Tapas recs?

Tonight I'm eating at Alinea (yippeee!) so tomorrow I'm looking for something decidedly different. We don't get great latin/south american food in the Pacific NW so I'd really appreciate a few recommendations. We're staying at the Sofitel but are visiting a friend with a car, so location isn't much of a concern. Thanks!

You may want to check out this thread.

The best new tapas place in Chicago:
Mercat a la Plaxa
638 South Michigan Avenue

Plenty of posts on this board to read about this place.

Jonah

Definitely read through this thread:

nr706 wrote:You may want to check out this thread.

I've been somewhat disappointed with most tapas restaurants in Chicago, compared to what I've had in Spain and in San Francisco. By far, Cafe Iberico is the best, in my opinion. I've never been disappointed with the food; just the long wait. The wait can easily be an hour and a half on a Saturday night (but it can also be a lot shorter than what the hostess tells you it will be).

I was also very impressed with Azucar the one time that I had it.

Avec is strictly speaking not a tapas restaurant. The food is more contemporary, but it is served "tapas style" - meaning small plates - and the food is certainly inspired by Spanish and southern French cuisines.

Unfortunately, Spanish food is not one of the strengths of the local culinary scene. Are you open to other cuisines (especially regional Mexican or Thai)?

Thanks so much for the suggestions. Ended up at Mercat thanks to an 8:45am opening on Open Table. Didn't get seated until almost 9:30pm but mojitos kept us occupied. We must have ordered at least one third of their enormous menu and everything was really quite good. Service, in spite of their totally packed and truly cavernous dining room, was relatively attentive, though near impossible to hear our server's voice b/c of the volume in the room. Only disappointment, truly, was the sangria which lacked flavor but came with an amusing tale of a rack of pitchers crashing to the ground earlier in the evening. For a "small plates" restaurant, I was also actually very surprised by the large portion size of almost every dish we ordered (not sure if that's a positive or a negative). Would certainly recommend, if not return.

Had a great time in your city this past weekend!

I'd recommend Cafe Marbella on Peterson. Granted, it's a bit off the beaten path for a visitor but it's a great value, very low key, no waiting and byob. Ask the owner about any specials that may not be on the regular specials menu.

Cafe Marbella
3446 W. Peterson
773-588-9922

JerryD wrote:I'd recommend Cafe Marbella on Peterson. Granted, it's a bit off the beaten path for a visitor but it's a great value, very low key, no waiting and byob. Ask the owner about any specials that may not be on the regular specials menu.

Cafe Marbella
3446 W. Peterson
773-588-9922

Thanks for the tip. I hadn't heard of this place and look forward to visiting.

For others, here is a link to an existing thread: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=18811&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

I'm bumping this to see if anyone has any recent thoughts on Marbella? Thanks!

Marbella is very close to where I live and desperately want it to do well and thrive but it has yet to outgrow its "growing pains" phase. Service is very spotty, the quality can also be spotty and it still looks like a hodge-podge with respect to its decor, only more so because you could forgive a lot when they had just opened but it still looks unfinished. When it's good (and so far, it's been good more often than not) it's pretty good. By contrast, for me at least, Tapas Barcelona in Evanston is a better night out overall. Even the long-closed Andalucia in Lakeview was better and more consistent.

Wholly Frijoles is about the same distance from my house and, although admittedly a different experience entirely, just has more polish overall. Service can be spotty there also but my bad experiences at WF are greatly otnumbered by good -- and the food never disappoints.

So I give Marbella a guarded recommendation (because I desperately want it to survive, but I also desperately want it to improve).

If you're intending to try Cafe Marbella, they are supposed to be moving to a new location at 5527 N Milwaukee in 2010 (next to the now-defunct Villa D'Oro Pizzeria). I haven't been out to see if the new location is open yet, but the current location on Peterson is closed.