Next door to Milios body-piercing emporium and across Clark Street from the after-hours congregation of disaffected youth at the “Punkin’ Donuts” lies Gypsy’s Cove, a quiet, classy tapas restaurant.
The food–which emphasizes appetizer portions with a Peruvian accent–is tasty and inventive, and the place is inviting. Red cloths cover tables, booths are spacious and a series of brightly painted odes to the good life line the stuccoed walls. Service is attentive and affable, though our waiter didn’t exactly know what the night’s special yuca appetizer ($4.95) was. (Wedges of mild, starchy tapioca root, it turned out, lightly fried and dressed with raw onions marinated in lime and orange juices.)
In writing the menu, co-owner Ossie Arciniega has opted for the more familiar Spanish term tapas instead of the Peruvian piqueo, or “sampling,” but the recipes are his and the ingredients are South American, he says: Cilantro, potatoes, rich red annatto-based sauces, and honey from northern Peru, for example.
A standout among the warm tapas is camarones Macchu Picchu ($5.95), smoky grilled shrimp in a tart lime-juice-and-mustard sauce. Another of the night’s special appetizers wrapped a crepe around chewy bits of garlicky octopus, squid and mussel mixed with marinated raw onions. It was topped by melted Chihuahua cheese and mild tomato salsa, though a spicier salsa brava is available.
Sherry flavors several dishes: Arroz sorpesa ($5.95) is a layered mold of savory chicken chunks, rice and chopped walnuts. Hongos a la plancha ($3.95), grilled mushrooms with garlic and sherry, is mild and juicy.
Grilled shrimp return in the camarones a la diabla appetizer ($5.95): The surprisingly mild, bright red annatto-seed sauce doesn’t cover up the smokiness.
On the cold side of the menu, ceviche is a generous portion of raw white fish (Arciniega uses kingfish right now) cubed and marinated in lime juice, raw onions and parsley, though the menu says cilantro. The effect starts with a refreshing citrus burst, then progresses to a mouthwatering acidity before a fishy finish.
Our group tried two entrees, which took 30 minutes to show up on a slack Thursday night, though tapas appeared in orderly progression. Milanesa con arroz ($9.95) consists of a thin, breaded slice of beef that has been marinated in garlic and what tastes like lime juice (Arciniega was reluctant to divulge the exact components), accompanied by rice and a few slivers of avocado and tomato. Arroz con pollo ($9.95) is a mound of pilaflike rice and white-meat chicken, the whole liberally seasoned with cilantro.
To keep the final tab under $20 per person, you’ll have to practice restraint: Even modest appetites will need the equivalent of two of the tapas dishes to sate a dinnertime hunger. Add a glass of Hawaiian Punch-like sangria ($3.50) or a domestic beer ($2.50) and things start adding up.
The house dessert is comforting flan ($3) in multiple flavors. The variation with a brandy sauce is lighter than the almost cakelike chocolate flan, which has an intense chocolate-pudding flavor.
Gypsy’s Cove
(2 forks)
3203 N. Clark St. 12-281-6698
Hours: 4:30 to 10:30 p.m. Mon-Thurs., 4:30 to 11:30 p.m. Fri., 1 to 11:30 p.m. Sat., 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sun.
Credit cards: A, MC, V, DC
Parking: Discount with validation four doors north, valet parking Thurs.-Sat.
Wheelchair accessible: No.
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RATINGS KEY: 4 forks: Top of the class 3 forks: Better than most 2 forks: Very good fare 1 fork: Middle of the road.
