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| - It is a relative rarity to find a spanish restaurant that advertises that they make gluten free paella. For this reason and this reason alone I was super excited to visit this establishment. It was an added bonus that upon perusal of their website that there appeared to be a gluten free menu. So with these two facts safely in my minds eye, we set off for Pallantia Tapas de Espana. In fact we even made reservations on open table as it was a saturday evening. We got there to find only a handful of guests and basically our pick of seats ( we choose to sit under the large bull). As mentioned in other reviews, it was an eclectic bunch of people and thus perfect for really any kind of scene and yet no scene at all.
When the waitress presented herself, I inquired after a gluten free menu, to which she said that as their menu changes rather often it was decided that the gluten free menu be discontinued. That being said there were still many options so long as you dont choose anything that has touched a fryer.
That was rather a bummer because I really REALLY wanted the patatas bravas. Anyway, we ordered and got the paella marinera and tried to get the churrasco. When the waitress came back she had a huge "jk" moment and let us know that actually they did have a dedicated gluten free fryer sooo patatas bravas were back on the menu but that they had run out of the churrasco. Ok so we decided to get the "baby Parillada," the paella annnnnd the bravas. Well let me tell you, the amount of left overs that I brought home was colossal.
The bravas were cut into huge pieces that were a bit unwieldy; however, they were cooked to perfection and had a wonderful only slightly spicy sauce. The baby parillada was anything but small.... it was on a huge wooden slab and the meat was very tender. Also, the morcilla that came with the parillada was smokey sweet and reminded me of home. To top off this adventure was the seafood paella. The rice was on the cusp of being overcooked; however, the scallops contained within were out of this world. They were buttery, soft and just melted in your mouth.
Overall, not too busy, dedicated gluten free fryer (but 100% double check), great food with enormous portions and pretty good ambiance. Great for date night or a nice conversation :D
Enjoy, I know I'll be back whenever the paella hankering hits me.
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