Not the same as Mexican tortillas;)

I usually shred local little community newsletters after quickly scanning through them for important news. But this time, the names of some new restaurants in the South Austin area caught my eye and we decided to try out "Segovia" a Spanish Tapas Bar and restaurant with live music, Flamenco Dancers, et al. While Austin's music scene is diverse, deep and happening, I don't believe I had ever seen or heard of live Flamenco acts... Of course we would still be missing that because this was going to be a Sunday afternoon sojourn as opposed to a Friday night spent in an obscure strip mall off a freeway junction (71 and 290 Y) in Southwest Austin.

As we sat down, we had memories of having visited the same location for years trying out each new restaurant that opened at the same location, before it invariably failed. "This place looks so charmingly done and I love what I am reading on the menu, so I hope this place lasts," I voiced to Vikram. Before we knew it, the vast space was filled with post-Sunday church families looking to try something new rather than the appallingly bad Cannoli Joe's italian buffet that gave me a headache, loud 20-somethings watching the Packers game in the bar room, and the odd discerning Texan who had traveled internationally and was just curious to try a local Spanish restaurant in Austin.

I started munching on very delicious Patatas Bravas (""Fierce Potatoes" fried in olive oil & tossed in a spicy smoked paprika tomato sauce") that were slightly undercooked and overwhelmingly many in number on one small Tapas plate and Tostada con Higos y Queso, that was basically a local fig spread on well toasted ovals of bread, topped off with just the right amount of not-so-stale Cabrales goat cheese and piquillo peppers. I noticed Vikram's Patatas a la Riojana ("potatoes, chorizo, onion, garlic, red bell pepper & serrano peppers sauteed in olive oil, splashed with white wine & sprinkled with smoked paprika") had the same problem - a well presented, tasty dish with an overwhelming number of potatoes!

Out came chef Jerry with a fresh, hot frying bowl of the "Oak Hill Paella" - a spanish saffron rice dish with shrimp, chicken, smoked sausage & spanish chorizo. Paella is a thicker rice that absorbs 3 times the amount of water compared to regular long-grain rice. And Chef Jerry is part Lebanese, part-Spanish so we had high expectations. The first thing Vikram did after a taste was to reach out for the salt and liberally sprinkle his bland Paella. "Quite flavorful, but needs salt," he claimed.

Later, as I was polishing off a fresh and tasty tapas plate of Tomato Fritto (olive oil fried tomato, onion & garlic atop 4 pieces of perfectly toasted bread), the owner a Professor of English who had spent 15 years teaching in Spain, stopped by to chat. Amid praises of the tasty tapas and listening to his history, I provided my "constructive" feedback on the overwhelming potatoes. We also asked him whether Spanish chorizo was traditionally that hard and chewy, he agreed and proceeded to explain how Mexican chorizos were softer, fresh, greasy and basically made of "anything from a pig", while Spanish chorizos were aged and harder.

"It's almost serendipitous how I found the Flamenco dancing group that does floor dances here on Friday nights. Pete and his family are Spanish and had spent years as dancers and singers in parts of Spain, Mexico City and finally Vegas. They decided to move to Austin and try out the music scene here, which unfortunately does not contain anything for Flamenco singers and dancers. They literally live 5 miles away from here and were shopping at the HEB in this same strip mall, when they looked up and saw our restaurant and stopped by to talk. And here we are, with a relationship we hope educates Austiniites to the big difference between Mexican and Spanish food ..."

www.segoviaaustin.com