Tapas Teatro Review

Tapas Teatro

1711 N Charles St.

Baltimore, MD 21201

Phone: (410) 332-0110

Hours: Tues-Fri 5pm to 2am & Sat-Sun 4pm to 2am

www.tapasteatro.com

Tapas Teatro is a little treasure located in Downtown North, right next to the Charles Theatre. It does not take reservations and is very small but the food is well worth the wait. The chef is completely on top of his game. Keep your eye out for this adorable, yet quiet guy with his ball cap pulled low over his eyes.  We were fortunate enough to be introduced to the chef; he has a truly humble spirit. 

We had a very, very good meal here. The food was electric, bold and heartwarming.  The décor consists of exposed brick, windows all along the front which are opened up when the weather is warm, dark colored wood and red paneling. There is an L-shaped bar and tiny restrooms. This restaurant has a very artsy feel. Tapas Teatro is of course a great place to go before or after taking in a show at the historic Charles Theatre, as well as a good place to go with friends, family, coworkers or your significant other. The menu changes frequently, so there is not an updated menu, rather a sample menu is outlined on its website.  We enjoyed our waitress.  She was very attentive and helpful; she was able to answer all of our questions about the menu.  The prices here are rather affordable and quite reasonable.  The two of us enjoyed this meal for a total of $80.  There is paid street parking and a cheap garage across the street.  Overall we give Tapas Teatro ♪♪♪♪. 

THE FOOD:

MEMBRILLO: This dish consisted of home-made quince paste, toasted ciabatta, montealva cheese and truffle oil. The cheese gave the dish a sour tartness that meshed nicely with the sweetness of the quince paste. The truffle oil grounds the dish, giving it an earthiness.  The flavors here blend so well that it is difficult to differentiate one from another. The crostini is light, airy, crunchy and soft all at the same time.

TROUTA AHUMADO: This dish was basically a minced, smoked-trout salad, fresh and made in-house. Smoky, salty, earthy smoked trout is the main ingredient in this dish. The onions give a refreshing brightness and the egg further helps to brighten and smooth out the dish. The egg here was an unexpected but completely welcome ingredient.

CATALAN KALE: Here Kale was sautéed with pine-nuts and raisins. The pine nuts added a woody, oaky-ness reminiscent of fall. There were onions and fresh horseradish within which added a kick of spicy-ness. There was even a char on some pieces of Kale, which was wonderful. This dish was a study in contrasts; savory, sweet, and salty all at the same time. It had a heavy robust flavor and was almost greasy but it worked.  It was sort of like eating a sautéed kale trail mix.

ALMEJAS: Little neck clams were combined with bacon, tomato, egg, sherry and herbs in this dish. The sauce here had a nice, briny flavor. The egg added a meaty-ness along with the bacon and tomato. The bacon seemed to have been marinated in the sauce rather than fried. The tomato also added a touch of sweetness. Eating this dish was like eating a clam stew.  It was quite good.

CALAMARI A LA PARILLA: Calamari tubes here were perfectly grilled with a char on the ends; giving a soft, bouncy, tender, pillow-y texture; very sensuous. They were ensconced in a pepperoncini vinaigrette; a sour, hot, spicy combo which enhanced the ocean-y sweetness of the calamari perfectly.  Alone it would have been overpowering, but combined with the calamari, it was the PERFECT accompaniment. We did not want this dish to come to an end.

PAN-SEARED ANGUS: The first bite of this dish pushed Melissa into a fit of giggles. The buttery-ness and tenderness of this cut of beef was unparalleled… transcendent even… lol. The beef was seared to perfection. We asked for rare and it was perfectly rare. The char was perfect. The sauce was a perfect compliment. All I can say is… WOW!

ROASTED EGGPLANT: There were wonderful middle-eastern flavors here. It had a combination of roasted eggplant and assorted curried vegetables.  The dish however did not exactly come into a coherent whole. The eggplant was very mild, and slightly overpowered by the supper yummy curried veggies.  The vegetables stole the show from the eggplant in this dish.  We felt that the yogurt sauce would have been better placed atop the curried veggies rather than the milder eggplant.

DARK CHOCOLATE AND HAZELNUT PANNA COTTA: Dark chocolate, hazelnuts and espresso crème fraise made for a heavenly combination. It was not too sweet, was light and refreshing, and tasted like Christmas. The only criticism was that there were almost too many nuts.