Date of Visit: August 3, 2007

Gerald Hirigoyen and wife Cameron opened Bocadillos in the Financial District in July 2004, naming this Basque tapas restaurant for the small Spanish sandwiches. Chef Hiroyen was a longtime chef at Fringale, and left just this year to focus exclusively on Bocadillos and his other Basque restaurant, Piperade.

The contemporary space is framed by an orange wall on one side and slatted black wood on the other. We sat in the middle, at the end of a communal wood table. The crowd, and the servers were young and fashionable, except for a group of middle-aged triplets, who stank of perfume, and of course had to sit in our line of smell.

To start, we shared five Pintxos – tiny Basque tapas. Cubes of watermelon, cucumber, and feta ($1.50 each) were speared and dusted with Espelette pepper, produced in a village in the Pyrenees. Chilled prawns ($2.50 each) were skewered with a single guindilla (green pickled chile pepper) and “huevos Diablo” – Deviled eggs dusted with smoky red Pimenton.

From the A La Plancha category, we selected shell-on prawns ($13), simply grilled with garlic “flakes” and lemon confit.

Cool slices of seared ahi ($12) were impeccable, marinated in Meyer lemon dressing and plated with grapefruit and orange segments. The citrus imparted a sweet-tart one-two punch.

A bowl of feathery fried calamari came with a dish of romesco sauce ($8). Romesco sauce is a popular Spanish condiment made with red peppers, olive oil, almonds and several other components.

Porcini mushrooms ($9) were sauteed with roasted garlic and thyme and and thin-shaved Manchego. The mushrooms probably could have done without the cheese, since they had plenty of flavor on their own.

Since we were at Bocadillos, we had to order a couple of the Spanish sandwiches. There was a gaffe, and we ended up with two of the same sandwich, but at least it was the version with Catalan sausage shaved Manchego ($5 each). The slab of luscious pork came on soft olive bread with arugula.

Here’s a cross-section of the Catalan sausage bocadillo, since there can never be enough meat photos.

We skipped Innard Circle – pickled tongue, pigs trotters and foie gras – and went more traditional for our meat entree. Slices of Painted Hills bavette steak ($13) were slathered with chimichurri ($13), the Argentine parsley sauce made with olive oil, lemon juice and garlic, rendering the roasted meat incredibly tender. The beef had a nice outer char.

Even though we’d already devoured eight dishes, my father spotted a couple eating Patatas Bravas ($7) at the bar and couldn’t resist. The thick-cut seasoned fries were sprinkled with more ground red pepper and came with another dish of romesco sauce.

Since we overordered, we didn’t have room for Dulce & Frutas. Guess I’ll have to save room for the warm coconut bread pudding and “Arm of a Gypsy” next time.

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3. CiUDAD (Sunday Tapas) – Los Angeles, CA – December 18, 2005
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5. Pasadena, the Epicenter of North African Cookery in L.A.

This entry is filed under California, Northern California, San Francisco, Tapas.