Hollywood, California has a good selection of tapas restaurants to choose from.
There are about 400 restaurants in Hollywood, California that offer a banquet of choices in international and national cuisine, including several that specialize in tapas. Tapas originate in Spain where snacks or appetizers are served on small plates with a drink at lunch or in the evening before the main meal. Tapas can be practically any type of dish including seafood, cured meats and sauces and cheeses, and are more a style of eating rather than a type of cooking. The attraction is ordering a cocktail and sharing, tasting and discussing a selection of tapas dishes with friends.
La Vida Restaurant & Lounge
La Vida on North Gower Street in Hollywood looks like a tropical resort and has been reviewed in the Los Angeles Times, among other publications. Its dining spaces include a courtyard, main dining room and two bars. In addition to a wide variety of tapas served in the bars, the dining room features a full menu of dishes from southern Spain with a California influence including black cod topped with green salsa, Sonoma lamb sausages and an avocado, watermelon and cucumber salad in a cilantro mint mojito dressing.
Tinto Tapas Espana
On Saint Monica Boulevard, Tinto Tapas Espana features a happy hour, paella night and live Flamenco music on Thursdays. Tapas choices include four kinds of Spanish cheese Marcona almonds, quince paste, dried apricots, fig marmalade and grapes and four types of regional Spanish cured meats served with olives. You can follow your tapas choices with a main dish such as grilled salmon in a shrimp sauce with white asparagus or lamb chops with oven roasted potatoes and aioli. The atmosphere is dark, cozy and authentically Spanish. The restaurant is the winner of a creative business award in the restaurant category from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.
Sunset Trocadero
Sunset Trocadero, on Sunset Strip, specializes in tapas and accompanies them with its signature martinis. In addition to its tapas selections, the casual restaurant and lounge, with its Art Deco style, offers a full dinner menu including filet tips, shrimp spring rolls, baby lamb chops and crab cakes. You can enjoy half-priced drinks during its daily happy hour and its outdoor patio gives a view of the action on the Strip where you may catch a glimpse of a celebrity.
La Paella
At La Paella in South Hollywood, you can choose from an extensive tapas menu of more than 30 hot and cold small dishes. Selections include cooked octopus served with olive oil and paprika, steamed mussels with white wine and fried squid in light batter. The decor is Spanish village and your tapas selections can be followed by soup and paella, which is a typical Spanish dish that gets its name from the pan it's cooked in.
Tags: served with, choose from, cured meats, dining room, happy hour