Toronto’s love for Spanish cuisine heads north with a new tapas and sangria bar in Markham.
Chef Richard Andino is heading the kitchen at Tapagria. Andino has worked with the McEwan group in the past, and recently he was at Caren’s Wine Bar in Yorkville. “I was looking for a new project, something Spanish to work on, and happened to meet Gary by chance,” he said.
Owner Gary Tsang stumbled upon Andino’s work and the pair found they have a common love for Spanish cuisine. Tsang was agog when he heard about Andino’s ideas: “Gary has been to Spain many times and he gets what I’m trying to do.”
Tapagria opened its doors last week.
The sprawling, 190-seat restaurant is divided into a number of sections: high-tops and TVs; a long chef’s rail; a raw bar; banquettes and two private dining rooms. Spanish-themed paintings and sculptures are interspersed throughout with a large mural of the ‘running bulls’ at the center of attention.
White anchovy with crema fresca pintxo.
Andino wanted to show how global influences have shaped modern Spanish cuisine. During our conversation on food he chatted about how he wanted to pull from African, Chinese, and Filipino cuisine to build the menu. It’s big, the menu is mostly divided between full and shared plates with nods to and adaptations of many hot and cold Spanish tapas and pintxos.
A half a dozen variations of San Sebastian pintxos (pintxo is a microform of tapas, generally served on toast or a skewer, almost always two bites) are the first thing you spot when you open the menu. Andino uses slices of baguette as a canvas to create his fusion pintxos ($5-10).
Foie gras and chicken liver pâté ($10) is served with tiny sautéed mango slices. Smoked eggplant ($5) is rubbed onto the bread with sour cream and tomato.
Skirt steak with patatas bravas and chimichurri sauce.
Tapagria also offers some classic treatments like sardines with roasted pepper and olive oil ($8), and white anchovies served with crema fresca ($7). Each order brings two pintxos. A variety of hot ($4-22) and cold tapas ($4-18) plates are also available, including items like grilled octopus ($8), croquetas (croquettes stuffed with cheese and cod, $10), roasted cauliflower with kale ($4), and patatas bravas (fried potatoes with romesco sauce, $5).
If tapas aren’t your thing and you prefer full plates, there are plenty of those as well. The lunch/brunch menu features a number of protein dishes and salads. Chunks of tuna and fingerling potatoes are tossed together with Serrano ham, peas, eggs, as an ode to Russian Salad ($16).
Andino serves a piri piri hen ($15) for lunch, he says he marinates the hen in a piri piri concoction “for a few days” and finishes it off in the oven. It’s served with patatas bravas (potatoes cooked in a romesco sauce). Skirt steaks ($18) are cooked medium rare and topped with a chimichurri sauce, served with a salad and patatas.
Two paellas will be available daily, with a rotating special. Tapagria’s paellas are available in full size (best for groups of 3) or in individual lunch-size portions ($18). Andino mentions that they’re all cooked traditionally regardless of size of serving. Paella de Tapagria is topped with shrimp, chorizo, jamon, mussels, and sliced octopus ($45).
Sangrias dominate the drink menu, and they’re the drink of choice while feasting on pintxos and spoons of paella. Twelve different sangrias are on the menu (ranging from $28 to $34 per pitcher for groups of 4). The wine list features a wide variety of wines from around the world, but does very little to promote Spanish vino.
Desserts on Tapagria’s menu.
Tapagria has four desserts on the menu (all $4): churros with dulce de leche, crème catalana, al pastel de chocolate (chocolate cake), and Spanish toast. For the Spanish toast, Andino soaks slices of brioche in custard, browns it in a pan with clarified butter, brulees it and serves it with dulce de leche. He spent the time to find a hand-cranked manual pump for the churros “It took me a while to find this, about two months.”
Published on: Nov 23, 2015
