The spotlight is on my hometown of Hamden from September 20th through 26th. During Hamden Restaurant Week, eleven eateries are offering three-course, prix-fixe lunches for $12 and/or three-course, prix-fixe dinners for $20. Two additional participants elected to offer two-for-one deals instead. The event has been well-publicized, and expectations for an exciting week are running high.
The vast majority of Hamden restaurants (including all thirteen Restaurant Week participants) are located on one of the town’s two main thoroughfares—Whitney Avenue or Dixwell Avenue. Ibiza Tapas & Wine Bar, the first restaurant I visited, is located on Dixwell Avenue just three blocks south of the Wilbur Cross Parkway and directly opposite Home Depot. This is useful information if you don’t have a GPS, because Ibiza Tapas’ only signage is the small lettering in the windows and the large modernistic lettering on the side of the building.
Those who pay attention to signage may have noticed that the old jewelry shop next to Ibiza Tapas is being remodeled. In a symbiotic relationship, the building’s owner plans to launch Paola’s Gourmet Specialties in that space, and he will offer products from around the world, especially Spain.
Opening in June 2009, Ibiza Tapas is the junior sibling of renowned Ibiza Restaurant in New Haven. Its interior is done up primarily in red and yellow, the colors of Spain. Legend has it that the red represents the blood flowing in a bull fight, the yellow the sand in the bullring.
A sculpture that divides dining room from bar features primary colors and sharp angles.
Banquette seating and avant-garde paintings line the side walls.
Here you see Eddie and my wife, Ann, playing host and hostess respectively.
But Ann was actually off duty on that Monday night and my date for the evening.
A bottle of vinho verde, a Portuguese white wine, got us off to a great start.
As the shadows lengthened outside, the bar area grew more crowded.
The wait at Ibiza Tapas on a busy night isn’t usually too bad because the kitchen is extremely efficient. But customers brimming with Restaurant Week enthusiasm were pouring into the restaurant even faster than food was pouring out of the kitchen. Apparently, no one could resist Ibiza Tapas’ five-course menu (click on photo to enlarge) for the event.
Even Ibiza Tapas’ regular prices are very reasonable, with every menu item costing less than $10 and thirty wines priced $30 or less. One thing people should know about tapas, though. Tapas traditionally are brought out the minute they are ready, with little or no attention paid to sequence (except for dessert).
Just two people, Ann and I could only try half of the savory tapas. From the first course offerings, we didn’t order the gazpacho or the spinach croquettes served with a roasted red bell pepper sauce. Instead, we ordered the tortilla Española, the traditional Spanish potato and onion omelet served with aïoli.
We also ordered the xanfaina Catalana, which featured roasted eggplant, bell pepper, tomato and onion served over toasts and finished with extra virgin olive oil and Maldon sea salt.
The second course selection might have been the most challenging of all. It would be a mistake to leave any of these dishes untried. We were forced to pass up the toasts topped with avocado and roasted beet as well as fried calamari served with a roasted onion aïoli. (Ibiza Tapas is one of the very few restaurants in Connecticut that buys fresh squid and prepares it from scratch.)
But the dishes we did order were equally tempting. Atùn marinado showcased marinated bluefin tuna, tomato, scallion, black olive, sesame oil, lemon and Maldon sea salt served with crispy potato.
Nevat en tostada featured crispy toasts topped with goat cheese, fig, walnut and truffle oil.
From the third course, we were forced to pass up grilled Spanish chorizo with lentil salad as well as organic chicken sautéed in garlic sauce. But don’t cry for us, Argentina! A Galician crêpe stuffed with vegetables and finished with an Idiazabal cheese sauce was very tasty,
as were duck confit croquettes in a honey-and-duck-jus aïoli.
The selection didn’t get much easier with the fourth course. We didn’t order the Bomba rice with vegetables and mushrooms or the Catalan crispy noodles with mixed seafood and aïoli, but both are personal favorites. The truth is, you could order the exact opposite of what we ordered at Ibiza Tapas and still fare beautifully. However, I wanted to show readers the braised short ribs in a caramelized-garlic-and-oatmeal-beer sauce served over a smoked bacon potato purée.
And I wanted to try for the first time the grilled dorada (a.k.a. sea bream) cooked with white wine, garlic, parsley and shallot and served over a potato, carrot and mushroom confit. Too few chefs work with whole fish anymore, and when you buy fish already filleted it can’t help losing some freshness. The dorada was miraculously fresh and good, the skin beautifully crisped.
The fifth and final course was dessert, and there were just two choices—both delicious. One was a natiña, a Portuguese-style vanilla custard served with ice cream.
The other was almond-encrusted chocolate croquettes with lemon gelatin and coconut foam.
Normally, we might have lingered over our luscious desserts, but we felt some responsibility to surrender our table to the next customer in line, whether waiting in the bar area or outside.
Let me close by introducing you to the folk behind Ibiza Tapas and passing on some news. The restaurant is owned by Galician veteran Ignacio Blanco,
and its chef is Juan García.
And for those with wanderlust, a second Ibiza Tapas & Wine Bar will be opening shortly at 7 Strong Avenue in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Ibiza Tapas & Wine Bar, 1832 Dixwell Avenue, Hamden, 203-909-6512
www.ibizatapaswinebar.com