Haro
2436 S. Oakley Ave.
773-847-2400
First bite: In a quiet neighborhood of Italian restaurants and delis, this hipster Basque joint with boxy wooden benches, the Basque flag and Spanish tile stands out. Low lighting and seating for about 50, including the bar, make this a cozy spot to sip wine and enjoy many small plates of food. Like standard Spanish tapas restaurants, Haro serves hot and cold small plates as well as entree-sized dishes called raciones.
The pintxos: Unlike most local tapas joints, Haro also serves pintxos, or little bites from the Basque region of northern Spain. Here they are served almost exclusively on rounds of bread. We tried sardine, blood sausage (morcilla), white anchovy, tuna, crab and lamb–all either labeled by their Basque or Spanish names–which our server was happy to translate. The tender shredded lamb, rich blood sausage in a roasted pepper and tender bright sardine were winners but the others just tasted like tuna salad, crab salad and rubbery white anchovy on not super fresh bread.
Other Basque chow: We tried the mussels in a saffron Txakoli broth (if it’s got an unusual spelling it must have an unusual taste, right?). Wrong, the puny mussels were served just warm; the broth tasted like nada. Skewers of prime rib were so chewy and gray, we left a large chunk of the tough mass on our stick. The tender, rich oxtail in a sweet roasted red pepper, however, proved so excellent that we mopped up the sauce with extra bread. Also, we were finally able to try Spain’s famous angulas (canned, tiny spaghetti-like eels), bathed in olive oil and garlic. Yum. And the dessert of toasted raisin bread topped with luscious mascarpone cheese and cherries left us with a sweet taste.
The service: Our server was charming and great at explaining all the dishes and apologetic when he saw our displeasure with food.
The wrap: Although we didn’t try any of our usual Spanish tapas faves–which could be great–we don’t think we’d head back just for the Basque stuff at this spot. We wanted to be wowed and were mostly just “ehhed.”
The bill: $69.07 with tip for nine small plates and dessert.
Five to try: Cordero, angulas, morcilla, sardinas and oxtail.
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meng@tribune.com
