Cafe Iberico

We went out to eat at Cafe Iberico, a Spanish tapas restaurant in River North. It had been several months since eating at the last tapas restaurant so Nick was ready to go to another one. Natalie had been here many years ago but it was Nick's first time.

Patatas Alioli-Garlic Potato Salad

We ordered the following tapas:
Ensalada Mixta - Spanish style mixed salad with asparagus, beets, hearts of palm, endive, avocado and vinaigrette dressing. A nice combination of ingredients for a salad. We should try some of these items in a salad at home.

Ensalada Mixta

Patatas Alioli (under cold tapas) - red potatoes with garlic mayonnaise.  This is Natalie's staple dish at all tapas restaurants. They really all taste about the same - Nick thought this one was a little more mild (not so garlicy) and creamier than others.  It was definitely a larger portion than at other tapas restaurants.

Bacon wrapped dates with goat cheese and rice with raisins on the side. This is Nick's favorite tapas restaurant item. This was a special item for that night.  It was nice to have the cheese with dates - not all tapas restaurants do this.  Also most places just serve the dates and not anything else like the rice dish that accompanied the dates.  Overall, having the combo of the sweet dates and the salty bacon makes this dish great.

Bacon wrapped dates

Queso de Cabra

Jamon Iberico

Jamon Iberico (under cold tapas) - Spanish style cured ham with Manchego cheese and tomato bread (better description is toast points with a bruschetta style tomato sauce).  All of these items went together nicely.  The description of tomato bread was quite deceiving and ended up being the much better reality of bread with tomatoes on top like a bruschetta. We piled the ham and the Manchego cheese on top of the bread and it all tasted great.

Queso de Cabra (under hot tapas) - baked goat cheese with fresh tomato basil sauce and pesto toast. We love goat cheese and this was no exception. This is another dish that is offered at most other tapas restaurants. The combination of the cheese and the tomato sauce and the toast melded into one fluid flavor.

Croquetas de Pollo

Croquetas de Pollo (under hot tapas) - chicken and ham puffs served with alioli sauce.  These were surprisingly tasty.  The description on the menu was quite sparse so Nick went out on a limb in ordering this one.  They looked like hush puppies but inside they were even better with a warm combo of chicken, ham and cheese.

Final thoughts on Cafe Iberico:
Food - good tapas but Nick appreciates the tapas places near our house better
Service - very good, all of the dishes came out very quickly
Atmosphere - vibrant scene for a weekday evening, gets hopping on the weekends.  In the front part of the restaurant they have a tapas bar concept of ordering small individual tapas.

Interior

Interior

Pa