Friday, September 4th

Spain’s got talent!

Last night our taste buds were treated to tasty Spanish food and dance. Casa Patas was the restaurant/bar/tablao (cabaret-style theater) that's tucked away on a side street in Madrid but hardly off the radar of those who were looking for tantalizing tapas or fiery flamenco. The college abroad “tapas crawl” crowd, local adults, and we tourists dropped in at Spain’s typical dinner hour of around 10:00pm. When I first heard of the Spaniard’s reputation for late-night dining I imagined quite a party crowd filling the restaurants. In fact, the summer sun here doesn’t set until around 9:30pm, so dinner at ten isn’t unusual at all.

As much as I love tapas, I admit that my system didn’t come programmed to order small portions of anything. So my first inclination is to request supersize. The bad news: that’s not an option with tapas. The good news: Jo Ann is more measured and almost without fail I’m quite content with the four or five appetizer-size dishes she asks for – in Spanish! We’ll have gambas (prawns in garlic oil), chorizo (sausage), tortilla espanola (Spanish potato omlette), and maybe boquerones (anchovies) when ordering tapas. Add some bread at the table, follow the meal with dessert and, believe it or, you’re ready to push away from the table when you’re done.

At that point we didn’t have far to go. In the adjoining tablao we sat just a few rows from the young cajon player (terrific on the rhythmic hand drum), the gritty-voiced and hand-clapping female vocalist, the competent musicians, and the slowly graceful but lightening fast feet of the male and female dancers.

Flamenco was common among the gypsies of Spain and was their way of expressing the range of emotions of everyday life, from the signature “cry” and facial expressions representing their heartbreak, loss, or oppression, to the occasional joyous smile and eye-to-eye contact with someone watching nearby. Tonight’s flamenco performance was a refreshing fusion of traditional and jazz, incorporating the sounds of flute and harmonica with the passionate Spanish guitar, and a hint of interpretive jazz movement with the brisk foot-stomping dance.

All-in-all it was the kind of nighttime entertainment that Spain is known for, and the best way to quickly forget the list of to-dos you left at home and connect with an exotic culture that treats you as a friend of the family. Ole!