Have you heard of Bar Casa Vale? They opened last year, and Willamette Weekly declared them Bar of the Year 2017. I’ve mostly been for drinks, particularly their goblets of gin and tonics although they have lots of other amazing cocktails, but recently I also got a chance to try more of their menu and wanted to share my recommendations with you.
Bar Casa Vale offers a dark cozy bar atmosphere inside with one wall of the bar all window, one wall all bar, and one short wall a roaring fire where they roast or grill food for you in the kitchen. Outside, a patio offers more fire but in a closer setting where you can sit beside it while still being covered from the elements. Expect many starring dishes to be borne from that wood fire.
It is no surprise that one of the most outstanding parts of Bar Casa Vale are their beverage offerings. If you are looking for Sherries, Fortified Wines, Spanish Whites and Reds, they have plenty by the glass pours or bottle to choose from. You can get sherry flights. They also offer a handful of Spanish Ciders (3 are sold by the bottle and 1 is draft), a dozen cocktails and another half dozen of gin tonic cocktails.
Probably the gin tonics (like the White Port Gin Tonic with with cucumber, rosemary, lemon shown above) or their Bourbon Reign cocktails are the most popular. Right now with the winter weather, don’t overlook the Sidra Poncho cocktail, served hot or not, with brandy, fino, lemon, Basque sidra.
Don’t forget to check out the Aperitivo section which offers 3 drinks to order by the glass or by the pitcher, including a made to order sangria.
The food at Bar Casa Vale is Spanish tapas, aka drinking snacks. Expect a lot of it to take inspiration from that huge hearth fire in the kitchen, such as meat skewers (I like the Black Cod with dill, walnut, horseradish or the Chicken thigh with tumeric yogurt).
You’ll also find quite a few roasted vegetables and vegetarian plates that are full of fun textures, like Carrots with sunflower seed, black garlic, feta, avocado, grapefruit, or a Roasted cauliflower with sunchoke, sprouted barley, raisins or a Grilled cabbage with puffed rice (here also with seckel pear, sheep milk cheddar, and chickpea miso).
A lot of tapas places have only a small selection of vegetarian options, and I love that Bar Casa Vale offers more then a dozen vegetarian friendly snacks. To go with drinks, I was loving their Grilled flat bread with green chickpea and nigella seed and their Frito mixto with delicata squash, sweet onion, garrotxa, and black pepper. Garrotxa is the cheese you see showered on top of these lightly fried veggies.
As an omnivore, I suggest upgrading from the Spanish marinated olives they have on the menu to their Fried olives. Or consider for some grilled bread options the recently added to the menu Anchovy Two Way Montadito, or the Lardo Toast (this one with Clams Conserva, another recent version was with Sea Urchin) with both dishes offering two flavors to compare and contrast.
If you’re here for happy hour, don’t miss out on the Grilled Prawns, which you can order individually. If you miss happy hour, they have a Grilled Prawns dish on their Raciones section with shrimp toast and shrimp head mayo. I get this every time I go to Bar Casa Vale.
For the larger dishes, if it’s on the menu (which changes up seasonally) get the Turmeric fried chicken with Morcilla sausage, arroz negro and chermoula – chermoula is the green herb sauce you see. If the fried chicken is in a different form on the menu… Still get it. It’s a perfect combination of crispy skin and moist chicken meat.
Another winner? Their take on marrow bones is a dish of Monterey Squid a la plancha with fresh potxa beans, salsa verde, smoked bone marrow, and breadcrumbs.
Or, if there are 3 or 4 of you at least sharing the table, order the Grilled Lamb Neck with green wheat harira and salsa verde. If you’re a group of 4 or more, definitely check out the Platos Familiares which are the largest plates on the Bar Casa Vale menu and may include this lamb dish and most recently I saw a Suckling Pig option but didn’t have a crew to justify ordering it… But maybe you do!
If you can’t choose, not to worry- they have a option where each person at the table must participate and pays $50 a piece and they fill your table with food.
Have you heard or been to Bar Casa Vale, what are your thoughts of what you would like?
Disclosure: I attended a complimentary media meal in November where I was able to taste some of these dishes, but I also have gone before on my own to Bar Casa Vale and visited again after that meal where I paid my own way. I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences I may be given. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own.
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