Publications & Sites 
Evanston’s Tapas Barcelona: small plates, big flavors
TAPAS
BARCELONA
Where: 1615 Chicago Ave., Evanston
Hours: Lunch, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; Dinner, 5-9 p.m. Sunday, 5-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 5-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Phone: (847) 866-9900
Web: tapasbarcelona.com
Article Extras
Maps
Updated: May 16, 2012 1:24PM
“The way of eating is about being able to have dishes — whether they are cold or hot — and you’re nibbling and you’re talking, and the food can wait and the conversation is still going on,” said Giovanni Garelli, owner of Tapas Barcelona in Evanston since 1995. Spoken like a true Spaniard — and Italian — as Garelli is a mix of both. Still, he emphasizes that his cuisine at Tapas is “all about Spain.” His parents owned a tapas bar in Seville for 40 years. Now Garelli has continued in the family business. He still goes to Spain two to three times each year and comes back with three or four new dishes. But Garelli insists that he sticks to the basics rather than cutting-edge cuisine. “My public likes the traditional,” he says. In keeping with that theme, Tapas Barcelona tips its hat to ubiquitous Spanish courtyards with an outdoor patio. It seats more than 80 in the summer and guests clamor to stay out there long after the local weather turns inhospitable. While possibly the precursors to the current chic in small-plate dining, each plate of Spanish tapas can be a meal by itself. Pair with a salad and a glass of wine and you, too, may feel transported to Barcelona or Seville, if only for lunch. Sample the datiles con tocino, an authentic Spanish tapa made of fresh baked dates wrapped in bacon with a tangy red bell pepper sauce ($5.50). The grilled sea scallops, vieiras con salsa de azafran, served with sauteed garlic spinach and pine nuts in a saffron sauce are definitely filling enough to be a full meal ($7.50) Other specialties include the avocado con cangrejo made with an avocado half stuffed with fresh crabmeat and cucumber salad ($6.95), and the queso de cabra con tomate is a traditional dish of a round of goat cheese baked in tomato sauce and served with olives and crunchy, succulent garlic bread to dip ($6.50). The piece de resistance (or pieza de resistencia, in this case) at Tapas are the mejillones plancha, a signature dish of aromatic mussels grilled on a skillet with garlic, bacon and Spanish white wine ($6.95). “We’ve been here for so long that sometimes I don’t know if customers like the food better than the ambiance but I think the biggest thing in Barcelona has always been the food,” said Garelli. And Garelli, a big thing himself on the North Shore for 17 years, adds, “Thank you and thank you for the support,” to his customers.
