh, moist salmon comes with sweet Vidalia onion and an earthy fig sauce. The churrasco, a South American meat dish here with grilled beef was terrific, marinated to tender and infused with garlic with a bright, green chimichurri sauce on the side. The dish can also be ordered as an entrée and yes they have salads, sandwiches with fresh cut fries, flat breads and entrees like a half rack of ribs and Spanish meatloaf, none of which we ordered.
Desserts are good, although they were out of flan. The Seville orange cake was soft and mild with a good icing while a cup of white chocolate holding three fruit sorbets was a light, intense ending to the bombardment of dishes we tried, each interesting and tasty.
I was actually amazed to scan the dining area to find that most of our peers there were not taking advantage of the tapas and were eating entrees and sandwiches instead. We still have 25 more dishes to try! Followed by a mojito while sinking into the soft embrace of a big black leather couch in the ultra lounge, of course.
Rachel Forrest is a former restaurant owner who lives in Portsmouth. Her column appears Wednesdays in Go %26amp; Do. Her restaurant review column, Dining Out, appears Thursdays in Spotlight magazine. Hear her on Wine Me Dine Me on alternate Wednesdays at noon on WSCA-FM 106.1. She can be reached by e-mail at rforrest@seacoastonline.com.
just found a REAL review on Tapas %26amp; Tini's in a newspaperLOL!!!! You love this place! To each his own.
Perhaps you should move to Ogunquit. You could eat there everyday....
just found a REAL review on Tapas %26amp; Tini's in a newspaperjust had a great experience at Tapas last night. We started with some tapas and then went onto to having dinner. The meatloaf was probably one of the best i ever had. The service was top notch
Stopped for lunch at Tapas and Tinis recently. It was great! We ordered several tapas and found them all to be excellent. We really enjoyed the fresh squeezed juice they use in the bloody mary%26#39;s and margaritas too. The waitress told us the short list of entrees are all priced at $10 on Wednesday nights. Might be worth the trip for us from Portland!
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