There was a definite lack of tapas restaurants in Madison that Estrellon aims to fill. Chef Millers new restaurant has opened in a beautiful space with high cielings and wonderful polished wood accents. There are various options like bar seating and cafe but this time we chose the dining room. Great thing is the dinner menu as well as the bar menu are available in the dining room. However the bar seemed to catch a lot of chef related food prep visuals and a buzzing conversation so we might try that next time.
We soon found ourself seated in the dining room and both the ladies in our group immediately had an unified gasp that the upholstered chairs were extremely comfortable. This was good because we almost spent a couple of hours trying a lot of things on this evening. Our host for the night was Carlie and she did a terrific job guiding us through the various options and descriptions as well as some recommendations on portion sizes and number of small plate tapa we would need for the three of us.
We ordered some drinks, with me going for cava and my friend going for a sangria which was raspberry based that day.
Carlie also informed us that the paella takes about forty five minutes to prepare so since we were quite interested we placed the order in right away. Meanwhile we went about making a lot of deliberations on trying to cover a lot of tapas among the three of us. I believe the shaved ham tasting here will be quite something to try but our group that evening wanted to cover lot of the menu and come back for that some other time with our friends who would appreciate it.
The tapa arrived as they were ready and we went about sampling and sharing the morsels. Among the toast based tapas i quite liked the charred beetroot tapa.
All three of us quite agreed that the lemon zest really brightened the pear on the toast and all of us agreed that this is something we would order again when we are back.
We had also ordered the smoked salmon as well as the deviled eggs which can be ordered as a portion of two halves.
We had also excitedly ordered patatas bravas but i was a bit underwhelmed that they seemed far too much similar to french fries topped with a drizzle of brava sauce and aioli. Agreed that my only previous experience has been trying these at Jaleo in washington D.C. And nowhere in spain so far. I remember that experience having slightly more browned potato quarters with skin that was crunchy on outside like they were almost griddled. They lay on a delicious pool of smoky acidic tomato based sweet paprika brava and a dollop of sweeter but pungent garlic aioli. The distinct memory of that experience is not relating it to french fries, not just in shape but also flavors and maybe that was what we were expecting.
For the entrees my wife ordered the carabineros shrimp which required some work to eat but she liked them.
We love mushrooms and the hen of the woods mushroom was the most fantastic looking dish we ordered. However none of our group really were blown away by it but quite enjoyed the presentation.
The grape gazpacho was very refreshing and the cucumbers were cooling and the marcona almonds brought the nutty element. We liked the blue crab but could not finish the whole quantity of the crab.
I ordered the japanese shishito peppers which are not too hot and i ate them by themselves and also with the paella that followed.
The Paella we ordered was the market vegetable one and had squash, pea shoots, apples and pepitas adding the texture. There were dollops of goat cheese on the layer of bomba rice and we were advised to let the pan rest at the table so the bottom layer called soccorat crisps a bit and then mix it in. The paella was cooked perfectly and looked extremly appetizing the way it was plated. We could immediately smell the aroma with possibly hints of saffron. We were not disappointed enjoying the market fresh vegetables and the perfectly balanced sweet smoky flavor of the short grained rice which had a little bit of bite to the teeth but in no way was under cooked. We will definitely order this the next time we are here. Also we had some leftover which went home with us boxed and made a nice lunch the next day.
We tried the creme catalana and the basque cake for desserts. My wife ordered some hot chocolate skipping the churros because we were full and i had a espresso.
Next time we hope to try the tapas at the bar and hopefully go with a few more people to share the plates.