Lolita
90 Congress St., Portland
775.5652
lolita-portland.com
It’s nice when the proprietors of a pricy restaurant reach out to the proletariat, even if it’s mostly a ploy to fill seats on a slow night. Case in point: Tapas Monday at Lolita, a classy and cozy eatery at the top of trendy Munjoy Hill. On the first night of the workweek, Lolita offers a selection of “tapas pours” — wines, beers, ciders and cocktails — paired with foodie snacks, for just $5 each.
Not surprisingly, Tapas Monday is a hit. My husband and I arrived around eight and had a short wait for a table. The white wine tapas pour was already sold out, and I ordered what turned out to be the last glass of rosé (a crisp Greek wine by Gaia that paired well with the first warm evening of summer).
Our drinks arrived in small goblets. My husband’s Ouzo Collins was well balanced, with a lemon-mint simple syrup that brightened and complemented the liquor’s strong anise flavor. “I think Ouzo gets a bum rap,” co-owner Stella Hernandez told us. “We wanted to feature it in a more modern cocktail to show off what it can do.” I’ve always disliked liquorice-flavored liquor drinks, but this Collins made me a convert.
The accompanying tapas are not paired with specific pours; they’re matched randomly from a small assortment of options. But there is a theme, and on this night it was — you guessed it — Greece. We enjoyed a sourdough crostini topped with melitzanosalata, a smoky puree of charred eggplant enlivened by notes of vinegar and fresh parsley. Equally delicious was the keftede, a small meatball seasoned with ouzo and mint, served atop a generous dollop of garlicky tzatziki.
At this point, we were only in for $10. We could’ve each ordered four more snacks and still stayed within our budget, but that would’ve entailed four more drinks, too. We certainly weren’t full, and now we knew full well how scrumptious the food is. The tapas trap was sprung.
We ordered three starters from the selection of “toasts,” “pots” and “snacks” ($4 each or three for $10), and two dishes from the list of “medium” plates. The grilled squid ragu “snack” was far too fishy and salty for my taste, but the pot of local mushrooms, finely chopped and blended into a paste with cream and thyme, was miraculous — mild, yet earthy and sumptuous. We ate it with chunks of rustic bread. The steak tartare, served on wood-grilled sourdough toast, tasted lush and bright, the bite-sized chunks of raw beef tossed with tart capers and slices of shallot.
I had the torchio pasta with ‘nduja sausage ($16), a soft Italian sausage with a sharp spiciness that would have been overly aggressive had it not been toned down by the creamy sauce. This is one of Lolita’s most popular dishes, for good reason. My husband had the Marmitako ($16), a Basque fishermen’s stew. Other than more hunks of bread to soak up the rich fish stock, this dish lacked nothing. The thick chunks of red tuna, roughly chopped potatoes and pile of briny mussels made for a satisfying meal.
Truth is, we went a smidge over budget ($52, before tip and tax), but we left happy and sated, with a container of leftovers for the next day’s lunch. We’ll definitely be back on another Monday night.
— Hannah Joyce McCain
