We joined a lovely Spanish-themed dinner & wine event in collaboration with a local wine service at the cute Mediterranean place near us last night. The only 2 seats available when we made the rez for it were for the 5pm seating, which is unusually early for us, so we made sure to have an early & light lunch.
Sharing a 6-top with 4 other peeps, we were greeted with a glass of cava to go with paleta de jamon Iberico, pan de horno & some very uninteresting olives.
The bread seemed a bit underbaked, but my PIC loved it.
The second course, croquetas de bacalao / salt cod / bechamel / lemon came with my favorite wine of the evening, a wonderfully rich, fruity Alvariño that was heavy on pear notes.
The croqueta was very nice, with a distinct hit of lemon, and the trout roe perched atop gave the whole package a much-needed salt kick. The girls next to us agreed that the food in general could use salt and requested some. They received a tiny lil bowl with a few salt crystals 
Maybe the chef/owner is on a low-salt diet, who knows, but this has been an ongoing criticism of ours — not that it has stopped us from returning more than any other restaurant this fall.
Our table companions were easy to talk to, and most of our conversations focused on other restaurants in town we’d all enjoyed or disliked.
The third course was pulpo de gallega: octopus with ‘potato confit,’ smoked paprika and Maldon salt.
The octopus is one reason we’ve dined here 4 times now. This was not their best rendition, TBH. The octopus itself was alright, but the ‘confit’ potatoes seemed to me merely steamed, and the only thing adding a bit of pizzazz to the dish was the smoked paprika. Eh.
This was accompanied by a very light Crianza I also didn’t care for.
The fourth course was Mallorquin lamb stew with…. Tortilla Española.
The guy must REALLY like potatoes, this being the 3rd course in which they were a main component. The lamb stew was very tender and flavorful and paired very well with a Reserva from the same vintner.
Lastly, a lovely tarta de queso with whipped salted caramel and roasted lady apples, along with a glass of Osborne medium sherry.
A nice send-off into the still very early evening.
I prefer their regular menu, but it’s unlikely that we will be back, with less than 2 weeks left 
