I have a pretty cool dad.
He’s so cool that I didn’t write his tribute for Father’s Day until the day after Father’s Day because I wanted to prolong the celebration.
Well, that and because I wanted to draw extra attention to him.
And because I was too busy grilling to write up a thoughtful post.
Anyway, one of the best things about living and working in the general vicinity of my family is that I get to share not only holidays with them, but lots of ordinary days as well.
That just makes it more fun to celebrate special days like Father’s Day, though. Breaks up the routine a little bit, if you will.
Being that I’m the exciting one that still lives in the city, while the rest of my family is in the burbs, I took it upon myself to use my extensive knowledge of good restaurants to arrange a special little brunch for my parents.
And by arrange, I mean pick a place and make a reservation.
We went to Cafe Ba Ba Reeba, which is one of my favorite tapas restaurants in town- and that’s sayin’ something.
I could see the skepticism flash across my parents’ faces when I told them that I had made a brunch reservation for garlicy, spicy, Spanish tapas.
Luckily, they have faith in their daughter. I wouldn’t steer them wrong.
Ba Ba Reeba offers both traditional breakfast dishes like omelettes and waffles on their brunch menu, as well as some interesting breakfast tapas and a selection of their dinner menu tapas.
We went to town.
That little guy back there is a waffle-battered chicken stick. My favorite. Chicken sausage, waffle-battered and drizzled with maple syrup.
Stop it now.
This is one of their pintxos (ie, teeny-tiny tapas), so it was only one bite. I wanted about 15 of them.
Hash brown eggs benedict.
The poached egg is on a hash brown. Need I say more?
Brick egg, crispy crepe with cheese and tomatoes.
I didn’t know what a brick egg was, so I Googled it. Turns out it’s just a term for a regional French egg specialty dish, and this is their Spanish take on it. It was essentially a soft boiled egg with cheese inside a crispy phyllo shell and a sort of tomato confit on the side. It was uncommon and really good!
We also shared the goat cheese baked in tomato sauce (standard), the beef skewers with horseradish cream and caramelized red onion, and the crab+shrimp dip with piquillo peppers.
Yum, delicious and get outta town.
I think I’m sort of obsessed with the idea of tapas for brunch. Seeing as I can never decide between a breakfast item or a lunch item, nevermind choosing between sweet and savory, this gives me a little taste of everything and I am a happy girl.
And my dad said he was a happy papa.
In his words, there wasn’t a single dud among the dishes.
That’s right. No duds for my dad.
Happy Father’s Day, Papa! You are the patatas to my bravas.
I love tapas! Glad you and your dad had a good day!
Jaime used to RAVE about that place. I heart tapas… but usually just with one other person. If I have to split a good yet small dish with 3 or 4 other people, I get crabby.
I’m not good at sharing, so I generally avoid tapas, but that looks awesome. My dad would love those beef skewers!
Yeah, it’s best to go to tapas places with people who have already seen you at your worst.
Oh my, this place sounds amazing. I’ve never been to a tapas place before, and now I’m feeling like I’ve really missed out.
Yeah, you need to get on that! 🙂
Any meal where I have the excuse to try like 7 different things is considered a huge success in my book. And goat cheese baked in tomato sauce? Um, can I live inside there?
Waffle battered chicken stick?
OMFG.
And I mean that in the best way possible.
I know. I really need to figure out how to make them.