Title: Barlata
Author: GCS
Last saved by: ENU

Owner Daniel Olivella sells Oakland Barlata to open a new mini-empire in Austin TX: http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2014/07/03/daniel-olivella-drops-oakland-barlata-for-another-in-austin/
 
Barlata in Oakland, CA – update, lunch		CLOSED
http://www.barlata.com/main.html  
Review date: December 2012
(previous review appended below)

Barlata is the sibling to B44 in San Francisco. We had dinner here with our friends Bruce and Marg on April 2010 and all four of us enjoyed the meal of small plates very much. We were able to compare it directly to Zarzuela/SF (the four of us had eaten there not that long before), and Barlata held its own against that very strong competition.

Recently Barlata began to open for lunch, so we brought Inez with us to give it a try. We were surprised to find it almost empty on a Friday. The waitstaff is very friendly and efficient. Discovering the soup of the day was carrot with honey, I ordered a bowl for Inez as I was certain she'd like it.

Carlos and I chose the menu for the three of us to share. Having tried many of the small plates before, we opted for trying the paellas this time. He picked the Barlata Paella, a rice paella with seafood, chicken and sausage. I chose the Fideua Negre, a noodle paella with seafood and squid ink. We also picked the Chilean sea bass special (okay, yet a second instance of unsustainable fish eating – mea culpa!), the Spanish blood sausage morcilla, and the brandade, salt cod and mashed potato casserole. 

The paellas are individual-sized. If three people are sharing, it's enough food to taste without filling up too much. We thought the rice paella was similar to B44's version, which makes sense, but there wasn't much depth to the flavors, and the rice was a little al dente. Carlos finished most of it.

I liked the noodle paella, which was inky-black from the squid ink. I enjoy the flavor of squid ink, although not everyone does. It wasn't an exceptional dish, but I preferred it to the rice paella, which I thought indifferent. There was a dollop of Spanish aioli on the noodle paella, which went well to blend all the flavors, although it made the dish somewhat greasy. Spanish aioli is just garlic and oil, made without egg yolks.

Both paellas were topped with a pair of shell-on, head-on prawns. They were mediocre in quality, not very sweet or fresh. Like the paellas, they weren't bad, but less than we expected based upon our previous dinner.

The brandade was very smooth in texture, but the salt cod flavor was surprisingly mild. Since we like salt cod – Carlos loves it, in fact – we found this tapa disappointing. It came with some thin slices of toasted bread (whatever the Spanish equivalent of Melba toast is), but the salt cod was so muted that even putting the brandade on toast almost completely overwhelmed the flavor of the fish.

The morcilla, blood sausage, was very good. Not as soft inside as the French boudin noir, it has the crisp chewy beef casing like a fine bratwurst, with good rich flavor. It was served with small white beans served warm, and another dollop of the Spanish aioli.

The Chilean sea bass was disappointing. It was a small piece for a rather large price - $5 more than either paella – set atop wilted spinach in a sauce that tasted more of red bells than it did expensive piquillo peppers. The fish wasn't very fresh, either.

Inez did like her carrot soup, which along with the blood sausage were the best of this disappointing meal. The sweetness of the carrots was offset by a good savory broth and a little smoky depth from sweet pimentón.

Barlata impressed us the first time with its gutsy, aggressive, rich flavors. It was less subtle than Zarzuela, better executed than B44. But this lunch left us with the impression of a zombie chef going through the motions of what Spanish cooking should taste like. 

It wasn't a bad meal, but it wasn't anywhere near the exciting, interesting small plates we'd had a couple of years ago. It's a shame, because the waitstaff was charming, not a word we are often able to use in California, where service is often a level below the food. 

Will we come back to Barlata? Maybe. Spanish tapas cuisine isn't that complex, at least in America. This was so lackluster an effort that it's hard to raise any enthusiasm for the idea of returning to try again. If we do, we'll stick to the small plates. The paellas just weren't good enough. It says a lot when we think the paella at Seison/Oakland that we had twice in November 2011, which was probably made by a Chinese cook, was far superior to Barlata's effort in every way.

Three people, lunch: one soup, three tapas, two paellas, with tip was $87.

Barlata 
4901 Telegraph Ave., Oakland
http://www.barlata.com/menu.html
Review date:  April 2010

As an Oakland resident, I’d like to sincerely thank the City of San Francisco for their continuing assistance in encouraging good chefs to start their new restaurants in the East Bay. High rents, too much competition, enervating permit processes, and the city’s 2008 healthcare law seems to have tipped the edge (at last!) to the point where Oakland now receives serious consideration as a business location by gourmet entrepreneurs.

Daniel Olivella, Catalonian immigrant and chef at the well-regarded B44 in SF (where we enjoyed a good lunch in December 2008), opened Barlata in the Temescal in March 2009 to serve paella and tapas.  It’s not very large, mostly small tables for two or four – any more and you’re stuck at the communal table where eighteen people can sit – but there’s ten more bar seats that are also popular. 

