Wright Eats

It’s been nearly three months since we talked about going to Ocho, and the stars finally aligned tonight.  We walked in around 6, and were lucky to get a couple of seats at the bar after a few minutes.  It was standing-room only with a line out the door not long afterwards.

Co-owner Zach Harjo was behind the bar, mixing drinks nonstop.  Dawn was eager to try the Ten Dollar Margarita (made with a premium tequila), given how much she liked the margaritas Zach made when he was bartending at La Carta de Oaxaca.  I went for a Sagrada Familia, which was a tasty blend of pear brandy and rosé cava.  Sitting at the bar gave us ample opportunity to see the other cool concoctions being served, and next time I want to try the popular Sangria Rioja, pictured here:

Ocho has a tapas bar atmosphere that reminded us of Spain – a small, loud space crowded with happy people enjoying good food and drink.  The chalkboard listed a number of tapas, including classic dishes like pa amb tomaquet from Catalonia and fabada con chorizo from Asturias.  We tried those and others, and soon were reminiscing about how we were eating fabada in Asturias just a year ago, wondering when we were going to get a chance to visit there again.  How great to have these food tastes transport us back!

While everything we had was excellent, the dishes forego authenticity in favor of tastiness.  Pa amb tomaquet is traditionally crispy grilled bread simply rubbed with garlic and tomato; Ocho serves slightly-crisp French bread heaped with diced tomatoes and a slice of warm manchego cheese.  Would I order it again?  Absolutely – it was a perfect two-bite start to our meal.

If you go, don’t miss the dates filled with blue cheese, wrapped with pancetta, and drizzled with a balsamic reduction – they’re sweet enough to be dessert!

Ocho
2325 NW Market St., Seattle
(206) 784-0699

This entry was posted on Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 11:15 pm and is filed under Restaurants.