a little bit of this, a little bit of that

The Spaniards are really onto something with the whole tapas thing. I think it's brilliant to serve dishes that are small in size and anything but small in taste. Americans seem to be of the thought that bigger portion sizes are what it's all about, but I'd like to throw my support to the more appropriately managed plates of tapas. It works so much better for quality food. Honestly, they are also geniuses for inventing sangria as well. Good food and good drinks, what more could you ask for?! La Tasca is a charming trailer off of Barton Springs Road and this is precisely the spot to go when you're craving the great simple things in life. And when you want something that tastes delicious. And especially on Wednesdays.

This small trailer park also houses The Kitchen Window and Cha Thai, and now that the weather is starting to cool off, the appeal of sitting outside with friends at a trailer park is (or should be) growing.  This park was very nicely furnished and had a quiet atmosphere. Different from your boisterous trailer parks... more like a date-type restaurant than a block party with tons of people. Which was perfect for our impromptu Wednesday night date!

As we drove to the trailer park, we were slightly confused about where to park. Let me give you the insider's scoop: you're allowed to park INSIDE the trailer park. We ended up illegally parking in a nearby restaurant's lot and walking, but it turned out alright. Now we (and you) know, we can park right next to the trailers themselves. We saw one guy do it and he looked really cool for knowing this, which encourages me to visit again so I can be in the know and look really cool too. Like when I figured out which was the "cool kid" door to use to walk into my high school. It's a good story, ask me about it sometime.

For our date to La Tasca, we luckily chose a day nick-named "Wino Wednesday" and with the order of two plates of tapas we got some complimentary sangria. We actually ended up ordering three dishes to share between us, and for once the decision making process was very smooth. Danny instantly knew he wanted whatever the daily meatballs were, and I thought the Spanish tortilla should be sampled since it's traditional. I also talked him into ordering the olive plate and boom! we had a meal. With beverages!

Sorry there isn't a great photo of the olives or the tortilla, we sat down at the picnic tables and an extremely charismatic 5 year old girl asked for my phone number and we became friends which distracted me from the duty of providing my readers with the best overall blogging experience. For that I deeply apologize.  Also, I feel like I chatted with that child for quite a while and was pretty hungry when the food came. The meatballs took longer than the rest (I blame Danny) and by that time I remembered to grab my camera.

All of the food was tasty, but I humbly state that Danny was right to order the daily meatballs. They were phenomenal. I don't know if I've ever sampled goat meat before, but I will not hesitate to do so again in the future based on this experience. The flavors in the sauce mixed really nicely with the peaches and meat. Don't get me wrong, the tortilla was good as well, I just don't have anything to directly compare it to since it was my first Spanish Tortilla. I've had meatballs before and those goat meatballs were an exemplary example of the food. The olives and bread were very tasty, however I probably would order something else off the menu that was a bit more adventurous next time instead of  shelling out $4 or so for olives. I do need to throw a shout out to the bread here, it was crunchy on the outside, perfectly soft on the inside and just packed with yumminess. I saw on the menu that you could order extra bread for a dollar and I initially thought, why? After one bite I wanted to order a whole extra platter of the stuff. The sangria was cold and sweet and just perfectly topped off our meal.

The real hero of the meal was the meatball sauce. Danny loved it so much that he unabashedly tipped the tray to his mouth and gulped the remaining liquid down his throat at the end of the meal. Back off ladies, he's all mine!

La Tasca receives 4.5 out of 5 trailers for their delicious and frequently updated menu, lovely outdoor seating area, and complimentary sangria. The dishes are small in nature and so the prices may seem a bit high to some Texans used to larger helpings, but the quality! Oh, the food was so tasty!

Guest Review:

Tapas? whatever, just give 'em to me!

I haven't been to Spain, but I have been to La Tasca, and I don't know about it's Spanish speaking counterpart, but this place knows how to make appetizers. I don't normally like to eat little foods. Or olive-based dishes for that matter. Or, come to think of it, an entire meal comprised solely of "Toothpick" foods. But apparently I like tapas.

"They're 'not' [to turn a phrase] the worst." In fact, they're downright delicious. The eclectic dishes at La Tasca were tasty both to the mouth and the eyes. Great flavors, great presentations.

The one that I would really like to focus on here were the meatballs. I immediately thought they were a good idea--call me prophetic--but then Shalyn was like, ".........." And I was like "What?" And she was like, "Meatballs?" And I was like, ".....no?" And she was like, "[hahahahaha]" And I was like, "Dang, I thought this was 'merica." So we got the meatballs. And thank goodness! They were so goooooooood! The sauce was like, "DANG!" and the goat cheese was like, "MMmmmmm, shooooot..." and then there were peaches. What?! There were peaches? That's crazy!! Nu uh, it was good. It was the sweet girl in pig tails on the back of the motor cycle. Like, does that belong there? I don't know but it's sure tasty.

Anyway, I'd recommend the goat-meat meatballs with goat cheese and peaches.*

*Not for animal rights activists

Danny