Food and Drink: Tinto

Tinto
114 S 20th St, Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 665-9150

While it is normally my want to display a photo of the outside of the building, this photo says everything I want to say about Tinto: sophisticated, intimate, Basque, cozy and sultry. Basque of course refers to the region of North Central Spain that straddles the area between north central Spain and south western France. This tapas restaurant serves to reflect this fusion and Chef Jose Garces certainly does a marvelous job fusing all the best of France and Spain. Coincidentally, Tinto is Spanish for "stained" and "red" as in red wine, so the hundreds of bottles of wine throughout the restaurant is of course no surprise.

The restaurant is an intimate setting with an open style kitchen (see back of this photo) with a luxurious bar with small rectangular wooden shelves lined with hundreds of wine bottles. It is lit with gorgeous incandescent lighting which casts a golden glow over everything--the perfect date spot.

Without further adieu, allow me to present the culinary masterpiece that is Tinto.

Since this blog is titled, Fine Food, Good Drinks, I can't help but mention the sangria I chose to accompany my meal. Sangria is a typical beverage from Spain and Portugal. It normally consists of wine, chopped fruit, a sweetener, and a small amount of added brandy. Chopped fruit can include orange, lemon, lime, apple, peach, melon, berries, pineapple, grape, kiwifruit and mango. A sweetener such as honey, sugar, syrup, or orange juice is added.

Pintxos: OLIVES House Marinated Mixed Olives. Pintxos appears at the top of the Tinto menu, and I learned it was the Spanish word for "tapas". The marinated olives were delicious and arguably one of the best dishes of the evening. With so many to choose from there was not a clear winner in my book, however.

ALMONDS: House Smoked Marcona Almonds. Someone call the fire department because these almonds were smokin'. Well, not literally, but they were smoked and the flavorful sea salt, almonds and wooden smokey taste made this appetizer a delight to the palate. Marcona almonds, the "Queen of Almonds," are imported from Spain. Marcona almonds are prized for being more tender, sweet, and delicate than regular almonds, with a nice buttery flavor that is due to their high oil and moisture content.

GAZPACHO Goat Cheese Mousse, Strawberry, Rhubarb, Crispy Serrano. Jamón serrano is a type of jamón (dry-cured Spanish ham), which is generally served in thin slices, or occasionally diced. Gazpacho is a chilled soup and this particular variety was fruity, summery tasting, sweet and creamy due to the goat cheese. The Serrano ham was a nice accouterment with the salty cured meat balancing the sweetness of the fruit and cheese. The rhubarb was an interesting addition to the dish, as I have never had a gazpacho served with it before. Rhubarb is a perennial vegetable, though it is generally used as a fruit in desserts and jams. You only eat the stalks, which have a rich tart flavor.

ARUGULA Serrano Ham, Mission Figs, Fried Goat Cheese, Spiced Almonds, Sevilla Orange Vinaigrette. Probably the most interesting addition to the arugula salad here was the addition of the balls of fried goat cheese. Absolutely delicious. The Orange vinaigrette wasn't half bad either. Certainly cleaned the plate here.

DIVER SCALLOPS Quince, Uni Emulsion, Parsnip, Crispy Serrano. You can see the little chunks of serrano ham mixed in with the greens. The little yellow chunks are the quince, a yellow fruit similar to the apple. Quince is a small deciduous tree that bears a pome fruit, similar in appearance to a pear, and bright golden-yellow when mature. The scallops can be dipped in the vanilla parsnip puree- which was amazingly creamy and sweet.

ORGANIC CHICKEN Brussels Sprouts, Chorizo, Fingerling Potatoes, Herb Jus. The chicken was fantastic, tender, sweet, loved the brussel sprouts. The herb jus was rich and sweet.

Postre (Dessert): Gateau Basque. Almond Cake, Vanilla Cream, Cherry Fig Jam, Pedro Ximenez Ice Cream. The most interesting part of this delicious dessert was the Pedro Ximenez (sherry) flavored ice cream. I would attest, the entire dessert could have been a giant bowel of the ice cream because that was by far the best portion of this dessert.

Of Note:

The wall of wine bottle openers in the atrium keeps well with the restaurant's name: Tinto (red stained- as in red wine).

The downstairs area (which you pass through to get to the bathroom) features a little en suite with space for 10-15 people. A nice basement lounge area for a private gathering or the like. Not sure if I would want a private party there though if the other restaurant patrons would constantly be passing through on the way to the bathroom.

And of course, my traditional bathroom review photo. Ok Chef Garces. What the **** happened? At around $200 a meal with an elegantly decorated restaurant complete with a few hundred bottle Spanish wine list, the last thing I was expecting was the bathroom to look like I had stepped out of a wildly successful Spanish tapas restaurant into the back room, strip-mall single stall bathroom. The only thing missing was graffiti and the smell of a homeless man's urine. A cheap sink, a cheap toilet, the floor was not even tiled...You could probably have taken the revenue from just a few hours work that evening and threw a couple thousand in here and tiled the bathroom, put in the granite counter-top, upgraded the toilet, and I'm thinking a nice wine bottle chandelier or something hanging from the ceiling in keeping with the restaurants "Tinto" theme. I mean, my bathroom at home looks better than this. For a multimillionaire restaurant entrepreneur with an array of restaurants, a flagship restaurant (Amada), two cookbooks, various TV appearances and newspaper articles, I'm sure this isn't at the top of your list. However, it reflects poorly on your interior designer, and indirectly it reflects poorly on you.

Just for comparison, look at the bathroom (above) and then at the open area kitchen just upstairs along with a shot of the main dining area (below).

(above) open area kitchen

(above) main dining area

Shot of the main entrance. I apologize for the poor quality- it was humid and raining so camera lens kept fogging up.

Update: 3/24/15. I returned here for a birthday dinner and Tinto did not disappoint.