RESTAURANT REVIEW
La Barraca Tapas Bar and Cafe/Hollywood
By Lyn Farmer
Important: This article was last updated on November 25, 2005. Please call ahead to confirm hours, prices, dates and other information.
For many years, Jorge Luis Fernandez was the chef and owner of a small restaurant. Referring to himself with a smile as the "Dalí of the Kitchen" because of his moustache and theatrical demeanor, Fernandez was the artist and La Barraca his canvas in celebrating the art of paella.
RESTAURANT INFO
Cuisine: Spanish
115 S. 20th Ave., Hollywood
954-925-0050
Cost: expensive
Credit cards: AE, MC, V
Hours: lunch, dinner daily
Reservations: accepted
Bar: full service
Sound level: moderate but louder late
Smoking: prohibited
Children's facilities: yes
Wheelchair accessible: yes
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The original 50-seat restaurant is still open in Plantation, but a little more than a year ago Fernandez decided to bring his flair to the arty streets of Hollywood, and he did it in a big way. The new La Barraca can hold 200 people and frequently features live entertainment including flamenco dancing on weekends along with a sizable selection of tapas, paella and other main courses.
Served in noshing quantities, tapas are small enough to let even a careful diner have several, promoting variety and experimentation without blowing a diet.
Everything is served with flair, and while the restaurant can be all but vacant some weeknights, it's packed on weekends and late evenings. Unfortunately, the menu is as hit and miss as the attendance.
The cold tapas are especially variable. Some, like white asparagus with garlic mayonnaise ($5.75) are served ice-cold and tasting as if the spears were just plucked from a can. The asparagus was mushy and the garlic mayonnaise bland. White anchovies in vinegar and garlic ($7.75) and marinated roasted peppers ($5.75) were pedestrian and equally prefab-tasting. Where the menu gets it right, though there's hardly any kitchen intervention, is with the thin slices of very good manchego ($6.75) and Serano ham ($7.75), both perfect accompaniments to a cold glass of sherry ($5).
Hot tapas fare better, and here the kitchen's care does show. Grilled octopus with smoked paprika ($9.25) is excellent, and there is an interesting comparison to make between sauteed baby calamari with garlic ($6.75) and the larger and firmer textured Mediterranean cuttlefish with garlic and olive oil ($9.25). Both have rich and satisfying flavors.
Scallops with almonds ($7.75) is good but should be better. The scallops are sliced thin and perfectly cooked, but they arrive at the table swimming in an underflavored broth that leaves the dish more a soup than a saute. A better seafood bet is white prawns with garlic ($7.75) or grilled cigalas ($8). These are billed as "large Galician lobster" but are relatively small, more the size of langoustine and just as sweet.
The only drawback to the cigalas affects nearly everything that is grilled, whether meat or seafood: Fernandez feels compelled to bury everything under a granular crust of salt crystals. A seafood parrillada ($28.50) lost all its flavor save for the salt. It's a shame, because the assortment of cuttlefish, corvina, shrimp, scallops and mussels was nicely cooked then undermined with a heavy hand that doused the seafood with oil, then a handful of salt.
There is a similar selection of grilled meats ($27.50) that is also heavily salted and, more damaging still, overcooked. Chunks of filet mignon and a skirt steak were cooked to the point of dryness. Lamb chops were very small but flavorful, and Spanish chorizo had excellent flavor that was intense enough to shine through the salt.
The menu also offers a small strip steak ($18.95) that is oversauced with pepper, brandy and demi-glace, and a perfectly cooked fillet of stripped sea bass wrapped in parchment ($16.95).
And the paella? It's the real reason to go to La Barraca. There is a two-person minimum for any of the paellas, with the Valencian original, featuring a combination of seafood and chicken ($17.95 per person) particularly good. What is annoying is the implication that the dish is less than authentic: the menu charges one price, then offers to make the dish with rice from Valencia for an extra $3 per person. Why not just do it the right way from the start?
Service at La Barraca is attentive, though it slows down when there is a crowd on hand and the music is blaring. The paella takes 40 minutes to prepare anyway and comes out piping hot. There is a small selection of wines and, though they are very fairly priced, better glassware would be helpful, as would an interest in some of the excellent new wines from Spain.
Most of all, La Barraca needs to get a grip on the salt, and keep it in the kitchen. Fernandez may love his paella, but lackluster cold tapas and a heavy hand with seasoning work against much of the rest of the menu.
Please phone in advance to confirm information on hours, prices, menu items and facilities. For review consideration, please fax a current menu that includes name and address of restaurant to 954-356-4386 or send to Sun-Sentinel, 200 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301-2293.
