Estadio

I have been meaning to write about a recent jaunt to Estadio, the newest and quite authentic Spanish tapas place to make its mark in Logan Circle. The place is pretty fabulous, and certainly a scene, where you better look good if you intend to get the bartender to notice you while you wait an hour for your table. I'm finally compelled to post on it now that the Washington Post's Going Out Guide has beat me to it...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/restaurants/estadio,1168005/critic-review.html?wpisrc=nl_gogthurs

In Spain, tapas are the cheapest way to eat out; in the U.S., where tapas are trendy, it tends to be the opposite. However, even at such a glamorous place as Estadio, I felt the prices were reasonable. After sharing several tapas with my dining companion, our bill came to around $30 each, and we felt as sated as we would have at a normal plated dinner. That included a glass or two of wine, but doesn't count the delicious pre-dinner $9 "piscina nino" I had at the bar -- ingredients: manzanilla and cava, honey and anisette.

We chose the manchego (ahh heavenly sheep cheese, I wish I could find it more often), smoked salmon on toast with yoghurt and honey, sauteed morcilla (blood sausage), roasted wild mushrooms (which were some of the most interesting and beautiful mushrooms I have ever seen) served with parsley and garlic, grilled scallions, and some shellfish item (I'm thinking it was the grilled octopus? I remember debating between that and the squid, but we might have been a few drinks in by the time we ordered that one).The great thing about this place was, while it took forever to get seated, once we were, it didn't take long to be served, and upon deciding we wanted more, it was easy enough to add a couple more tapas as the night went on.

Dining companion wasn't interested in the patatas bravas or the tortilla Espanola, though I tried to convince him how much they reminded me of many a quick meal in Madrid. As basic as they are, to me, they're Spanish food at its truest.

I'm pretty sure the people next to us were speaking Spanish with a Castillian accent. This made me happy.

For a full menu, see Estadio's site: http://estadio-dc.com/