I've been to a few tapas restaurants in my day...
Taberno de Haro was a favorite of mine when I lived in Boston & worked in Brookline... a few weeks before I moved to ATL I checked out
Isla Ibiza in Northern Liberties {Philly} and had a pretty good meal. Last night G&I and 2 friends hit up
Eclipse di Luna in Miami Circle ATL {amidst expensive antique row & home accessory shops.} We attempted reservations which were booked, so we opted for putting in our name over the phone which guaranteed us 30 min. off our wait time. {We were all curious as to how this exactly worked...} Sure enough, there was a 1+ hour wait and we were sat in about 40 minutes... not too bad... Here's my first impression of the place: pre-dinner:
It seemed like we had found the "it" spot for a Friday night. Now, maybe it's the fact that I now live in the suburbs, and I went from a five minute walk to a bar in Philly, to a 25+ min. drive to the "hot spots" here in ATL, but I was feeling like I forgot how to hit the "it" spots! YIKES!!! And, I also felt old... maybe that's the married in me I'm just not used to yet!!! So, here we were- amidst the "it" crowd- some of us sipping $9 margaritas the rest of us LOVING our seltzer & cran! There was a live band that kicked on about 9:30pm... they sounded great from our outside stance. Once inside, and seated in the front row... they were a bit loud for our taste. Still sounded great, but when you can barely talk to the person next to you, forget about a convo with the friends across the table! Oh well... we survived! On to the food: of course we ordered a ridiculous amount of plates... and, as usual with tapas- the first 5 or 6 are devoured in seconds and you're thinking, wow, this is great- but I'M STARVING! After plate 10 or 12 I was feeling my jeans tighten for sure! The highlights for us were the spicy cheese sause that accompanied the potatoes {
Patatas Bravas con Romesco Spiced Potatoes with Romesco $3.25},
the chorizo with peaches {
Chorizo y Durazno al Brandy Grilled Chorizo with peaches & brandy syrup $4.50}, this amazingly spice chicken dish {
Pollo a la Parilla Grilled Chicken breast with tomato, onion compote & avocado $4.25} and the eggplant empanada type dish {
Empanada de Berenjena con Queso Roasted Eggplant Empananda with drunken goat cheese & spiced caramel $3.95}. And check out those prices. We also ordered dessert {not necessary} and walked out of there at $40 ea. which included the tip... Not bad I'd say... According to C&G the sangria was good... though they kept going for those $9 margaritas... boys...
All in all, it has been one of my favorites so far in ATL. I'll think twice about going again during the live music time if I'm in the mood to chat- but I think a table not so close to the band would have been just fine...
I came across this great blog, Kuidaore, via OhJoy this morning and am totally in awe of these cookies! The decoration rivals some of the best textile/pattern design out there! And to think- all perfectly "drawn" with icing! Now... I wonder if they taste as good as they look!
