The Barcelona Restaurant and Wine Bar is popular with residents across the Nutmeg State as well as with savvy New Yorkers who trek out to share the convivial ambience and the exuberant cuisine.  To lure New Yorkers away from a city dotted with top restaurants requires the passion to create great food and the dedication to quality. Owners Sasa Mahr-Batuz and Andy Pforzheimer are fueled by these qualities, but add discipline to the mix, maintaining standards so high that they send their chefs to Spain several times a year to be inspired and energized by new discoveries.

Tapas lies at the foundation of The Barcelona Restaurant and Wine Bar, but the menu offers extensive main course dishes.  Chart your own meal: go for tapas alone and sample many dishes, or opt for tapas followed by a main course, both accompanied by a choice from the extensive list of hand-picked Spanish wines. 

Both Sasa and Andy were drawn to the conviviality of a tapas bar by their own warmth, and by their memories of family companionship.  Masters of scintillating Spanish food, they are also masters of the fine art of sharing food.  Reflecting that he is expressing his own exuberant attitude to life, Sasa says that he wants his customers to know that they are "in the candy store," as happy and free as children when tasting the tapas or diving into a paella.

Tapas are real food for hungry people.  "Peasant food is broken in," says Sasa, "like a good chair."  Mixing this solid peasant fare with the derring-do of the adventurous chefs, the dishes have a sophisticated spin to please discriminating palates with the finest quality ingredients. 

Whether in the romantically lit tapas bar, the spacious dining rooms, or on the patio, tapas create conviviality.  Tapas are to be sampled, to be shared, to be discussed, and the many variations of tapas plates encourage spirited expressions of surprise, followed by sighs of delight as diners explore the tangy Spanish fare with a glass of Spanish imported wine.

A meal of tapas is as theatrical as it is delicious, and Barcelona doesn't make not a false step in either regard.  

Hot tapas: Almejas con Chorizo - clams with chorizo sausage

One must start with an assortment of cheeses and charcuterie.  The cheeses are all served at perfect room temperature, neither hard, nor runny. These are not mainstream cheeses, but ones that Sasa and Andy want to share with their customers.  The charcuterie ranges from the beloved Serrano ham to the less known Cantimpalo, a dry-cured sweet pork sausage.  Pull a piece of warm bread from the basket and dip into some Spanish olive oil that will make you wonder why you haven't been buying it all your life.  Order some hot tapas.  We selected one of the signature dishes, Mussels al Diablo, and soaked our bread in its luscious sauce until the serving plate was dry.   We added chorizo with sweet-and-sour figs a dish that is exciting and simple at the same time. The list is vast including tapas made with vegetables, with fish, with meat.  As but a few examples, you can try such dishes as coca del dia "escalibada" which is roasted eggplant with red peppers; roasted garlic bulbs with olive oil, sea salt, and chives: a classic gazpacho; crispy calamari with smoked tomato aioli; albondigas - meatballs in tomato sauce; little neck clams with chorizo, white beans, and white wine; ham & cheese croquettes with piquillo pepper allioli.          

Barcelona started with tapas only, but satisfied customers begged for main courses.  Since this is their customers "candy store," Sasa and Andy added sizzling main courses.  Today there are some signature selections - a paella, big enough to continue sharing, or a parillada, which the Argentine-born, meat-loving Sasa insisted on including.  It includes a NY strip steak, half chicken, gaucho sausage, pork loin, papas fritas, and chimichurri.  And we must not forget the churrasco, a grilled skirt steak, accompanied by garlic spinach, sweet potato fries, and chimichurri sauce.

You can also select from a grilled pork loin with Swiss chard, potatoes, and pepper vinaigrette, possibly a pepper-rubbed filet mignon with mashed potatoes, brandy reduction, and crispy onions.  If chicken is to your taste, try a half chicken al pimientos with hot cherry peppers, lemon, and roasted potatoes.   The menu includes seafood, of course, and you can try a grilled swordfish with cherry tomatoes, fregola, and basil, or pan roasted branzino with fennel, arugula, olives, and an orange vinaigrette, possibly grilled prawns with fennel, arugula, olives, and orange vinaigrette. 

The Barcelona Wine Bar and Restaurant opened in South Norwalk in a run-down section of town.  Cars without wheels sat on stones while prostitutes ambled by.  Undeterred, the owners offered cups of coffee to those ambling by, and pursued their dream.  Today there are no wheel-less vehicles and ambling has disappeared while the restaurant has grown and been one of the factors in establishing a renewed neighborhood.  It has become so popular that there are now six restaurants, each with its own atmosphere and each fueled by the love and passion of the owners.