Let´s Talk Tapas

Spain is famoso for its tapas but Granada is the BEST because tapas are libre! That´s right, with each drink you get a delectable little morsel which encourages you to have another drink to see what little treat you will be handed next.

For your first foray into tapasland you may stop in a cafeteria, order a beer or vino tinto and be pleasantly surprised when the camerero brings you a bowl of potato chips and green olives. What a nice gesture, you sigh.

But very quickly you turn into a tapas snob, searching out the most generous portions vs. the most elegant offerings vs. 1 drink, 3 tapas for only 3 euros.

After cruising the neighborhoods from the Albaicin to Realoje to Calle Navas and over to Calle Elvira and up some dark little alley, I have my favorite tapas bars but unfortunately, I can NEVER remember where they were and who can read bar signs after serial drinking, eh?

There is the little place off a back street off the Plaza Nueve, very deceptive -- you look into the dimly lit interior and all you see is what looks like a very cramped butcher shop, lots of hams hanging up and people standing at the counter. We were advised to check this place out by a local and thought maybe he was pulling our leg.

'It´s a butcher shop, not a bar, no tapas here' we grumped but timidly pushed open the door which displaced the 4 people standing there indeed having wine and tapas. Oddly, you walk behind the butcher´s counter and enter into a very classical Granada bar, done in Moorish style with long banquette sofas lining the wall, low wicker stools and glass-topped tables.

Forget the vono tinto, we are wine snobs now as well -- Vino Rioja is our choice, deep, mellow, aromatic. The camerero brings us the wine and thick slices of serrano ham with crusty bread. In this bar, meat is their specialty, especially the mountain-air-dried ham of Spain.

Our group of four orders a tabla: for 14 euros we get slices of creamy home-made pate with pistachios, salchichon, more serrano ham, manchego cheese, and a basket of of fresh bread.

Another night, we stumbled through the rain into a crowded bar off the Calle Elvira, near Hannigan´s Irish Bar. Vino rioja came with salmon lying daintily on a slice of ripe avocado placed on toast. We watched as the tapas chef worked with the same precision and artistry as sushi chefs, moving quickly but mindfully as they put together some incredible creations of sauteed mushrooms, fried calamari, steamed artichokes, tastes of sausages.

My favorite tapas offering was a sauteed heart of artichoke with a slice of salmon on top. Tapas hour starts around 7 pm although some bars don´t open for business until 8 pm. Workmen´s bars in the local neighborhoods lying outside the center of the city also offer tapas which can be hearty like tortilla (egg and potato quiche thing), meat stew, fried calamaris, migas (fried flour crumbs with sausage -- is MUCH better than it sounds), or paella.

So it doesn´t have to be fancy to be good!