For a couple of years now, I’ve been hearing about tapas dining; I’ve even seen it referenced in the name of some of Baltimore’s local restaurants, like Tapas Teatro or Khali’s Mezze (mezze is apparently Greek for appetizer). When I asked one of my more sophisticated culinary friends to explain the popularity of tapas—as in, what’s the big deal about eating a bunch of appetizers—he shot me this look of utter disdain and contempt, embarrassing my ignorance. Since that moment, my palette has widened its scope and likeability to include more stylish and global fare. It is fitting, then, that for the first time I experienced tapas dining at Pazo, which is considered not just the best tapas restaurant in Baltimore, but one of the best in the mid-Atlantic region.
Pazo is partly owned and operated by the wife and husband duo of Cindy Wolf and Tony Foreman. Unmatched in the burgeoning Baltimore culinary scene, Ms. Wolf and Mr. Foreman first opened Charlestons, a high-end, fine-dining restaurant featuring Low Country cooking, and then they started Petit Louis, a classical French Bistro. The success of these two establishments, coupled with Baltimore’s need for a more chic and refined restaurant, culminated in the opening of Pazo in late 2004. Since then, Pazo has been the “it†place for after-work groups, large parties, and that “very special occasion.â€
Within the past year, I have dined at Charlestons on two occasions and once at Petit Louis. These three dining experiences exceeded by far all other meals combined from a multitude of other restaurants. Powerful flavors, superb service, and unique atmospheres, each added to truly spectacular dining experiences. Needless to say, I had similar expectations for Pazo, when a group of my friends and I visited on a Monday night.
When you immediately walk into Pazo, you cannot help but stop, look, and listen to everything that surrounds you. The restaurant is situated in a former boiler factory, and is quite inconspicuous from the outside; in fact, I almost drove passed it! Once inside, you feel as though you have been transformed to a faraway place. It is a vast, open space. A marble bar rests to your left and stretches for most of the restaurant’s left side, leading back to the open kitchen, which houses a large woodfire grill. With the bar to your left and kitchen at the far end, in-between there are situated large, plush couches and chairs, with low-lying tables. To your right, there is a staircase leading to the second floor, which appears to be more formal, with only chairs and tables. Next to the lounge is another dining area. Tables for two, four, and six are popular here, along with crescent-shaped couches and booths against the wall. The lighting is just right, allowing you to view the dark orange and burgundy colors of the walls, curtains, and other fixtures. Pulsating music bounces from end to end. You finally realize that this is truly unlike any other place you have been, and you only hope that the food is just as exhilarating.
Glance at the menu, and your doubts and reservations take a back seat (as if I should have ever questioned the culinary skills and inventiveness of Ms. Wolf and Mr. Foreman to begin with). There are 10 different sections of tapas, from traditional small-plate items, to pizza, meats, and even vegetables. Our server informed us that he recommends approximately five plates per person. Since the menu was so intriguing and appetizing, I couldn’t help but select eight plates by myself! Fortunately, my friends each ordered between three and five items and some of those were multiple dishes. In addition to the menu, I was particularly impressed with Pazo’s ability to arrange our table’s orders accordingly. As our server informed us, Pazo coordinates the delivery of dishes, in order to ensure that your meal is balanced and not overwhelming.
The first several plates to arrive included the bruschetta, the coppa and pear salad, and the beef tartare. The bruschetta was two pieces of wood grilled bread, thin slices of slowly roasted shallots, and a square of goat’s cheese. The cheese was slightly warm and easily spread on the bread, and the onions were dark and deliciously smooth and silky. Likewise, the beef tartare, according to a friend, was well-executed, nicely incorporating red onions with touches of citrus and other spices. For my money, the best dish of the first-round was the coppa and pear salad. Grilled fennel and pear slices were mixed with tiny pieces of spicy cured pork. The textural contrast between the smoothness of the fennel and pear and the char-grilled crunchiness of the pork was delightful, as was the unique flavor when each ingredient was combined.
The second-round of dishes was the calamari, eggplant dip, and the Pan de Mato, or Bread of the Dead. Since we were a group of four, the bread was already pre-sliced into four pieces. It came with saucers of red pepper oil and traditional olive oil. The oil was unnecessary, since the bread, tall and thick and moist on the inside and toasty and dark on the outside, was a dish of its own. The calamari was superb, and, at the end of the night, we each agreed it was one of the most successful dishes. Tender rings of squid and nicely fried pieces of tentacles were savory and delightful. We even contemplated placing a second order! The least successful dish was the eggplant dip. Pureed eggplant was sprinkled with bright pomegranate seeds and served alongside several toast points. I don’t particularly care for eggplant, so the dish’s flavors didn’t work well for me, but I enjoyed its creativeness: the color contrast between the mildly green eggplant and intensely red pomegranate seeds was nice. For others at the table, the eggplant dip worked extremely well.