They don’t take reservations, so if you don’t like waiting in the cold, get there before 6:30 p.m., as we did on the advice of the hostess.

Our good friends Bruce and Marge came over on a Saturday afternoon, so we tooled around Oakland and Berkeley to do some foodie shopping – everything from dried fava beans to Himalayan pink sea salt – before seating ourselves at Barlata. They had treated us to Zarzuela in August 2009, so we had the perfect basis for comparison of the two.

Like many small restaurants, Barlata’s a little understaffed so it helps to be patient, although they’re good at cleaning up the table on a regular basis. This really helps in tapas restaurants, because you can accumulate a lot of plates very quickly, especially with a party of four.

Our young waitress was an excellent source of advice, helping Bruce and Marge select an outstanding wine by the glass, and advising us on several dishes that were good choices. The bread slices come with a nice olive oil spread mixed with chopped anchovies, and they’re happy to bring you more bread, which you’ll need.

I’ll list the tapas we had below. But what made Barlata a success for us, is how all four diners are eager to return, but liked different dishes in varying degrees. Everybody had a couple of dishes they were so-so on, but there was no unanimity on which ones those were – meaning that nobody loved every single dish, but everyone found several tapas they loved and would happily order again. This is the essence of small plates dining, and Barlata’s pleasant decor, interesting menu, and good vibes make for fun people watching as well.

We chose:
•	Chipirones: baby squid stuffed with crumbled fennel sausage, in a sauce made with squid ink
•	Grilled local sardines
•	Roasted vegetable platter
•	Daily special of grilled asparagus with jambon, sprinkled with a sherry vinaigrette
•	Piquila: seafood stuffed piquillo peppers in a pimentón cream sauce
•	Ceviche
•	Patatas bravas: fried potatoes with spicy tomato sauce and aioli
•	Braised oxtail in red wine sauce with mashed potatoes
•	Mussels in a tomato sofrito with pancetta and tarragon
•	Squid and fennel, deep fried with lemon aioli
•	Mar i muntanya: pork meatballs with little cubes of squid (sepia) in a sofrito
•	Gambas ajillo: shrimp in garlic and olive oil

All of us loved the chipirones. The special of asparagus was excellent, but the roasted vegetables were an uninteresting mix of piles of onions, red peppers, and surprisingly tasteless eggplant. Bruce and I loved the sardines. Bruce, Marge and I loved the piquila. Carlos adored the ceviche. I enjoyed the patatas bravas, while Bruce and Marge loved the sauce although the very crispy deep-fried potato cubes are not their choice of style for bravas – Zarzuela, for example, merely panfries the potatoes in paprika-infused olive oil.

The oxtails were another winner, although there didn’t seem anything distinctively Spanish about their preparation, just a deep brown, rich braise that was comfort food deluxe. Bruce, Marge and I loved the mussels; Carlos is not a great fan of mussels but he was okay with them. The squid and fennel were very crispy, a little too salty for me, but the lemon aioli was sublime.

The meatballs had the unexpected lift of mint in them, and Carlos wasn’t in love with them as he only likes meatballs on occasion (although stuff ground meat into a dumpling and he’ll eat dozens, LOL). The gambas ajillo were seven large (not jumbo) shrimp in a dynamite olive oil with so much pimentón and sliced garlic, the oil practically stood up by itself – another great excuse for cleaning the dish with more bread!

The cooking at Barlata is quite different in tone from Zarzuela. Bruce liked Barlata better – he felt it was more like home cooking, Marge thought they were even, I liked Zarzuela slightly more (strictly on the basis of the stunning tuna empanada they served), Carlos is reserving judgment until he’s had the paella (smart man!). I will also note that Barlata’s food is a bit saltier than Zarzuela’s.

What really sets Barlata apart, even from its sister B44, are the gravies and olive oils. They are truly luscious, each different with real intensity of flavor that satisfied without overwhelming the palate. Plus, they are absolutely ideal for mopping up with lots and lots of bread. 

The desserts are filling at Barlata, unless you select a gelato. Carlos and Bruce tried the chocolate bread pudding with figs, which Carlos thought was too dry and Bruce didn’t care for the style – it’s the bread-cube type. I had the lemon-ricotta fritters, which were fluffy and delightful with a custard sauce and apple-rhubarb puree – what last week’s leaden doughnuts at Bellanico should have been. The coffee was strong and very good.

Bruce and Marge again picked up the check, so we can’t tell you the tab. But all of us were agreed this was a great place to dine. We’re looking forward to coming back, especially as Barlata serves lunch Wed-Fri so Carlos and I can skip the dinner crowds, and hopefully the thumping 90’s rock music that goes with them. Oh, and eat your salad greens at lunch – this is a pretty much a place for carnivores. Take your vegetarian friends elsewhere, honestly.