Spain

For Spain I wanted to go to a Spanish restaurant for tapas.  There are a number of tapas places in the area but Miro Spanish Grille in Ballantyne, NC has Spanish in the name so it was a no brainer.  Tapas is more enjoyable with company and not just because you can order more dishes to share (that is a huge bonus though).  In this case it was a great opportunity to catch up with a former colleague, friend (current not former) and fellow food lover.  Thanks Jody for joining me.

Miro is in a little shopping square and would be easy to miss if you weren’t looking for it.  I don’t know if they do all the time but this evening they had tables outside with a few patrons enjoying the fall weather and outdoor dining.  It is not a large place but the tables and booths are roomy and the booths were comfortable with high backs that muffled the sound and made conversation easier.  They take reservations so I felt compelled to wear my good jeans and something other than a t-shirt and that turned out to be a good choice.  It’s not fancy but it’s definitely a few steps up from Chiles.

The waiter, Jay, was quite helpful and tried to entice us with 2 seafood specials and a rack of lamb special but I had a plan and didn’t want to be swayed.  He almost had me with the halibut special that came with a chorizo stew but I remained resolute to the tapas.

We started with 4 dishes, 3 of which are pictured below.  The 4th came a bit later and I was otherwise occupied and forgot to snap a shot.  Pictured are empanadas, gambas al ajillo and patatas bravas.  The slow dish was pinchitos morunos.

The empandas were nice and crispy outside and the filling was beef and vegetables nicely seasoned and pretty mild.  Gambas al ajillo is garlic shrimp cooked in that clay dish and you might notice  it was still sizzling when it arrived.  It was cooked with olive oil, garlic and had some peppers but it wasn’t spicy at all.  The shrimp were cooked perfectly to be tender and delicious.  The potatoes had what was described as a slightly spicy aioli.  They did have a nice taste but I wouldn’t call it spicy at all.  They were cooked soft but not mushy and very thoroughly coated with the aioli sauce.  Pinchitos morunos was grilled pork skewers with a chimichurri sauce.  They were tender and the sauce was understated.  I washed mine down with a Railhouse K-bar Brown beer that was pretty good and was a little bitter and a little sweet so it paired well with all the dishes.  We had one more plate that also didn’t get photographed because I was too busy talking.  It was the queso del dia, which was thick slices of tetlilla and manchego cheeses and a small variety of olives.  This was where we tapped out since we didn’t finish all the cheese and when Jay came back around asking if we wanted dessert there was no hesitation in passing it up.  Now if we had seen him pass by with that tray of dessert samples before (wow they looked great) the cheese likely never would have made it out of the kitchen.

Overall I’d definitely recommend Miro Spanish Grille to anyone as the staff is very friendly, he atmosphere was comfortable and the food was great quality.

If you’re interested the Tell Me More page has a gambas al ajillo recipe and more little tidbits.