If you would like to contact freelance writer Lyn Farmer, e-mail him at diningout@sun-sentinel.com or write to him in care of the Sun-Sentinel.
RESTAURANT INFO
Cuisine: Spanish
115 S. 20th Ave., Hollywood
954-925-0050
Cost: expensive
Credit cards: AE, MC, V
Hours: lunch, dinner daily
Reservations: accepted
Bar: full service
Sound level: moderate but louder late
Smoking: prohibited
Children's facilities: yes
Wheelchair accessible: yes
>> Complete info
>> Write your review
>> Read other reader reviews
The original 50-seat restaurant is still open in Plantation, but a little more than a year ago Fernandez decided to bring his flair to the arty streets of Hollywood, and he did it in a big way. The new La Barraca can hold 200 people and frequently features live entertainment including flamenco dancing on weekends along with a sizable selection of tapas, paella and other main courses.
Served in noshing quantities, tapas are small enough to let even a careful diner have several, promoting variety and experimentation without blowing a diet.
Everything is served with flair, and while the restaurant can be all but vacant some weeknights, it's packed on weekends and late evenings. Unfortunately, the menu is as hit and miss as the attendance.
The cold tapas are especially variable. Some, like white asparagus with garlic mayonnaise ($5.75) are served ice-cold and tasting as if the spears were just plucked from a can. The asparagus was mushy and the garlic mayonnaise bland. White anchovies in vinegar and garlic ($7.75) and marinated roasted peppers ($5.75) were pedestrian and equally prefab-tasting. Where the menu gets it right, though there's hardly any kitchen intervention, is with the thin slices of very good manchego ($6.75) and Serano ham ($7.75), both perfect accompaniments to a cold glass of sherry ($5).
Hot tapas fare better, and here the kitchen's care does show. Grilled octopus with smoked paprika ($9.25) is excellent, and there is an interesting comparison to make between sauteed baby calamari with garlic ($6.75) and the larger and firmer textured Mediterranean cuttlefish with garlic and olive oil ($9.25). Both have rich and satisfying flavors.
Scallops with almonds ($7.75) is good but should be better. The scallops are sliced thin and perfectly cooked, but they arrive at the table swimming in an underflavored broth that leaves the dish more a soup than a saute. A better seafood bet is white prawns with garlic ($7.75) or grilled cigalas ($8). These are billed as "large Galician lobster" but are relatively small, more the size of langoustine and just as sweet.
The only drawback to the cigalas affects nearly everything that is grilled, whether meat or seafood: Fernandez feels compelled to bury everything under a granular crust of salt crystals. A seafood parrillada ($28.50) lost all its flavor save for the salt. It's a shame, because the assortment of cuttlefish, corvina, shrimp, scallops and mussels was nicely cooked then undermined with a heavy hand that doused the seafood with oil, then a handful of salt.
There is a similar selection of grilled meats ($27.50) that is also heavily salted and, more damaging still, overcooked. Chunks of filet mignon and a skirt steak were cooked to the point of dryness. Lamb chops were very small but flavorful, and Spanish chorizo had excellent flavor that was intense enough to shine through the salt.
The menu also offers a small strip steak ($18.95) that is oversauced with pepper, brandy and demi-glace, and a perfectly cooked fillet of stripped sea bass wrapped in parchment ($16.95).
And the paella? It's the real reason to go to La Barraca. There is a two-person minimum for any of the paellas, with the Valencian original, featuring a combination of seafood and chicken ($17.95 per person) particularly good. What is annoying is the implication that the dish is less than authentic: the menu charges one price, then offers to make the dish with rice from Valencia for an extra $3 per person. Why not just do it the right way from the start?
Service at La Barraca is attentive, though it slows down when there is a crowd on hand and the music is blaring. The paella takes 40 minutes to prepare anyway and comes out piping hot. There is a small selection of wines and, though they are very fairly priced, better glassware would be helpful, as would an interest in some of the excellent new wines from Spain.
Most of all, La Barraca needs to get a grip on the salt, and keep it in the kitchen. Fernandez may love his paella, but lackluster cold tapas and a heavy hand with seasoning work against much of the rest of the menu.
Please phone in advance to confirm information on hours, prices, menu items and facilities. For review consideration, please fax a current menu that includes name and address of restaurant to 954-356-4386 or send to Sun-Sentinel, 200 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301-2293.
If you would like to contact freelance writer Lyn Farmer, e-mail him at diningout@sun-sentinel.com or write to him in care of the Sun-Sentinel.