Because there were thirteen participating food purveyors and fourteen lunch-and-dinner time slots during Hamden Restaurant Week, I was able to return to Ibiza Tapas & Wine Bar to try the remaining eight tapas that I had missed on the first pass. I came late on Sunday evening, when the last rush had passed.
My wife schmoozed with owner Ignacio Blanco
as well as with my mother.
We were waited on by pretty Tsering.
Now here are the eight tapas we didn’t get to try the first time around. There were spinach croquettes with roasted red bell pepper sauce,
gazpacho,
toasts topped with roasted red beet and avocado,
fried calamari with a roasted onion aïoli,
organic chicken sautéed in garlic sauce,
grilled Spanish chorizo over lentil salad,
Bomba rice with vegetables, mushrooms and crispy chick peas,
and crispy Catalan noodles with mixed seafood and aïoli.
Cleaning up after a long hard Hamden Restaurant Week,
or just taking a load off,
the staff was in a celebratory mood.
They were not only happy
but hungry.
Food was lined up on the black granite bar.
I wanted the unseen members of the kitchen staff, who fed almost three hundred customers on the busiest nights, to step forward for a little recognition. Pictured here are Blanco and chef Juan García surrounded by their staff.
Grass doesn’t grow under Blanco’s feet. I returned a couple of nights later to try some new additions to Ibiza Tapas’ menu. There was heart of palm salad,
sautéed red and green bell peppers with sliced almonds in a honey-sherry vinegar sauce,
duck confit croquettes with couscous salad,
an autumn white bean salad,
marinated fresh white anchovies with onion confit and tomato,
a Spanish-style potato salad,
and cocido madrileño, a chick pea-based stew.
All of the above were great, but I’ve held off showing you my four favorites for last. They included these absolutely addictive patatas bravas,
this chickpea purée topped with baby lamb,
this salmon with summer squash in a wine a coconut sauce,
and this incredibly tender Galician octopus on skewers with potato foam, Spanish paprika, extra virgin olive oil and Maldon sea salt.
A great part of the fun of patronizing an authentic tapas restaurant is that the menu changes frequently.
After exhausting yet energizing Hamden Restaurant Week had concluded, all of the participating restaurateurs drew a deep breath. Mayor Scott Jackson invited organizers and restaurateurs to compare notes and look to the future.
It was agreed by all who attended the meeting that the week-long event had been a smashing success, exceeding all expectations.
Reports were already coming in of restaurants that sat out the first edition of Hamden Restaurant Week but wanted to participate next time around.
The success of the event was attributed to a number of factors, including painstaking organization, the high quality and diversity of the participating restaurants, the great values conferred, an attractive website, exciting menus posted well in advance, good signage around town, careful use of advertising dollars, and plenty of favorable media publicity. Good word of mouth throughout the event was deemed to have added momentum.
The general consensus about Hamden Restaurant Week seemed to be—if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. So timing of the event, pricing of the meals, and cost to restaurants of participation appeared unlikely to change greatly in the near future. There was some feeling that the event should run Sunday to Saturday rather than Monday to Sunday, and that a second Restaurant Week should be offered in the spring.
But mostly, there were just a few things that could be tweaked. Due to a little public confusion, promotional materials needed to be changed to make it clear that the two-for-one entrée option didn’t apply to all restaurants, but just those that didn’t elect the prix-fixe menu option. Signage should be enlarged. Menus should include plenty of choice, but complex formats should be avoided.
Comment cards should be handed out to the public to get feedback, to find out how customers learned about the event, and to track what towns customers came from. Anecdotal evidence suggested that not only did Hamden residents turn out for their event, but great numbers came from New Haven and North Haven and some even from the far reaches of Fairfield County. The meeting adjourned with everyone already looking forward to the next edition of Hamden Restaurant Week.
Ibiza Tapas & Wine Bar, 1832 Dixwell Avenue, Hamden, 203-909-6512
ibizatapaswinebar.com