A tapas dinner is all about sharing, indulging and enjoying both the food and the company. Tapas, for those who don’t know, is an eating lifestyle in Spain. They’re basically small plates of food to share. In Winters we are lucky enough to have our own tapas restaurant located near the heart of downtown. Ficelle encourages the community to gather around the dinner table with each other to enjoy company, conversation, food and drink. With shelter-in-place orders, it’s not advised that we gather together to share anything. But Ficelle is continuing to provide tapas for us to enjoy at home. A patron favorite is their chile relleno. They roast a good-sized poblano chile, and stuff it with a creamy chile-cheese rice mixture. They layer on a house-recipe mole and finish with a topping of fresh, tomato salsa and cheese. The smokey, sweet flavor of their mole sauce combined with the creamy chile-cheese rice mixture is really something. Make sure to add in the sweet, fresh burst of flavor from the tomato salsa for a real experience. The size of the chile relleno is definitely shareable. However, I won’t judge if you want to indulge in it by yourself. As one of the few in my home who enjoys chile relleno, I only bought one. I did share some of it with my husband, who frankly enjoyed the few bites I offered up. Next time I order I’ll get two so we can have a his and hers set. I don’t mind sharing, but some things are worth enjoying to yourself. Normally, their house sangria is sold by the glass or pitcher (to share with more than one friend is advisable). [caption id="attachment_784020" align="alignright" width="225"]
Ficelle serves a housemade sangria.
Photo by Crystal Apilado/Winters Express[/caption] However, during shelter-in-place they are selling their sangria by the bottle, with the club soda on the side so you can enjoy it at home. I don’t know what their secret recipe is, but I’m a fan. And from what I can see of other community member’s social media posts, they’re all fans too. Especially since Ficelle has posted multiple times during the past two weeks that they are “making more sangria.” For updates from Ficelle during shelter in place and to see what is being offered on their Take Away menu follow them on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ficelle_restaurant/. They also share their Instagram posts to their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Ficelle-143880435033/.]]>
