Tapas

In December 2004, we were living in Chicago. It was my last year of law school and a few college friends had come to visit. One of the first things we did that weekend was to go out for tapas at our favorite tapas place in Chicago, Cafe Iberico. From the photo it looks like we got patatas bravas (spicy potatoes in tomato sauce), tortilla espanola (Spanish omelette), champinones a la plancha (mushrooms in garlic and olive oil) and something else with potatoes that I can't identify. Yum. We loved the patatas bravas and tortilla espanola (sorry, don't know where the tilde is on here), and I think we got them almost every time.


Iberico isn't the only tapas place in Chicago. There was a place closer to our apartment but on my first visit there (and A's second), we didn't have a great experience. We were with my parents when they came in the summer and attempted to eat at that place. They offered us a table inside or outside, and we chose inside since my parents aren't huge fans of eating outdoors. Promptly upon sitting down, we were told that we could not sit inside because of the sleeveless shirts we were wearing. Well, why didn't you say something about this when we said we wanted to sit inside? The fact that this was never mentioned when we put our name in at the door, and they proceeded to let us wait 15 minutes for an inside table, and then told us we couldn't sit there was ridiculous. If we were not dressed "appropriately" for an inside table, then why let us wait for one? Why not just tell us at the first moment that we could not sit there so we could decide if we wanted to wait or go somewhere else? Why wait until we were sitting down at the table to tell us this wasn't an option? We obviously left but I have no recollection of where we ended up going. Although I had heard good things about the food, I had no desire to ever go there again after that experience with their service.

But on to happier things - the tapas at Iberico are good. Before we left Chicago for NYC, we did a "favorite foods" tour in Chicago to hit up our favorite places one last time and we made a stop there. We don't go for tapas that often here in NYC. There are plenty of places but it can get really pricey and places get crowded. But now I'm craving tortilla espanola and patatas bravas!

(I'm really enjoying this random photo thing. It's allowing me to tell stories about the past and I love it! It's so interesting how something like a photo can jog your memory.)