BCN Taste & Tradition’s branding is a nod to the city of Barcelona and a meshing of traditional and modern Spanish cuisine. BCN will showcase the cutting-edge haute cuisine that has put Spain on the world culinary stage, as well as the traditional recipes that have been passed down throughout generations.
Over the weekend I celebrated a very special birthday dinner planned by my husband. His goal was to take me to a place that I’d never been, thus we landed at BCN Houston – Taste & Tradition a nod to the city of Barcelona and a meshing of traditional and modern Spanish cuisine.
At most restaurants you are presented with a bread basket and some sort of spread or jam, if you’re lucky. Well, at BCN you get one piece of crusty bread, a few slices of cheese, olives, oil and salt. In hindsight I am realizing that I probably should have put the cheese on the bread, drizzled it with olive oil and sprinkled it with the salt! But, at that moment, we were both utterly confused because we were also given this little ramekin that we assumed was where the oil and salt should be mixed and bread dipped.
It was like a jigsaw puzzle. Literally the most confusing aspect of the day.
The Gin and Tonic menu made that whole bread fiasco a thing of the past and very funny! BCN is know for their Gin based cocktails and have a menu set just for their different types. I went with the suggestion of our waiter (as I HATE Gin) and ordered the Lavender and my husband decided upon the trusty classic.
The cocktails are beautiful and you get your own little bottle of tonic water, I assume to measure out your own poison. I was too busy trying to eat that huge ice cube to really worry about more or less tonic. The Lavender isn’t on the menu but it was so fresh and crisp! Totally worth the try even if you don’t like Gin.
As it was a special occasion I was given the “ok” to go all out. So I literally ordered everything that the waiter mentioned as the special of the evening. *Please note that when ordering items not on the menu they are typically more expensive*. We started with the razor calms, of which I had never eaten before. They were good, chewy..but good. If you’re a texture person, or a person who’s afraid of worms, this isn’t the dish for you, LOL.
For the main course I ordered the Branzino that came with grapefruit pieces and a grilled avocado. To be honest, when I heard “avocado” I stop listening and was like “I’ll take it” .. It was OK, but lacked flavor in my opinion. I am certain this is the worst thing to say as this is one of Houston’s hottest restaurants but I wish I had gotten something else. I enjoyed it, but In looking over the menu, for the price my hubby paid ($64.00) there are a couple other things I would have tried.
My husband on the other hand knew exactly what he wanted.. his Grilled 8oz filet mignon with BCN potatoes and glazed pearl onions, served with Grandma’s sauce was delicious and I don’t even like beef. It was perfectly cooked the char on the potatoes was great!
BCN is great place for a date night, anniversary or birthday dinner. They offer complimentary valet which is always nice, but if I could offer one suggestion it would be to not have your servers dressed like plain clothes police officers. Kind of made me nervous as they were standing in every corner of the tiny restaurant space with their arms folded.
The highlight of my night was chatting with the chef who graciously stopped at every table to greet his guests! That’s what I call great service.
