Reviews: Tapas, Too

SALTY AND SWEET. Rich and rustic. Silky and sensual. Aromatic and intense.

As I drive home after my first dinner at Tinto, the haunting flavors of northeast Spain and southwest France travel with me, the afterglow of a seductive meal. I replay it in my head: Bite-size toasts spread with blue cheese and black cherry jam, the backdrop for dusky nuggets of duck confit. Skewered lamb and eggplant wrapped with bacon, then seared on a super-hot griddle. Goat cheese melting over fava beans and pearl onions in a sweet-onion cream sauce, a vegetable side dish rich enough to list as a main course.

The chef behind it all is Jose Garces, who has exceeded the very high expectations raised by his brilliantly conceived first restaurant, Amada, in Old City. The breadth and complexity of Amada’s tapas menu was such that I wondered whether Garces could open a second Spanish restaurant without repeating himself. As it turns out, there is some repetition, and that’s not a bad thing.

Having chosen a location in condo-booming Center City west, Garces collaborated again with Amada’s designer, New York-based Jun Aizaki, who repeats the warm, substantial woods of Amada’s bar on a larger scale at Tinto to create a wine “cellar” a few steps up from street level. The restaurant’s wine stash is on display here, behind wooden grids that hold dozens of flickering votive candles. It’s a romantic spot, despite the busy bar and compelling open kitchen. The space was so crowded in the restaurant’s early weeks that Tinto took reservations not only for the high-top dining room tables, but also for the eight seats at the bar, a policy that was scrapped after much negative feedback. Downstairs, where you’d expect a cellar to be, Aizaki repeats the pillow-punctuated banquettes that give Amada’s large-scale dining rooms a cozy feel.

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