Tory Miller, the executive chef and owner of Graze, L’Etoile and Sujeo, has now added to his portfolio a Spanish tapas restaurant inside the Ovation 309 apartment downtown called Estrellon, and it’s a beauty.
The menus are long, so let me get right to it. The two-page tapas menu is available in both the dining room and tapas bar and includes mostly bite-sized (meaning, for one person only) items, including special categories like croquetas, cheese and charcuteria. Most are served on toasted baguette.
- The manchego croqueta ($3) is like a cheese curd but much gooier inside. It’s rich, and you probably can’t eat more than a few anyway.
- The three-piece blood sausage ($3) reminded me of a blander version of Chinese sausage, and the accompanying aioli was subtle.
- I couldn’t get enough of the jamon iberico ($15). It’s cut so thin that it melts in your mouth; it’s not salty and has a bit of smokiness.
- I liked the oysters ($2 each), but I wish they didn’t come topped with the house relish, which took over the flavor.
- The flaky smoked trout ($5) was a delight, and I liked the creme fraiche. However, I was indifferent to the sugar snap peas and pickled mustard seeds, as neither added anything to the dish.
- I adored the creamy chicken liver ($4), and while it didn’t need the slightly tangy jam, they both worked well together.
The main menu, available only in the dining room, includes full-sized items, though that doesn’t mean large portions. For example, I enjoyed the grilled scallop dish ($14), though it’s too bad there was only one scallop, especially for that price. Fortunately, the bright-tasting sweet corn elites helps to fill you up a bit.
I regretted my choice of the lamb sausage ($14), which was quite dry and depended heavily on the aioli. On my next visit, I’ve got my eye on the Valenciana paella ($40 for two people), which comes with rabbit, shrimp, mussels, clams and chorizo.
As expected, Estrellon also has a respectable craft cocktail menu. I tried the Plum Loco ($10), which is a smooth mixture of plum brandy and dry white port; the Albariza ($10), which houses a nice sweetness from the ginger honey syrup; the La Plaza Viega ($11), a Manhattan-like cocktail that features Four Roses; and the Cherried-Away ($10), a balanced concoction of rye with cherry balsamic shrub, lemon juice and orange bitters, among other ingredients.
For dessert, the basque cake ($9) is a smart choice, as it features super moist cake and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The sorbet ($8) was bright and cheery, though the over-abundance of green grapes got tiring.
Estrellon is open for breakfast as a cafe Tuesday-Sunday, and both the tapas bar and the dining room are open for dinner Tuesday-Sunday. The Overture ramp is the closest parking ramp, but you do have to walk all the way around to Johnson Street to enter.
***
See more photos in our Estrellon Flickr album.
