Eivissa and Tapas (Trend Without End)

Eivissa and Tapas (Trend Without End)

Tapas, like sushi, are (is?) one of many very popular food trends that have been around Chicago for a while and show no sign of letting up, as though the principles of market saturation do not apply: there’s apparently limitless demand for the stuff and, worse, limitless supply. The result of this endless love for tapas and sushi has been a lot of restaurants that have little reason to exist aside from the fact that they tap into the trend.

I have been to more mediocre sushi joints than I even care to remember, and in the past few months I had a particularly depressing dinner at Blue Ocean, which embodied everything I fear about the rising tide of sushi joints that put a premium on clever-ish rolls seemingly intended to disguise less than stellar seafood.

Tapas, too, have been Chicago staples for well over twenty-five years, and I was recently bummed to have dinner at Pasha, a place I had enjoyed years ago when it was on Clark but which recently reopened on Randolph and is just not where you want to go for tapas – of course, if you want to groove to tunes or dance, nibbling a bit of fuel in between numbers, then have at it.

I had some reservations about Eivissa, only because I was so recently let-down by the tapas at Pasha. Then I was invited by the management to have dinner there, so I gave it a shot.

Maybe I’m just getting jaded, but as the years go by, I prefer simpler, higher quality ingredients to fancier preparations that are dressed up dandy but bear no substance, empty suits on the table that initially wow, based on appearances, but disappoint once you get to know them.

At Eivissa, my daughter and I really liked the lamb chops – not so much the slightly sweet sauce but more the quality of the meat and the fact that it was expertly prepared, very tender and delivering mouth-filling lamb flavor. Now, it might seem obvious that a lamb chop would taste like lamb, but we’ve found that over the years, lamb chops, like goat cheeses, seem to be engineered to achieve a kind of neutral flavor, tasting not much like the animal from which they came, seemingly by design, so as not to offend sensitive palates that might be turned off by “gaminess,” however slight. These delicate meat-sicles packed flavor all out of proportion to their diminutive dimensions, very good meat, sensitively cooked:



Similarly, the lentils, very simply dressed with some bell peppers, tomatoes and scallions, were quite pleasing in a kind of stripped-down, fresh and unassuming way.



The paella at Eivissa – which gets big points for featuring the requisite socarrat all along the edges of the pan – had seafood that looked to be “pushed into” the rice somewhere near the end of the cooking process, so that the seafood was cooked for a while within the rice.



At Pasha, it was a totally different story: the seafood was plopped on top of the rice after each was apparently cooked separately, which I really didn’t like at all. I mean, what’s the point? If you’re not cooking the seafood at least some of the time within the rice, giving each set of ingredients a chance to get to know one another, then it’s kind of like the problem with most chicken-waffle combos: two things that have no relation with one another except spatially in that they both find themselves on the same plate; they might as well be served on separate plates or as part of separate courses.



Just to confirm my understanding of this dish, I looked over a few paella recipes and found that even more mainstream chefs like Tyler Florence recommend cooking the seafood within the rice for a relatively long time.

It may be that paella, like duck confit, is one of those things I love a lot but should probably never order because restaurant versions make me think fondly of my own home versions. With sushi, however, I’m pretty much at the mercy of continually less satisfying restaurant renditions of the stuff.

The comparative quality of tapas at Eivissa may well be the result of the Dudley Nieto’s initial efforts at this place; he’s gone, but I’m guessing the menu he put in motion still bears his imprint.

Eivissa
1351 N. Wells
312.654.9500

David Hammond wrote:The comparative quality of tapas at Eivissa may well be the result of the Dudley Nieto’s initial efforts at this place; he’s gone, but I’m guessing the menu he put in motion still bears his imprint.

I was under the impression--not that I've been to Eivissa, mind you--that Nieto was pushing the molecular gastronomy stuff, leaving when that didn't catch on; it looks as if they've taken a new direction, so I wonder who is running the kitchen.

Then again, anything is better than Ba Ba Reeba, non?

The initial reviews of this place were some of the most damning I've ever read.

The much maligned foams seem to have drifted off the menu.

I believe all of the reviews to-date have been of Eivissa's menu when it was under Nieto’s control (Reader has not weighed in yet). Although Nieto did prepare some tapas classics, he was experimenting with dishes that were announced to be in the El Bulli tradition – a very dangerous mission statement in that it invites invidious comparisons with one of the world’s most highly regarded kitchens and chefs.

