I've always been interested in eating at a tapas bar for a while now. How many little plates will it take to fill me up? I've eaten at restaurants where they serve multiple courses and after about five courses I can't eat another bite. Will it take more with saucer sized portions?
Pipa is a taperia near Union Square. My sister recommended this place when we were deciding what restaurant to go to for our "monthly" (or whenever we feel like treating our other siblings) siblings night-out. I was glad we got reservations as the place was pretty packed by the time we got there. The restaurant was in a large room with chandeliers hanging everywhere. I was wondering why there were tags on them and then I realized that the restaurant was connected with the furniture store next door. Hey if you found something you like, you could easily head over to the store to buy it.
One of the first things I checked was the wine list they had. I was particularly interested what riojas they had. They had Spanish (of course) and French wines. I couldn't particularly see the rest because they were priced per bottle. It was a good thing I saw one rioja that they served per glass. When our waiter came around I asked about that particular red but he was not that enthusiastic about it. When I mentioned that I wanted a rioja but was uncertain what to pick, he suggested one that I was interested in. That and it was in the right price range.
You can click on the image to see the bottle we had.It was a good thing we ordered quickly as it took them a while to deliver the little plates. By the time they arrived, we were famished. I started with the Pulpo Gallego (sauteed octopus, calamata olives, roasted potatoes, and smoked paprika). The octopus was cut in bite sized portions and really mixed well with the rest of the ingredients. It was very tender and quite tasty. The olives gave it a salty kick but it was not overpowering. Hmm maybe it was the wine?
We then proceeded to eat seared scallops with caramelized onions, melted manchego cheese and crispy serrano ham (Scallops a la Mancha). I tell you those were pretty good scallops! The sweet onions and the mild cheese helped it along.
I asked for a piece of mushroom coca (or Catalan flatbreads) as it looked pretty tasty. It had wild mushrooms, figs, thinly sliced serrano ham, toasted almonds and white truffle oil. The sweetness of the figs with the slightly salty ham accented the mushrooms. I didn't notice the truffle oil that much. You could think of it as some sort of "Spanish pizza".
I then had more mushrooms by reaching for a mushroom croquette. Have I said how much I like mushrooms? I really, really like mushrooms. It was breaded and wasn't oily at all! The mustard dressing was a little mild. I expected a sharp zing but all I got was a small pop.
By this time my other sibling calls and tells me to order Gambas Al Ajillo. I do so because I was sure it would arrive just as she came in. It came a little later but it had a lot of garlic! I also really, really like garlic and I am glad Malou doesn't mind. It was good enough for us to get more toasted bread to scoop up the olive oil and bits of garlic.
I also had a Pipa coca which had Spanish chorizo, roasted peppers and tomatoes, artichokes, manchego cheese and paprika. Mmmmm....
Speaking of peppers, a small clay plate no bigger than a coaster contained a stuffed sweet pepper, filled with lump crab meat and shrimp. It was COVERED in a smoky type of cheese. I don't recall what it was called but it was lip smackin' good!
Oh and I saved the best for last. We had dates stuffed with almonds and cabrales and then wrapped in bacon. It was placed on an endive leaf. Out of all the tapas we had, this was the one I liked best. I could have ordered more but I reached my limit. Hmm, so it looks like I had about four small plates of food considering we shared all everything. That includes the sherry I had for dessert.
Ahh, that was some dinner.
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