It’s Friday afternoon, June gloom has finally lifted, it’s warm, the setting sun is making everything perfectly contrasted and the bad part is that it’s date night with my wife and I forgot to make a restaurant reservation. I’m in a lot of trouble!
 
My wife comes home and doesn’t even flinch, instead suggesting that we ride down (we live in the Franklin Hills) and try Barbrix, a new tapas restaurant on Hyperion (in Silver Lake). Not a day goes by that she doesn’t do something that reminds me how much I love her and this is one of those moments. 
 
When we walk up to the restaurant, we find a few people sitting outside, enjoying the Technicolor sunset and cannot believe that at 7:30 PM this place is already bursting with life. Walk-ins are often frowned upon by Angeleno maitre d’s but we were instead greeted with a smile and promptly offered two seats at the counter facing the kitchen.
 
There is no better way getting to know a restaurant than to sit by the kitchen and watching the plates stack up. My eyes were closely scrutinizing the quality of the ingredients and cooking techniques, my nose was taking in all the aromas and judging by my watering mouth, it was all top-notch. I could not believe my lucky stars: delicious Mediterranean inspired tapas with a Californian twist all within a minute from home! 
 

 
Their wine list was a great surprise, offering great wines that come from smaller wineries and lesser-known regions. The “Mea Culpa” Saemling white wine from Kogl in Slovenia, for example, had a fruity bouquet and a dry finish that was a bargain, yet tasted like a Grand Cru Chablis. 
 
Now for the food. Firstly, any restaurant that dares to offer sweetbreads, gets my vote. Their sweetbreads are fried, making it crispy on the outside and impossibly tender on the inside and comes with a harissa aioli—a rather ingenious variation of the Spanish garlic spread married with the Moroccan pepper spread. Their deviled eggs topped with boquerones are fiendishly addicting. The grilled octopus salad is tender (not rubbery!) and nicely complimented by the Yukon potatoes/tomato/olives. 
 
 
They also offer an extensive charcuterie selection, from Finocchiona (fennel scented pork salami) to Chorizo León (no, it’s not lion chorizo) to Prosciutto di Parma ‘gran riserva’—as if normal Parma Prosciutto were something to sneer at. And yes, they have a proper antique/manual Berkel slicer. 
 
My wife and I opted to go straight to some fish, meat and vegetable dishes. I can tell you that you’ll have a very hard time choosing, so I recommend that you go there with a big group so you can taste everything. We ate pan-seared scallops and they were heaven: crispy, cumin dusted crust with a tender, juicy middle and served with a delicate yogurt/dill dipping sauce. The grilled New Zealand lamb chops with thinly sliced artichoke hearts, eggplant caviar and mint pesto were too good to eat with silverware. On the side we had crispy fried squash blossoms stuffed with goat cheese on a bed of corn salad, a treat that one can only have in late spring/early summer—I could have eaten 4 of them. Other items I lamented to not eat were Niman Ranch roasted pork belly, duck leg confit, wild boar sausage, crispy grilled polenta and farro salad. 
 
As we wrapped up dinner their cheeses, properly sitting at room temperature on a big butcher block at the end of the counter, beaconed me like a sailor to the sea. From a curiously orange hued but perfectly dry and sharp Manchego to the intoxicatingly dripping Langres, my wife and I ate and sipped a Moscato d’Asti and reflected on our good fortune.
 
As we were ready to leave I was introduced to owner Claudio Blotta and was delighted to learn that he was a fellow Argentine (yes, we Argie Bargies stick together) and was not the slightest bit surprised to learn that he had been Maitre d’ of Campanile Restaurant working under the likes of Manfred Krankel, Nancy Silverton, and Mark Peel then became VP of retail operations at the La Brea Bakery before opening up, with Gino Angelini, La Terza in downtown LA. Claudio and his wife Adria now lovingly run Barbrix. I did not get a chance to meet his chef Don Dickman (of Rocca Restaurant fame) but all in good time.
 
The east side of L.A. is burgeoning with new restaurants that offer a variety of great food. From Two Boots Pizza in Echo Park, to Palate in Glendale to Barbrix in Silver Lake, we now have good reason to stay on our side of town.