Nieto has proven his mettle at many Chicago restaurants over the years, though there have been missteps, and I think it’s possible he tried to push tapas into the realm of molecular gastronomy because, as noted in the OP, there are just so many tapas places now that finding a new angle would provide some competitive advantage. Much like sushi places that felt the need to push beyond sashimi and a few basic hand rolls, the many tapas places in Chicago market place put pressure on a menu to be distinctive and different.

I remember the first dozen times I went to Emilio’s in Hillside during the early 90s, I got the garlic potato salad just about every time. Now, when I see that dish on a tapas menu (as I did recently at both Pasha and Eivissa) I think “No way. No more,” not because it’s a bad dish at all but because I want something different. Appealing to jaded diners who feel that way is what drives chefs like Nieto to experiment with the basics, and although his foray into Adrialand was apparently fruitless, I understand and to some extent applaud his motives. I don’t know if Nieto dialed back the weird science food before he left, but given reviews in Time Out and elsewhere that looked askance at such efforts, I tend to think he probably did.

Nieto has proven his mettle at many Chicago restaurants over the years, though there have been missteps, and I think it’s possible he tried to push tapas into the realm of molecular gastronomy because, as noted in the OP, there are just so many tapas places now that finding a new angle would provide some competitive advantage.

Yet I wonder if anyone who's been to Spain feels we have a truly authentic tapas restaurant anywhere, yet. I don't; at best Mercat a la Planxa gets close with many menu items. But so far the Spanish food being served in tapas places, however flavorful, remains like the Mexican food served in the 60s, a Spanish sauce poured over stuff more than a Spanish ethos about how to make simple dishes that taste richly of themselves. You're more likely to find something in accord with that ethos on the Italianate menu at Mado than at any tapas restaurant I know of.

chezbrad wrote:Then again, anything is better than Ba Ba Reeba, non?

[/quote]

While I haven't been to Ba Ba Reeba in perhaps 5 years, I have to say that on many previous visits, which have included large groups and small, as well as a special wine dinner they staged, I've found the core tapas to be very enjoyable. (Haven't had the paella often as it always struck me as pretty boring next to the tapas.) But all those dishes that we've all now had a million times, but which are still genuine Spanish tapas (e.g. the aforementioned garlic potato salad), have always been good there, in my experience.

In addition, I've always had good service, including the occasional slip up rectified graciously, professionally, and quickly.

When they first opened I don't think there was anything like it, and it was genuinely exciting. By now, there may be more authentic or more creative tapas joints around, but I can't see that "anything is better." In fact, I've had much that was far worse.

Mike G wrote:

Nieto has proven his mettle at many Chicago restaurants over the years, though there have been missteps, and I think it’s possible he tried to push tapas into the realm of molecular gastronomy because, as noted in the OP, there are just so many tapas places now that finding a new angle would provide some competitive advantage.

Yet I wonder if anyone who's been to Spain feels we have a truly authentic tapas restaurant anywhere, yet. I don't; at best Mercat a la Planxa gets close with many menu items. But so far the Spanish food being served in tapas places, however flavorful, remains like the Mexican food served in the 60s, a Spanish sauce poured over stuff more than a Spanish ethos about how to make simple dishes that taste richly of themselves. You're more likely to find something in accord with that ethos on the Italianate menu at Mado than at any tapas restaurant I know of.

Well, my recollection of actual Spanish food is a little foggy (last time I was there, Franco was in control), but I'd venture that you're probably right. In addition to that, there is probably (as I noted in my Reader review of Pasha) a tendency to crank out "greatest hits," those fav items that have become de rigueur on Chicagoland tapas menus and that people come in expecting ("No patatas bravas?" "Where are the dates wrapped in bacon – we love those?" "What do you mean you don’t make baked goat cheese in tomato sauce – this is a tapas bar, right!?").

David Hammond wrote:(Reader has not weighed in yet).

Yes we did.

But a new review is pending.

m'th'su wrote:

David Hammond wrote:(Reader has not weighed in yet).

Yes we did.

But a new review is pending.

Thanks for the correction, Mike -- thought I'd remembered seeing it but then couldn't find it in the archive.

Both you and Heather Shouse noticed a lack of socorrat in the paella -- FWIW, this oversight was also corrected the night I was there.

Mike G wrote:Yet I wonder if anyone who's been to Spain feels we have a truly authentic tapas restaurant anywhere, yet. I don't; at best Mercat a la Planxa gets close with many menu items. But so far the Spanish food being served in tapas places, however flavorful, remains like the Mexican food served in the 60s, a Spanish sauce poured over stuff more than a Spanish ethos about how to make simple dishes that taste richly of themselves. You're more likely to find something in accord with that ethos on the Italianate menu at Mado than at any tapas restaurant I know of.

