Building on the success of its two-day Festival de Pinchos event last month, Spanish restaurant El Chipirón has decided to offer a wider variety of the small plates on a regular basis (a reality I hoped for in my review last year).
Beginning Friday, chef Pablo Gomez’s South Lamar restaurant will serve a menu of pinchos Wednesday-Saturday nights that includes deconstructed Spanish tortilla de patata with egg and potato-mushroom foam, onion and serrano ham crisp ($8); sweet-and-spicy gazpacho made with hot strawberry gazpacho and piparras ($4); mojamita de atún ahumado made with cold, smoked tuna with sherry reduction ($9); salpicón de marisco featuring shrimp, mussels, seasonal vegetables and sherry-lime vinaigrette ($7); carne a la piedra, short-cured grass-fed beef served on a hot stone with herbs ($9); melón con jamón ($5); mussels with Albariño and garlic ($14); and much more.
In addition to the pinchos format, which inspires sharing and group dining, the restaurant will also serve porrones full of whole bottles of Spanish wine for $30 and their menu of creative gin and tonic cocktails, which should also liven the mood.
“Diners went crazy for the bar counter presentation of pinchos, the variety of pinchos on their table, and trying to drink from the wine porrones,” said Gomez of their April test run. “I say ‘trying’ as it is even difficult for me. Everyone was having fun, making friends and it felt reminiscent of the pincho bars in Spain.”
El Chipirón will feature its expanded pinchos menu Wednesday-Saturday from 5 to 10 p.m., with Tuesdays still reserved as paella night.