Barcelona Tapas & Bar

It's sheer coincidence that this review of Barcelona Tapas & Bar should run during the same week that Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba closed to make way for a Mexican restaurant (snooooooooze), but the confluence of events has me thinking about tapas in general.

Ba-Ba-Reeba was a great tapas restaurant, but, on a street that's home to numerous world-class dining destinations, it never seemed to find its footing with the tourists who prowl the Strip. Las Vegas residents have proven more sophisticated, with a case in point being Firefly, the area's first tapas spot that's still going strong. Let's hope those in the Southern Highlands area do as well, because Barcelona deftly celebrates the genre.

Tapas are, as you likely know, the little dishes of Spain, originally a bar snack in roadside taverns. In this country, they've become synonymous with a general small-plates concept. The tapas tradition has come to mean passing and sharing in a most convivial atmosphere -- a great way to spend an evening. And such is the case at Barcelona.

Like most American tapas restaurants, Barcelona serves hot and cold tapas, with a menu featuring dishes that are true to the Spanish tradition along with those of other cultures and a number of border-benders. We started with one of the most classic classics, Serrano ham and Manchego cheese ($9), to test the kitchen's resolve and because it's usually quick out of the kitchen and we were starved.

Not to worry. Very soon after we were seated, we were brought a plate of bread with a big scoop of a seasoned garbanzo puree and another of sweetened butter. The house sangria -- a solid preparation better than most we've tried but not as good as a couple -- was half-price (regular price $24 for a pitcher, $6 for a glass) because it was Tuesday (other daily specials include half-priced bottles of wine, mojitos, martinis and, from 4 to 6 p.m. Fridays, tapas), so things started off on a pretty positive note.

And that continued with the well-conceived plate of Serrano and Manchego, the former wrapped around the latter, with mounds of coarse-ground and regular mustard, plus cornichons and crostini.

Unadorned goat cheese is the enemy as far as I'm concerned, but the fried version at Barcelona ($6.50) was anything but. The cheese had been formed in balls, rolled in panko and almonds for a crisp textural contrast, and drizzled with a balsamic reduction and honey for just enough sweetness to tame the gamy undertones.

Stuffed dates are a tapas-bar standard, and the pan-fried dates ($5.50) at Barcelona do the tradition proud. The dates had been stuffed with almonds, wrapped in bacon and served in a merlot reduction with crumbled blue cheese, so you had sweet and salty and rich and austere and mild and assertive and chewy and crunchy and just about everything you can imagine -- a veritable symphony in the mouth.

Chicken cakes ($6) were another party for the palate, the chunks of meat mixed with bits of pepper and onions and cilantro, shaped and pan-fried and served with a black-bean salsa of sorts.

Albondigas ($5.50) were a minor disappointment -- and let me emphasize the word "minor." Barcelona's menu clearly describes all dishes and noted that the sauce would be marinara, but for some reason I still hoped for a more tapas-centric sherry-based sauce. Alas. The meatballs were good, though, and the marinara decent enough.

Throughout, our dinner service had been great, with our waitress friendly and efficient and dishes arriving promptly and in rapid succession. It was a surprise, then, that a dessert of Chocolate Tres Leches a la Mode ($6, or $4.50 without ice cream) didn't appear for quite an inordinately long interval -- and also that, when we asked, she just sort of grimaced and said "it's on the way," when it seemed clear that somebody had forgotten it.

The tres leches was fine -- characteristically rich, though the deep-fried treatment was a little offbeat-- but let's put it this way: The evening didn't end as sweetly as it should have.

Las Vegas Review-Journal reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at 383-0474 or e-mail her at hrinella@ reviewjournal.com.