We then started getting into the heavier and meatier items, albeit with mixed results. We had placed a double order of the gnocchi, which came with tomato, basil, and pieces of eggplant. For all of our tastes, the dish wasn’t cooked as well as we would’ve liked. The gnocchi were too doughy and tough, and only good seasoning and herbs saved the dish. Then, there was the shrimp and apple pinchos, flavored with a dill citrus, and served on a skewer. The shrimp were tender and the citrus nicely accented the dish’s overall flavor, but it was practically layered in too much dill, which was more as a distraction. The better dish was the empanadas. We had requested a double order, but our server had only placed one order. This was unfortunate, because the empanadas were simply delicious—perfectly cooked veal and pork stuffed in crispy pastry and served over top a green salsa. As with the dipping for the bread and even the calamari, the green salsa didn’t necessarily add much flavor to the empanadas, and instead the two portions of meat-stuffed pastry were delicious on their own.
One of the most exciting menu items at Pazo is their pizza. Even if you are turned off or not attracted to many of the menu’s more eclectic dishes, the pizzas offer a safe haven of comfort and familiarity. Pazo offers several varieties, with unique combinations of cheese, herbs, and meats. We ordered the pizza cristina, which was topped with buffalo mozzarella, tomato, and basil. The dough was fresh, thin, and nicely charred from the woodfire grill, adding a pleasant smokiness to its taste. Like the dough, the mozzarella was fresh, and it was evenly spread and melted. A slight hint of basil was just enough to round out a delicious piece of pizza.
Along with the pizza, we had two other great dishes to choose from this round. Namely, a double order of the chicken pinchos: grilled, bite-sized pieces of chicken breast, lightly flavored, and tender. Also there was the albóndigas, or lamb meatballs, covered in a tomato and saffron sauce. This was my personal favorite dish of the evening: two plump and hearty meatballs slathered with creamy tomato sauce. If only there had been pasta to go along with the delicious meatballs, then I never would have left our table.
Unbelievably, we still had six more dishes yet to arrive. By this time, we were thinking we’d ordered too much. Since the food runners and our server had continuously brought our orders to our table, we were beginning to regret allowing our stomachs to outwit our minds. Then, three more small-plates arrived, and we jumped at the chance to continue our meal. There was the slow-cooked lamb, accompanied by a garlic and potato puree. The lamb was slightly under-seasoned, but still tasty, especially when combined with the potato puree, which was deliciously flavorful. Another dish was the grilled pork, served with a pepper aioli and cilantro. The seasoning worked well with the pork, and the contrasting flavors, the spiciness of the pepper and the saltiness of the pork, was surprisingly good. A meatier dish was the bistek catalonia, a hanger steak topped with chopped scallions and a romescu sauce, which was tomato-based with almonds. The steak had been nicely prepared and seasoned, and the romescu sauce added nice flavor and texture.
Before eating dessert—as if we were even thinking about dessert at this point—there was the double order of duck, grilled and placed in a walnut sauce, and two vegetable dishes: the grilled asparagus and spaghetti squash. The asparagus came over top the romescu sauce and was slightly crispy and drizzled in olive oil. The better dish was the spaghetti squash. A bowl of steaming strings of freshly cut squash were mixed with pieces of bacon and tossed with sherry vinegar. The squash was delicately prepared and the bacon was crunchy and salty. The sweetness of the squash and the saltiness of the bacon and sherry were splendid combinations.
As we waited for our dessert to arrive, I began to put together the themes of Pazo’s menu. They are more evident now than then. Clearly, the main theme behind Pazo’s menu is contrasting textures and flavors. The unique and intricate pairing of seasonings, spices, vegetables, and meats is a major accomplishment. In addition, the variety of items should be recognized as an asset, rather than a distraction. Initially, I had wished for the menu to be shorter, believing it would have helped in the selection process. Instead, the vast menu affords each patron, especially in a medium or large-sized group, to order a variety of dishes, and even double or possibly triple orders. And, even though it had seemed as if we had originally ordered too much, the sharing of food and the well-balanced approach to delivering the dishes, proved invaluable, allowing us to enjoy dessert without feeling overburdened.
Of course, I ordered the richest and boldest dessert item: the espresso cake. Thick, dark chocolate ganache mounded on a cookie crust and placed around a lime/caramel sauce was the perfect finishing touch to the night’s meal. A friend ordered the lightest dish on the menu: the cajeta, which was the restaurant’s version of a tiramisu, with small layers of chocolate mousse and cream. Another friend ordered the chocolate cannoli. I had a problem with its name, because it’s not very chocolaty and didn’t even look like chocolate and nor was it prepared like a traditional cannoli. Instead, it was filled with goat’s cheese and had just a light touch of chocolate mixed in. It wasn’t as rich as you would expect and I didn’t really taste the chocolate, either. Still, it was a good dessert, and, as our server had told us, it was prepared in a hand-rolled shell; apparently, this feature is unique to only Pazo in the Baltimore area. The final dessert was the tart-of-the-day. It was a traditional tart slice filled with fresh raspberries and topped with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream. It had been slightly warmed, and the butter and cream were rich, nicely contrasting with the ice cream’s sweetness.
As the final moments of our evening waned, and as I was asking everyone for their input, my friend, who is more traditional and conservative in her culinary preferences, seemed to be the most exuberant about returning. In particular, she enjoyed tasting from a multitude of plates, especially dishes outside of her palette, like the empanadas and duck. We all agreed that eating from a variety of dishes, not just a single meat or vegetable-based plate, allowed us to taste the best of flavors, textures, and seasonings. It was then I realized why my friend had given me such a growling look when I had dared to question the relevancy of tapas dining. Never again will I make that conclusion.
