Little touches the difference at Casa Tapas; Balanced flavours, refreshing combinations delight

BRIAN KAPPLER. The Gazette. Montreal, Que.: Aug 19, 1994. pg. C.6

The tapas bar is a Spanish institution that should be a natural for Montreal.

The idea is that you snack on little plates of savoury delicacies while working slowly on a glass of sherry, or whatever, and whiling away the
hours with friends.
It seems perfectly suited to Montrealers, doesn't it?
It's strange, then, that only a couple of tapas restaurants - plus one club frequented by local Spaniards - have really succeeded here. At
these restaurants one finds the hot and cold snacks known as tapas, but in substantial portions - one plate as an appetizer, three make a
meal.
(In Spain, I gather, portions are small. "Tapa" means top, or lid. In the original tapas bars, the story goes, a piece of bread was used as a lid
over each dish to keep flies out; hence the name.)
In Montreal, the variety of tapas offered rarely approaches what one finds in Spain, or even in New York, where you might have to choose
among a couple of dozen different plates of, say, fried squid; garlicky little bites of sausage; salty anchovies; sliced ham; shrimp spiced and
cooked in various ways; olives; a few mussels, sauced; mushrooms sauteed in olive oil; tiny thread-like eels, sauteed; slivers of quiche the
list goes on.
So perhaps the new little Casa Tapas, on Rachel St. E., should have come up with a different name. Here one finds only six or eight tapas
dishes, most of them shrimp or mussels, and a limited main-course menu (in which paella is prominent.)
The name was chosen no doubt because it is evocative, rather than for accuracy. By any name the food here is satisfactory, and the prices
reasonable.
All of this is remarkable when you realize that the guiding spirits of this place are three hotel-management students from College LaSalle,
who are doing this more or less in their spare time.
One of the three, Spanish-born Santiago Pineiro and head-chef, was our waiter on a recent Sunday night. Business was slow and he was
chatty: "We wanted to use a design by Miro for our logo," he said, "but we would have had to pay a lot of money. So we made our own, a
little bit like it."
The logo is indeed evocative of the great Spanish painter and his country; a blob of yellow surrounded with semi-circles of other vivid colors
to make a sun at once warm and glaring.
Beyond that bright touch on the windows, decor is minimal: simple red-over-white table cloths, travel posters, and canned Spanish music
strive together to set a mood.
The little touches acquired through the professionalism of hotel- and-restaurant school begin to show at once: while you peruse the menu, a
little plate with two kinds of olives comes to the table; one of them has a little sprig of olive leaves.
Also offered is home-made aioli, the Catalonian garlic mayonnaise, with some rusks.
We struck boldly into the limited tapas list. The garlic shrimps, a dozen of them for $6.95, were delightful. So were the fried calmar (also
$6.95), in reality rings of cuttlefish rolled in flour with salt, pepper, and a little paprika, and then fried quickly.
The mushrooms ($5.50), ordinary button mushrooms fried with wine and lots of diced garlic, were good, too. But the real hit here was the
garlickly olive oil in the bottom of the dish. If you aren't careful, you find yourself asking for more bread to soak up all the flavored oil. Don't
ask me how I know.
(The bread, by the way, was warmed through, another of the nice little touches we found here.)
"The gazpacho is very good, I just made it," Pineiro told us - he is the head-chef and also works in the front of the house frequently, he
explained, but all three partners switch around. It was good, too, although not yet chilled. At this time of year gazpacho ($2.50) is not really a
challenge - fresh tomato, fresh red and green pepper, fresh cucumber, a little fresh basil and oregano, some bread crumbs, a blender -
anybody can do it, but in this one a skilled hand was evident, the flavors balanced and the combination very refreshing.
After this, my friend and I split a seafood paella ($12.95). This had shrimp, mussels, a clam, some cuttlefish, and a rock-lobster tail, with lots
of rice seasoned in a nice fishy broth, all served in the usual metal pan with two big handles. The seafood in this dish was very good and the
portion was sufficient for two people after the several appetizers we'd had.

Our wine, from the small wine list, was a refreshing, slightly fruity white, Torres Gran Vina Sol ($25).
Desserts revealed more of the attention to detail that marks professionals. My fresh-fruit salad ($2) was all that you'd expect this time of
year, and adorned with a mint leaf. My friend's flan (also $2) was freshly made, airy, and light, and was garnished with fresh fruit and mint.
These two items were the extent of the dessert choice; if you visit this restaurant bear in mind that the menu is limited.

Casa Tapas
266 Rachel St. E.
Phone: 848-1063
Hours: Weekdays 5 p.m. to midnight; Saturdays and Sundays noon to midnight.
Licenced: Yes.
Credit cards: none yet; cash only.
Dinner for two, before wine and tip but including taxes: $35.91.
Credit: GAZETTE