Cosmo Tapas
Is Cosmo Tapas too cool for Albuquerque? Maybe. Tapas seems to be a new trend over the past few years state side. Maybe I need to do some background research into tapas, so this is what I came up with. According to m-w.com tapas are defined as an hors d'oeuvre served with drinks especially in Spanish bar. I looked at the Wikipedia entry as well. While on the topic of Wikipedia, I heard from one of my co-workers that his grand kids cannot use it as a source for research papers. Well I think if it's on Wikipedia it's got to be true...or something.
"In North America and the United Kingdom, as well as in select bars in Spain, tapas has evolved into an entire, and sometimes sophisticated, cuisine. In these countries, patrons of tapas restaurants can order many different tapas and combine them to make a full meal.
The serving of tapas is designed to encourage conversation because people are not so focused upon eating an entire meal that is set before them. Also, in some countries it is customary for diners to stand and move about while eating tapas."
Cosmo Tapas opened where one of my favorite bars, Martini Grille, used to be on Central near Washington. The outside is pretty much unchanged, but the inside is very different from the former establishment. The decor is very well done. They opened up the bar area so it's a little more spacious. The walls were painted a neutral beige color. On the southern wall there are great paintings of landmarks from around the world like the Eiffel Tower. The lighting is much brighter. The interior of Cosmo Tapas is well done.
nu=5432)9+4%29252%29WSNRCG%3D333%3B72+73335nu0mrj.jpeg)
Pictured to the left is the cover of the extensive menu at Cosmo Tapas. This menu is great. They offer a wide variety of tapas that influenced by cuisine of the world. In my opinion, the menu is mostly influenced by Spanish food. I was impressed by the great selection of alcoholic beverages available here. The bar tender, Jamie, is amazing. His drink ideas are very innovative. I've heard him talk about making a cucumber and jalapeno infused vodka. I did not imbibe, but my friend did. He tried the New Belgium Ranger IPA which I had not seen yet, but is pretty well distributed currently. Like I mentioned before, the selection is good. One beer they carry that I have never heard of is Alhambra Beer from Spain. They carried both varieties the Negra and the Especial Lagers. I will have to try them soon. For my beverage I had a hot tea. The tea selection here is the Tazo Tea collection. I chose the green tea.
After milling over the menu for awhile we ordered the lamb rack with two sauced one of which was a white cheese sauce and bacon wrapped figs stuffed with Gorgonzola cheese. These dishes were served pretty quickly after we ordered. Below both are pictured.
nu=5432)9+4%29252%29WSNRCG%3D333+%28976+9335nu0mrj.jpeg)
The lamb was excellent and cooked as I ordered, rare. The bacon wrapped figs were great too. I normally don't like figs, but the combination of flavors and textures was awesome: the bacon made the dish salty with a slight crunch from well done bacon, the figs added a sweet chewy texture, and the cheese gave a nice creamy finish. I thought the gorgonzola cheese would be too overpowering for this dish, but I was wrong. It was a great cheese choice for the appetizer.
What I really enjoyed about Cosmo Tapas was how they mind the details in basic things; for example, pictured to the right is their silverware. The attention to the silverware is impressive: each one is wrapped with a metal wire that the staff bends by hand, the napkin has a great texture and very absorbent to get all the stuff that does not make it into your mouth, and lastly the silverware is made by IKEA, the Scandinavian home product manufacturer. I am not an IKEA fan, but I though it was cool to see a restaurant carry their settings because it's different.
I hope that Albuquerque makes Cosmos Tapas successful. I'm worried that this place may be too cool for Albuquerque or in other words we are not ready to see something like this in our market. I was blown away. The website could use some work: the link to the menu didn't work, the music runs in several sections of each page, and it's not well organized. I forgot to mention the pricing was very reasonable for what we got, the lamb appetizer ran about ten dollars. This place is amazing with great staff. I would give Cosmos Tapas a high rating, four out of five stars.
http://www.cosmotapas.com/
"In North America and the United Kingdom, as well as in select bars in Spain, tapas has evolved into an entire, and sometimes sophisticated, cuisine. In these countries, patrons of tapas restaurants can order many different tapas and combine them to make a full meal.
The serving of tapas is designed to encourage conversation because people are not so focused upon eating an entire meal that is set before them. Also, in some countries it is customary for diners to stand and move about while eating tapas."
Cosmo Tapas opened where one of my favorite bars, Martini Grille, used to be on Central near Washington. The outside is pretty much unchanged, but the inside is very different from the former establishment. The decor is very well done. They opened up the bar area so it's a little more spacious. The walls were painted a neutral beige color. On the southern wall there are great paintings of landmarks from around the world like the Eiffel Tower. The lighting is much brighter. The interior of Cosmo Tapas is well done.
nu=5432)9+4%29252%29WSNRCG%3D333%3B72+73335nu0mrj.jpeg)
Pictured to the left is the cover of the extensive menu at Cosmo Tapas. This menu is great. They offer a wide variety of tapas that influenced by cuisine of the world. In my opinion, the menu is mostly influenced by Spanish food. I was impressed by the great selection of alcoholic beverages available here. The bar tender, Jamie, is amazing. His drink ideas are very innovative. I've heard him talk about making a cucumber and jalapeno infused vodka. I did not imbibe, but my friend did. He tried the New Belgium Ranger IPA which I had not seen yet, but is pretty well distributed currently. Like I mentioned before, the selection is good. One beer they carry that I have never heard of is Alhambra Beer from Spain. They carried both varieties the Negra and the Especial Lagers. I will have to try them soon. For my beverage I had a hot tea. The tea selection here is the Tazo Tea collection. I chose the green tea.After milling over the menu for awhile we ordered the lamb rack with two sauced one of which was a white cheese sauce and bacon wrapped figs stuffed with Gorgonzola cheese. These dishes were served pretty quickly after we ordered. Below both are pictured.
nu=5432)9+4%29252%29WSNRCG%3D333+%28976+9335nu0mrj.jpeg)
What I really enjoyed about Cosmo Tapas was how they mind the details in basic things; for example, pictured to the right is their silverware. The attention to the silverware is impressive: each one is wrapped with a metal wire that the staff bends by hand, the napkin has a great texture and very absorbent to get all the stuff that does not make it into your mouth, and lastly the silverware is made by IKEA, the Scandinavian home product manufacturer. I am not an IKEA fan, but I though it was cool to see a restaurant carry their settings because it's different.I hope that Albuquerque makes Cosmos Tapas successful. I'm worried that this place may be too cool for Albuquerque or in other words we are not ready to see something like this in our market. I was blown away. The website could use some work: the link to the menu didn't work, the music runs in several sections of each page, and it's not well organized. I forgot to mention the pricing was very reasonable for what we got, the lamb appetizer ran about ten dollars. This place is amazing with great staff. I would give Cosmos Tapas a high rating, four out of five stars.
http://www.cosmotapas.com/
Labels: Cosmo Tapas
posted by Erick at
7:09 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home