If you're specifically referring to the glorious little plates of sausages & cured meats served at divey little tapas bars (which were my favorite kind of tapas bars) in Spain, then I can't argue with you there - the sausage plates at Iberico and Ba Ba Reeba can't hold a candle to the €2 plates of chorizo and jamón Ibérico we gorged on in Sevilla, for example.

However, a funny thing happened the day we flew back from Madrid: an old friend called and said he was in town, and invited us to meet him & a few other friends for dinner at...wait for it...Cafe Iberico. While walking over there we reminisced about the awesome tapas we'd had at a little bar on San Jerónimo and all the little places on Cava Baja, and expected to be disappointed...but on the contrary, we were amazed at how Iberico's patatas bravas tasted almost exactly like the ones at Cafe La Catedral (though the ones at Catedral were crispier because the fried potatoes were on top of the sauce, rather than coated with it like at Iberico), and how we kinda liked Iberico's champiñones better than Catedral's, and how Iberico's chicken & beef pintxos reminded us of the solomillo at Casa Lucas, with the caramelized onions and the addictive, skinny little frites on the side. I even ended that meal with a digestive of patxaran (which was silly, because it cost like $6 and we had 2 liters of the stuff in our suitcase at home). In the end, I found Iberico's "core tapas", as mrbarolo termed it, to compare very favorably to the real deal.

More recently, we nibbled on some of the items from Iberico's upstairs pintxo menu, and found them to be pretty tasty & authentic also...tortilla the likes of which we had a couple of times in Madrid, some decent Spanish chorizo, etc. Also, a recent meal at Ba Ba Reeba revealed that they've made some changes to their menu & recipes for the better also.

I'd always assumed that we were getting watered-down and/or downright-invented items at both of these restaurants...it took eight days of near-incessant eating in Spain to reveal that they're actually not that bad.

Mike G wrote:Yet I wonder if anyone who's been to Spain feels we have a truly authentic tapas restaurant anywhere, yet. ... (emphasis mine)

We don't, and part of the problem is that people continue to try and create something to fit that oxymoronic term. The closest things we have to Tapas bars are probably The Bristol and The Publican, successful despite many complaints about their straying from "expected" restaurant service protocol. Maybe it'll catch on.

Khaopaat wrote:

Mike G wrote:Yet I wonder if anyone who's been to Spain feels we have a truly authentic tapas restaurant anywhere, yet. I don't; at best Mercat a la Planxa gets close with many menu items. But so far the Spanish food being served in tapas places, however flavorful, remains like the Mexican food served in the 60s, a Spanish sauce poured over stuff more than a Spanish ethos about how to make simple dishes that taste richly of themselves. You're more likely to find something in accord with that ethos on the Italianate menu at Mado than at any tapas restaurant I know of.

In the end, I found Iberico's "core tapas", as mrbarolo termed it, to compare very favorably to the real deal.

More recently, we nibbled on some of the items from Iberico's upstairs pintxo menu, and found them to be pretty tasty & authentic also...tortilla the likes of which we had a couple of times in Madrid, some decent Spanish chorizo, etc. Also, a recent meal at Ba Ba Reeba revealed that they've made some changes to their menu & recipes for the better also.

I'd always assumed that we were getting watered-down and/or downright-invented items at both of these restaurants...it took eight days of near-incessant eating in Spain to reveal that they're actually not that bad.

I agree. "Tapas" is not a monolithic cuisine in Spain; to say we don't have a restaurant that has authentic tapas is akin to saying we don't have an authentic "African" restaurant (to a lesser degree). In most small towns, the term "tapas" is only used exonymically, and ironically; the concept of a "tapas" menu is a touristic import. Tapas are traditionally (and to my mind and wallet, ideally) the small bites you get for free for ordering drinks in the South, and don't come with a label. Everything else is a snack or a meal, as provincial, local, and varied as you might find around our states. As with virtually every culture around the Mediterranean, you'll find most of these meals composed of small plates and bites.

In its own right, tapas is an ingenious and pervasive Anglo-American marketing term that has evolved into its own show-cuisine, exportable enough of an idea that you enjoy "Greek tapas" instead of mezethes and "Middle Eastern tapas" instead of muqabbilaat. Don't get me started on "Korean tapas."

With this in mind, I don't long for a particular kind of tapas restaurant in Chicago; just individual dishes that are reminiscent of my experiences in specific locales in Spain. I've found just about everything I miss from my experiences living there in one place or another here. So when I say Mercat a la Planxa is my favorite tapas restaurant, it has little to do with authenticity to Spain, and much to do with relativity to those restaurants self-defining themselves as tapas places. When a restaurant gets better (Ba Ba Reeba, Iberico), it's enough for me that it's improving on its own merits.

