There are few things I enjoy in life as much as a simple Spanish tapas meal. Sadly, here in Seattle the only decent Spanish restaurant is Harvest Vine and they charge ridiculous prices for what they offer. So, I usually leave that for a special ocassion and am denied the joy of a good, reasonably priced tapas dinner out. Therefore, when I go to Miami to visit family, I make it a point to stop by my favorite little tapas joint at least once. Delicias de España is where I grew up going to eat tapas and drink a glass of wine with my family and it is where I still go to this day when I am in Miami. It has grown form the little store on Bird Road we used to go to, into a chain of three restaurants and stores spread throughout Miami with an equally good selection of tapas and wine in all three. This review is for the newest location in Kendal near Dadeland.
Detail on the bottle of wine. One of the things I love the most about this place is how many wonderful affordable options they have in their bottled wine selection. It’s entirely possible to split a bottle of wine amongst four people and pay less per person than if everyone had a coke.Traditional tortilla española. Properly cooked and with the right ingredients. One of the things that irks me the most about going out to dinner at Spanish restaurants in Seattle is when they have a tortilla Española with all maner of strange things in it. Tortilla does not have saffron in it.A basic and delicious tabla de jamon, chorizo y queso. In Seattle this spread would be $30 but here it’s only like $10-$12. Delicious and well priced.These six little disks are slices of happiness sent down from heaven to grace the tongues of mortals. In the Spanish tongue this is called Morcilla also known as blood sausage. The texture here is amazing. It is traditional, creamy, bloody goodness that reminds you why in some countries they call it blood pudding.Just your basic tomato salad dressed with sherry vinegar. You’d think it was no big thing, but just the other night we went to Harvest Vine and they didn’t have a tomato salad. Said they were waiting for the tomatoes to be good. I get that you only want to serve “perfect” tomatoes, but there is something wrong with a tapas menu that doesn’t have any tomato in it.Croquettas deBacalao. This is the place where I learned to love these. They are essentially potato and bechamel sauce whipped together with salt cod. This is then rolled into little finger shaped/sized croquettas, breaded, refrigerated and fried until golden. These are the best in Miami, period.Legit churros con chocolate. Man these bring back memories, and when I say back, I mean WAY back. I remember being in Spain one time with my family and for weeks all I did was ask for “churros con chocholate” We were in a restaurant in Madrid and my dad made the waiter go get some for us. They make it right here.The amazing churros. You can tell they were just recently extruded and fried. You can see the granulated sugar on them and the crispy edges. These are not your Costco churros ladies and gentlemen, these are your made to order Spanish churros just like you find at Chocolateria San Gines in Madrid!The super thick hot chocolate. It’s more like a melted chocolate bar mixed with a tablespoon of milk and poured into a cup. It’s so thick you need to drink it with a spoon.See, it’s so thick a piece of churro just floats on top of it. So delicious!!
Cuisine d'Emma 