Tinto is another one of local Iron Chef Jose Garces restaurants. I was a fan of Amada and am slowly making my way through his other restaurants in Philadelphia (Distrito, Tinto, G Domestic, Garces Trading Group, Village Whiskey and Chifa).  Tinto is located in the Rittenhouse neighborhood and seems to be quite the trendy spot. It was packed with stylish young clads on Saturday night.  Now I know where they have all been hiding. It was nice to finally see some life in the city which we have failed to find in these cold winter months. We were a group of 5 and the wait was 2.5 hours however, we were quickly accommodated by the matire’d who within minutes had us seated. Now that’s what I call service.

Tinto offers tapas style food which the Count and I love. Given that there were five of us we ordered a wide variety of dishes to share (see menu). Within minutes we were served with a complimentary crispy cheese bread plate and aioli sauce. It was devoured within seconds.

The night then started off with a single serving of the Short Rib Sandwich ($10). It was served with bacon, asparagus and celery root aioli. Since only one was ordered it was a hard plat to share. Although, as the food blogger in the group I did have a bite and found it to be a delicious and hearty short rib sandwich. I guess we should have ordered more.

It started off with the Sopa de Castano ($12). A truffled chestnut  soup served with a duck and mushroom hash, fried quail egg yolk and pistachio.

The deconstructed soup was presented in a large bowl with the hash and egg yolk in the center. The broth was poured table side. The complexity of flavors in the soup was great and was a perfect balance.

Next came the Arugula salad served with Serrano ham, mission fig, fried goat cheese balls, spiced almonds and orange vinaigrette.

Next came the Pulpo ($12). An octopus salad served in a spicy tomato sauce with smoked green olive oil aioli and baked chips. The octopus was really tender and delicious when mixed with the tomato base. The chips added that crunchy texture that made the plate perfect.

The Tuna Tartare ($10) was served on a mini croissant with pickled guindilla and chorizo aioli. I loved it as I love anything tuna based. However, some in our party found the croissant  to be drowned in mayonnaise sauce.

Next was a serving of jumbo lump crab, served on toast with fresh avocado and espelette chile ($9). I loved the generous amounts of crab meat mixed with the avocado. Served on toast it was the perfect combination.

The Moules Basquaise was my favorite of the night. A serving of mussels in a tomato and chorizo broth served with a side of delicious fries dipped in lemon aioli ($13). What a creative dish. I loved that the fries were pre-dipped in mayonnaise. The Count hates fries which left me with more fries. The mussels were tasty and the broth was savory and delicious.

The Kobe Beef was served like the crab- on pieces of toast with avocado, pisto bilbaina and romesco. The beef was very tender and went perfectly with the avocado.

Next came the dish I was most looking forward to but liked the least upon taste. Others at our table loved it. So it goes to show that its all about your personal palette. It was a brochette of lamb and chunks of eggplant wrapped in bacon served in a sherry jus shot glass ($14). I found it to be overly salty and the eggplants undercooked. There is nothing less appealing than undercooked eggplants. The bacon really added too much salt to the dish so I unwrapped it and tried it without the bacon. It still did not do it for me.

We also ordered the Bomba Rice in order to add some starchy carbs to our meal. It was a rice dish consisting of white asparagus, maitake mushroom and manchego cheese ($12). Although different in name it tasted very much like an italian mushroom risotto. And lets face it who isn’t a fan of risotto? Creamy rice and mushrooms always do the trick in my books.

A few at the table were still not full from the shared plates above and decide to order more. We decided on the meatballs and paella. The Albondigas (or spiced meatballs) was so beautifully presented. Each meatball was served with a toothpick in a spicy tomato sauce and a poached egg in the middle.

Besides the spicy and tasty flavors of the meatball the tomato sauce and egg could have been served as a separate dish on its own. It was that good!  The Gutxuxa paella came out last. For $18 I expected a entree size dish and was surprised at the small portion of the dish. However, in a setting where everyone is sharing I guess it makes sense to serve in a mini paella dish (which was adorable).

The basque style paella was served with shredded rabbit meat, shrimp and chorizo. So far in life, I have refused to eat rabbit after having a terrifying experience in France (don’t worry I won’t share the agony). However, on this night being accompanied by a Belgian whose parents farmed rabbits I was convinced that it was no less humane to eat rabbits than any other meat (given their reproductive rate). So I dug in to eat a bite of our little soft and furry friends. And guess what? It tasted like chicken.  Except it had less flavor. Was I a fan? Not really. Will I go out of my way to eat rabbit? Probably not.

Rabbit aside- the paella was just okay. I prefered many of the other dishes we had over the paella and for the price I would have rather gotten two more tapas. Note to self for next time.  For dessert we shared a Chestnut Cream and Chocolate cake served with a scoop of coffee flavored ice cream. Who knew chestnut would make such a great dessert ingredient? The cake was delicious.