Just went to a FANtastic restaurant here in southern California... Tapa Meze

C

cheezz

Well-known member
I don't know if any of you Angeleans have been there, but it's in Manhattan Beach just off of Sepulveda. WOW... peppadew - cheese stuffed South African sweet peppers served with spiced oil and balsamic; fried manchego cheese served with a spicy arrabiata sauce; eggplant caponatta crostini; torta bravas - fried potato and garlic with smoked tomato aioli...

And the icing on the cake was dessert... little dark chocolate covered apricots sprinkled with crushed pistachios, served on raspberry coulis, with little dishes of sweet lavender syrup and whipped cream - WOW!!! My taste buds are still dancing.

Tapa Meze

1019 Manhattan Beach Blvd

Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

(310) 545-8500

www.tapameze.com

 
Cheezz, just wrote to you and it has dissappeared...Love Peppadews and so did Moyn.....

our favourite fast food is mezze/tapas, so many different flavours. The Emirates flights always serve the middle Eastern mezze on flights in and out of Dubai.....one reason I like traveling that way.

 
as it was explained to me... tapas are from the west Mediterranean and mezes are the east

learn something new every day!

 
and so right you are.....

and the make up each wee dish is so very different in the spices that are used.
I am now finding that the Spanish/Portugese tapa are generally quite oily and many are tomato based compared to the Middle East mezze, however, they all are quite delicious.
My choice when we go out to these kinds of resturants are two or three of the wee dishes and forget about the main. I find the mains quite disappointing....in that there is not such a great variety of flavours.
My favourite dish is one from a Turkish restuarant from ages ago, walnut dip with pita bread...never been able to copy it and never got the recipe out of them (or from any where)
On the flight in and out of Dubai they had a mezze consisting of a really excellent smoky aubergine pate...(my 2nd fav. mezze)....and a goat cheese ball in herbs, salmon in a wee square of short pastry, olives, spiced chickpeas, kofta and a tri-cornered pastry ??? which I did not enjoy, along with wee pita breads. My choice of wine for this was Pouilly Fume.
I wish I did not have to go back to the island, I have had such a fun time experiencing/tasting all this, almost feels as if the island is blaa...which we all know is not at all that way....just as Erma Bombeck said "the grass is always greener over the septic tank"...I keep travelling to find that green grass...smileys/smile.gif

 
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