12.8.16

shday9: zahara, taberna trasteo.























Not the best photos I've ever taken, but I was unavoidably backlit.

So we joke about TripAdvisor ratings a good bit, but if pressed I would say this was a pretty 5 star experience. Maybe this should also be teaching us all something about 5 star experiences: the less time you have to build up expectations of how awesome something is going to be, the greater the chance it stands of actually approaching awesomeness.

Taberna Trasteo was a last minute replacement for El Refugio, and like Taberna El Sur a few days ago, delivered 5 starness via honest, friendly enthusiasm, an easy, festive atmosphere, and surprising cooking that was obviously full of care.

I ordered tacos de atún with guacamole, so was caught a bit off guard by this beet salad with wasabi that showed up. but no, that's tuna alright, with splooges of good guac, tiny hills of salsa, and crumbled toasted tortillas. Sounds a bit fussy but the tastes were great. Then Neslon (not a typo, my phone has renamed her) had an unexpectedly straightforward but delicious and very Italian homemade pasta pesto and we shared these impeccably fried artichokes with romesco, also very Italian, hooray for finally good vegetarian food in Spain.

The highlight was possibly dessert: that's "lemon pie with violet", something very key lime pie-ish but meltable, hidden by a layer of also rapidly melting violet-spiked meringue and toasted almonds. I've never had any one thing that was quite like it, totally worth trying at home.

I almost just said I'd be surprised if we didn't go back, but that would mean I hadn't learned anything about expectations and awesomeness, wouldn't it.



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