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| - My boyfriend and I were planning to spend Valentine's Day ordering Thai food and snuggled up on the couch, but my Groupon for La Casa was expiring on February 15th. The place looked reasonably casual, so we wore jeans. I lamented that I hadn't used the Groupon in summer, as the back patio looked really fantastic.
We made a reservation for 6 pm, and found free parking on a residential street in nearby. There weren't too many other tables of customers, though people trickled in as 7 pm passed. Servers greeted us warmly, and we were given our pick of tables. We chose one in the back room, away from the bar. It was apparent immediately that this room is "kitchen adjacent," so we did hear some colorful language coming from the cooking staff. I really don't care when people swear, generally, but there was something really off-putting about hearing bawdy cooks shout at each other during our Valentine's dinner. I'd appreciate it if La Casa would give a word to them about that.
Anyway, I ordered sangria and my boyfriend got a cocktail. The sangria was a small pour, but only $6, and it had nice wintery spice flavors). It was surprisingly appropriate for the season. We shared 4 tapas, as the server recommended 2 per person. We started with the queso manchego (baked manchego cheese), which was breaded and baked, so the gooey cheese was inside a crispy exterior. Like a mozzarella stick, only less greasy and more awesome. Very delicious, and you get three large pieces in a serving. We then ordered the corazones fritos de alcachofas (chef's "special" fried artichokes). There were 5 good size artichoke hearts, with a crispy coating and a few sauce drizzles. The artichokes had been previously marinated, giving extra flavor to the dish.
Moving on, we tried the Mejillones De la Casa (mussels and chorizo in tomato sauce). This dish was enjoyable, but the mussels were a little tough, and oddly the chorizo was softer than I expected. It was soft like a kielbasa or an andouille, not hard like smoked sausages usually are, but I know that there are many varieties. It tasted good, but not unique - like a smoked sausage you could buy at a grocery store. But it was a pleasant dish, and we used some warm baguette to mop up the rest of the tomato sauce.
Our last dish, my least favorite, was a special of the day - octopus cooked with roughly chopped vegetables. The octopus was too chewy - and yes, I know it's a rubbery food, but I really believe it was overdone. It wasn't much fun to eat as a result, and I wasn't too eager to grab additional spoonfuls.
The tapas came out quickly, one after the other. Some people prefer that, some don't. We didn't ask them to stagger it, but you could try if you'd rather not have four or more dishes on your plate at most. It got crowded on the table, but we didn't really mind. All the servers were very friendly, with a good sense of humor, and wished us happy Valentine's Day.
If we were still going to be there this summer, I'd return for some drinks and snacks on the back patio and give it a second chance. It was a perfectly good place to have a meal, some hits and misses, but a nice atmosphere and good service.
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