This is essentially all to say that I've loved patatas bravas, datiles con tocino, and queso de cabra al horno in (different) places in Spain, and find what's here to suffice quite satisfactorily (I'll go Sabika, Avec, and Emilio's, respectively, for the most reminiscent examples). We're also to a point where this trinity represents a new meta-cuisine that will be longed for nostalgically in the next generation, and who am I to judge where an "authentic" cuisine starts. Some of you pine for chop suey.

My point is not that you can't find these things in Spain (I'm sure except for some goofy fusion examples, you can) or that they aren't tasty (my credentials as someone who likes Cafe Iberico are impeccable, ask old Chowhounds).

My point is, "tapas" has quickly come down to a repertoire of well-known dishes in America-- patatas bravas, bacon-wrapped dates, whatever-- in the same way that at one point Mexican food was tacos, enchiladas, tostados-- or a combo platter of tacos, enchiladas and tostados.

And nearly all of these things are spiced and sauced so as to make them "Spanish"-- in a way that doesn't especially resemble how food is actually served in Spain all that closely. It does sometimes-- Del Toro was a disaster, yet even there, there was one dish that was dead-on perfect-- a white anchovy on a crust of bread, lightly dressed with oil and salt and pepper and a little bit of green. I mentioned Mado because their approach is, to me, more like the Spanish food I ate than most things I've had at Spanish restaurants here. Which is, get a great ingredient, season it simply, serve it small.

But I would still say: you can eat individual tapas that seem authentic here and there, but we don't have a tapas place that accurately captures what you get in a tapas bar in Spain without feeling the need to overdo the saucing and seasoning of half their menu to seem more "Spanish."

We don't, and part of the problem is that people continue to try and create something to fit that oxymoronic term.

Which, nevertheless, does exist in Spain. (Okay, it calls itself "Taberna," but it sure felt like a restaurant to me.)

chezbrad wrote:I was under the impression--not that I've been to Eivissa, mind you--that Nieto was pushing the molecular gastronomy stuff, leaving when that didn't catch on; it looks as if they've taken a new direction, so I wonder who is running the kitchen.

Jorge Miranda, who worked under Dudley Nieto at Las Palmas, is now at the helm at Eivissa.

Our company supplies many if not all of the spanish restaurants mentioned above. It is difficult to compare the tapas culture of Madrid and Sevilla, or pintxos of Barcelona and San Sebastion to what we can achieve here. In Madrid there are hundeds of bars crammed within a few blocks where you have a drink and a tapa then move on with your crawl. (then go to dinner at midnight) Here, the restaurant needs to be a destination that you stay at - this inheritantly makes it a different experience.

The previous points above are all well spoken. But we cannot deny that Spanish culinary influence has asserted itself more and more in American and Chicago cuisine. This goes way beyond small plates and manchego cheese. I won't comment on Chicago Tapas but a basque Chef in Seattle is also doing it right, www.harvestvine.com and www.txori.com - marrying Basque tradition and local ingredients.

Check out www.solexpartners.com if you are interested in Spanish food.

Salut,
Dave

In the first few weeks that Evissa opened, we spent a few interesting evenings observing the guests ordering tapas at the bar, as we work on the same block. The menu had Spanish titles, odd menu descriptions and sometimes the food presentation was so off the menu description that is was like some foodie version of "pass the secret" in a foreign language. We watched several different couples at the bar ask wht they had not yet had this dish, while the bartender patiently explained that they had ALREADY had that dish a few tapas ago. We were not in any way surprised when the Chicago Tribune menu review began with "This is less of a review than it is an intervention: Dudley Nieto, step away from the foam machine." I don't think in all the chaos anyone really could address whether these were authentic tapas or not, who could possibly tell?

My husband is not big on returning to the scene of the crime of a less than pleasing dining experience, but through our chamber of commerce, we recently received a spend $50 and get $25 off coupon, so what the heck. Everything was very different. We were shocked to find that ordering four tapas, a soft drink, and a glass of wine (altogether) did not even get us to $50. The food was really fantastic, the portion sizes were abundant for tapas, the flavors were bold, rich, well melded and extremely satisfying and we could not have been more pleased. If you have not been here recently, please put your previous impressions on a back burner and give it a second chance. We are still not sure if these are authentic tapas, but we really enjoyed them, and that is all that it takes to make us happy.

Walked past today - Eivissa is closed and the space is up for rent.