hoppin

When it comes to restaurants, there are those who want their romance flashy--red velvet curtains, fancy lingerie and hand-held fans hanging on the walls and waiters with thick accents who call you a "beautiful senorita."

For these lovers of Latin excess, there's always Dali. It's hard not to love Dali, both for its somewhat over-the-top ambience and its artfully prepared, consistently delicious food. However, it is expensive and absurdly crowded. Now there's an option for those that alway desire a quiet, unassuming place to sample their tapas.

Located on a rather unpopulated block of Commonwealth Ave in Brighton, Tasca is a welcome newcomer to the Spanish/Tapas bar scene. It has all the romance of Dali without so much of the cumbersome packaging. Tasca has more refined, subtler decor, no interminable waits, and prices that will allow you to leave with enough cash for a comfy cab ride home. On top of it all, the food is simple and delicious.

Tasca's entrance and bar area convey smoky romance with a strong yuppie aesthetic--chrome barstools, elegant rows of glasses suspended from the ceiling, mirrors backing the bottles of alcohol. Wrought-iron chandeliers, hanging wine-racks, ceramic plates, and brass skillets liven the dining room. The cozy booths--far more intimate than the tables in the middle of the room--are covered with brocades of little sailboats and flowers. Sailboats seem to be a prominent decor theme at Tasca, perhaps a reference to the excellent seafood selection. A ubiquitous European-atmosphere-engendering Gypsy Kings album plays in the background.

The waitress, Theresa, was extremely helpful and friendly, bringin out warm, dense bread and garbanzo bean/garlic tapenade almost immediately. The sangria-$13 for a large pitcher with an impressively low sangria-to-ice-cube ratio--disappeared almost as quickly as the bread.

There is a fairly large selection of both hot and cold tapas, ranging in price from a mere $1 to $5. Few of the more interesting ones are completely vegetarian; many contain cheese or seafood as well as meat. The table tried four: a special of pork tenderloin on a bed of white beans, garbanzos, and sauted mushrooms; scallops and squid with a puff pastry shell in squid-ink sauce; baby octopus vinaigrette and an enlightened burrito filled with shrimp, lobster, and spinach in red pepper sauce.

The first two were terrific: rosemary encrusted chunks of pork were complemented perfectly by the succulent mush-rooms and beans, and the tiny scallops and shrimps in squid ink were fresh and perfectly cooked. The pastry on top was fluffy and tasted vaguely sweet, like vanilla. In both cases, the sauce adhered so perfectly to the meal that the plates looked clean enough to be reused. The baby octopus was tender, but needed more fresh tomato and onion chunks to liven it up, as well as a bit more red wine vinegar for tang. The canelon, as the fourth tapa was called, was subtle and delicious. Surrounding wrapping dough was tender without being soggy and overflowed with fresh seafood and spinach.

One entree--duck breast and confit of duck leg in a berry/orange sauce--turned out to be more than enough for two people as well as the most expensive of the entrees at $14.95 (the others range from $10 to 14). The plate was artistically complimented by a side of crunchy snow peas (not very Spanish but nevertheless rapidly devoured) and moist new potatoes, as well as braised shredded cabbage soaked in sauce and a generous sprinkling of little blueberries. The sauce was fruity without being overbearing, complicated by orange zest. The duck was billed as medium-rare, though be warned that it verged on sushi. It was, however, delicious. Dessert, priced between $4 and 6, includes an unfamiliar delicacy called Pastel Basque and a Spanish cheese plate with apples, celery, and red onion marmalade. Pastel Basque turned out to be an Oreo-like cookie crust layered with gooey milk caramel and bananas, and topped with a heaping pile of whipped cream. More fruit and celery would have been nice to complement the sharp cheese, but it was polished off with little complaint. Nota bona--weekends the restaurant serves food until midnight, and Thursdays there is live classical Spanish guitar.