Emilio's Tapas

We went to dinner at Emilio's Tapas in Hillside.  We had been here to eat before, but not since we started this blog.  (It also has been recently featured on Chicago's Best.)  Nick's parents were in town and they recently went on a trip to Spain so we thought we would share in the tapas with them so they could reminisce about their trip.  We tried some new dishes and also had some of the same dishes we have formerly experienced (at Meson Sabika or Cafe Iberico).

Here's a list of the dishes we've had before; obviously we love them otherwise we wouldn't keep ordering them:

Garlic Potato Salad

Patatas con Alioli - garlic potato salad, Natalie's favorite

Pan con tomate, jamon y queso - bread with Serrano ham, Manchego cheese & tomatoes, drizzled with olive oil - lately we have really been into Serrano ham and Manchego cheese

Bread with Serrano ham, Manchego cheese and tomatoes

Sauteed Escargot on Toast points

Caracoles Emilio - sauteed escargot served on croutons.  Nick doesn't like escargot so he won 't eat these, but Natalie loves them (and Nick's dad really loved them)

Bacon wrapped dates

Datiles con Tocino - dates wrapped with bacon, served with a red pepper butter sauce, Nick's favorite

Queso de Cabra al Horno - goat cheese baked in tomato sauce; good because we love goat cheese

Baked Goat Cheese

New tapas we experienced this time:

Crab Claws

Special - crab claws, good but nothing spectacular. The claws themselves were a bit small and came served on a bed of salad.  The salad was good but we didn't order the dish for the salad.

Asparagus with shrimp




Special - asparagus with shrimp, some of us liked this, some didn't. But it was a nice contrast in flavors compared to the heavy starches of the other tapas.

Chicken stuffed with Chorizo and mushrooms

Special - chicken stuffed with chorizo and mushrooms.  We all really liked this dish.  But since it was a special it won't always be on the menu.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Champinones Rellenos - mushroom caps stuffed with spinach, onions, and mozzarella.  This sounded good from the description but it was just ok.  We wouldn't order it again.

Also before any of the other tapas came out they brough a complimentary Amuse Bouche - a toast point with spinach and cheese.  We each got a bite.  It tasted pretty good and was unexpected.

Amuse Bouche

We were pretty full after ordering all of these tapas so we certainly weren't planning on getting any dessert. But then something unusual happened to Nick.  At the table next to us the waiter or busboy was gather their dessert plates.  Apparently he slipped and one of the plates with ice cream on it went flying.  We saw that this happened behind Nick's back, but couldn't see anything else.  Then Nick stood up and turned around and he had a lot of ice cream on the back of his sweater. We did our best to clean up what we could and fortunately he had another shirt on underneath so he just took the sweater off and they washed it up. Then they apologized profusely and brought out 2 free desserts. Fortunately it wasn't an expensive sweater that could only be laundered in expensive ways.

It's a bit hard to see, but there is a mural on the wall of Emilio and
off to the right ist he actual Emilio near another table

So they brought out a Caramel Flan and a Tiramisu.  We didn't get pictures due to all of the hubbub  The flan was great.  We really don't love Tiramisu so we would have preferred something else.  Later we looked online at their dessert menu and Tiramisu isn't even one of the regular dessert items (isn't it Italian?) All in all we crammed in more food than originally planned.

Final thoughts on Emilio's Tapas:
Food - The key seems to be to definitely stick with our favorites and then maybe try a couple new items. It's hard not to order our favorites. It's really nice to try out lots of little things though.  This is definitely Natalie's preferred way of eating - she always enjoys appetizers more than entrees at most restaurants.
Service - Pretty good.  The whole ice cream incident was a bit bizarre.  But part of the reason that happened was because all of the tables are really close to each other.  Another few inches and this wouldn't have happened at all.

Interior with lots of items from Spain

Atmosphere - we were there on a Saturday night and it was very busy.  Good thing we made reservations.  We have been there before at other times and it isn't as busy. It was fun to go with other people.  But once you get over a certain size group you have to order more than one of every dish if everyone wants to try it.