The restaurants participating in Taste of Hartford were so strong and the $20.10 price point was so reasonable, I found myself in our Capital City about every other day during the two-week event. At RestaurantsCT.com, we may not have been covering the event in the wall-to-wall fashion we used to, but I still knew great bang for the buck when I saw it.
And so, another visit found my friend and me at Costa del Sol, a personal favorite and our winner of Best Overall Restaurant during the Summer 2009 edition of the Taste of Hartford.
After an excessively muggy start to the summer, the weather couldn’t have been nicer, and these customers were taking full advantage of it.
Once inside, we were greeted by Costa del Sol’s beloved Galician owner, Pepe Feijoo.
The restaurant’s Spanish interior was defined by its gracious curves
and this Emma Marianetti mural.
Costa del Sol’s dining room was jamming,
and its great dining atmosphere was only part of the story. Its authentic Spanish food was the real draw. We began with a slice of tortilla, the traditional potato and onion omelet so popular in tapas bars all across Spain.
Our other appetizer was chorizo sausage sautéed with shallots in a Rioja and port wine demi-glace.
But we could have been just as happy with the pan Catalán (bread topped with tomato, garlic herbed olive oil and Serrano ham) or the chilled gazpacho soup.
It was even harder to decide among the six entrées. As much as we were tempted by the paella a la casa and the paella de pollo y chorizo, we went in a different direction. Costa del Sol’s amazing paellas required a two-person order and we were trying to maximize how many different items the two of us could try. We also passed on the chicken and shrimp entrées, despite how delicious they sounded. We were really curious about the grilled salmon with a citrus salsa of tomato, onion, cucumber and orange in a mango-passion fruit vinaigrette.
Nor could we resist grilled flank steak in a mixed herb chimichurri sauce (even if the dish is probably more Argentinean than Spanish).
Costa del Sol offered three dessert choices on its special menu. We didn’t get to try the rice pudding, opting instead for the flan
and the chocolate mousse.
When we had finished this terrific meal, we couldn’t resist poking our heads into Costa del Sol’s little gourmet shop, with its fabulous hams, olives, olive oils, white asparagus, high-grade canned tuna and other delights, a number of which I have carried away in the past.
Costa del Sol, 901 Wethersfield Avenue, Hartford, 860-296-1714
costadelsolrestaurant.net