“Small plates are called Tapas. They are plates for big hearts, love, and people who believe in inclusion and sharing kindness. In Spain, It isn’t just a style of eating, it’s a celebration of life!”
—Jose’ Andres, Chef, Humanitarian & Founder of World Central Kitchen
Our friends Bill and Sarah recommended this restaurant to celebrate a belated Valentine’s Day. I say belated because they were out of town visiting family during Valentine’s Day and Cecile and I had a new electrical main panel and a charging station installed in our garage for my new Tesla and Valentine’s Day was earliest they could schedule the work. Sarah made a reservation for outdoor seating and baby was it cold outside, even with the heat lamps. The young woman who seated us offered Sarah and Cecile a comfy blanket to ease the chill. Tapas are Spain’s traditional small plate snacks and has become popular all over the world including right here in California, most often accompanied by a drink. Cecile, Sarah and I had the restaurant’s signature homemade Sangria (actually I had two) and Bill had a Spanish beer.
We feasted on Ham Croquetas: Croquettes with Iberian ham, piquillo pepper sauce and aioli; Pan con Tomato: Spanish loaf, tomato dressing with chorizo butter; Roasted Chicken empanadas with spicy aioli; Spanish Meatballs with Canary Masala sauce and friend potatoes; and Secreto Iberia Paella: Acorn Fed Black Pig Fillet, pork belly and mushrooms. For dessert we indulged our sweet tooth with a Trio Selection of Teleferic’s most popular desserts: Arroz Tres Leches: Rice pudding with cream Catalana foam and jelly; Torrid: French toast, Catalan cream, banana and vanilla ice cream; Churros con Nutella: and Barcelona street fried dough with Nutella.
Teleferic Barcelona’s owner Xavi Padrosa along with his sister Maria Padrosa just opened their newest restaurant in the Old Town shopping center in Los Gatos, CA on January 12. It offers tapas, homemade sangria, paella and their authentic Spanish market and deli, El Merket is stocked with a large assortment wine, specialty imported Spanish products, and food to go. The modern open-spaced Mediterranean style decor creates a warm, eclectic ambiance. It has been reported that most of their employees are trained in their locations in Spain before they came to the United States. This was brilliant planning on their part considering how the pandemic shuttered many restaurants.
Postscript about the History of Tapas: Legend has it that it was first invented in the 13th century. While recovering from a sickness, King Alfonso X of Leon, Galicia & Castille was only able to drink and eat small quantities at a time. By so doing, he unwittingly created small plate eating, similar to tapas.
Apparently, after dining this way, he figured that always getting some food with every drink would help reduce the drunken behavior of peasants and so decreed that small snacks eating should be served with every drink, across the land. As peasants were poor and seemingly preferred to spend more money on alcohol, rather than buying food, this seemed like a reasonable solution.
