Spanish Tapas at Bodega

It's 4:26 in the morning, but what better time is there for writing an entry about food? There isn't hehe and so I will attempt to write a coherent review of a restaurant I went to a couple of days ago. I'm probably not thinking clearly at all, but as long as the entry has lots of pretty pictures the quality of the writing doesn't matter, right? Right! (And that makes two questions that I've posed and answered on my own in this entry!)

I believe it was Wednesday night that Eunae, David and I went to Bodega for tapas. You might be wondering what exactly "tapas" means. Being totally ignorant of Spanish culture, I personally translate it as "appetizers" but they're really so much more than that. Wikipedia explains it much better...here are some choice snippets that I think illustrate my point well.

"According to legend, the tapa tradition began when Castile's King Alfonso the Wise recovered from an illness by drinking wine and nibbling small dishes between meals. After regaining his health, the king ordered taverns to serve their guests food along with wine and the tapas became a kind of loophole in the law to allow drinkers to imbibe alcohol.

According to The Joy of Cooking, the original tapas were the slices of bread or meat which sherry drinkers in Andalusian taverns used to cover their glasses between sips. This was a practical measure meant to prevent fruit flies from hovering over the sweet sherry. The meat used to cover the sherry was normally ham or chorizo, which are both very salty and activate thirst. Because of this, bartenders and restaurant owners began creating a variety of snacks to serve with sherry, thus increasing their alcohol sales."

Tapas evolved over Spain's history through the incorporation of ingredients and influences from many different cultures and countries. The east coast was invaded by the Romans, who introduced the olive and irrigation methods. The invasion of the North African Moors in the 8th century also brought olives to the south, as well as almonds, citrus fruits and fragrant spices. The influence of their 700-year presence remains today, especially in Andalusia. The discovery of the New World brought the introduction of tomatoes, sweet and chili peppers, maize (corn), beans and potatoes. These were readily accepted and easily grown in Spain's micro-climates."

I hope that wasn't too much reading for you guys...In any case now that we've firmly established what tapas are, let me get into the details of dinner on Wednesday!

-Wikipedia, query: "Tapas"

Bodega is a small tapas bar on M street...I found these two photos online while I was looking up the address and contact information...they were taken during the day but give you a much better idea of the interior than the photos we took did (as you will see shortly!)

The matador room.

A longer dinner table for larger groups...I love the color scheme and table set-up! :D

Eunae frowns at me but it's okay because we are cool with each other!

This wonderful dish right here was without a doubt the best part of the meal. The tortilla espanola (forgive me for missing the tilda..I just dont know how to insert it!) really shouldn't be as devastatingly AWESOME as it is, considering how easy it is to make. It's basically an omelette with potatoes and fried onions, but alongside buttery, tangy dipping sauce your hum-drum brunch item is transformed into a plate of deliciousness that you wish would never stop. But then it does and you feel sad when you put down your fork. -____- Go tortilla espanola, you rock!

The catalonian tomato bread. When i ordered it I thought it was going to be some crazy amazing concoction...mostly because catalonian just sounds so damn exotic. Unfortunately, what we ended up with was soggy bread with a few tablespoons of what tasted like weak salsa on top. Boo~

Grilled flank steak with roasted red peppers and asparagus. I loved that the different components provided a nice balance of texture, temperature, and flavor, which I always like to see in a dish. Though it was great, at $19 the portion seems downright skimpy, as you can probably tell from the photo.

Random shot of the damage! There's a tiny salmon dish in the forefront of this photo. I'm not entirely sure what it was but I think it was grilled salmon with a mixture of fried shallots and some other vegetables. It was tasty but again, left my stomach empty and unhappy.

My overall impressions of the restaurant: great for a date, a bit on the pricey side, great ambience with tons of funky interior decorations and mood lighting, and uh...it would probably be a bad idea to have dinner with small children at Bodega, especially since the front half is a bar. I'm so sleepy right now I can barely type.

Adios!

Bodega
3116 M Street NW
(between N 31st St & N Wisconsin Ave)
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-4733