Review: Sangrias

Saturday for lunch we hit Sangrias on Market Square, which I can't seem to find a website for. (It's a pretty new place.) I was wearing a Fedora schwag t-shirt and the waiter recognized it, so he got points right off.

We eschewed a lengthy tapas lunch in favor of a carafe of sangria (half priced!), a big salad, and the meat and cheese plate.

I think it's a mistake to judge sangria too harshly, and this one was no exception. We had just finished walking around the Knoxville Zoo, so we were sweltering hot and it was deliciously cold. That said, I like my red sangria a bit dry and this was quite sweet. It also lacked any significant citric tang or fruity kick, but it did what we needed it to do. It was also big and cheap, so that wins points in my book; sangria shouldn't be expensive.

The salad was excellent, with a very thick, flavorful balsamic dressing that was drizzled on lightly, not drowning the salad. There wasn't much to the salad aside from lettuce, although I have to wonder if that changes when other produce comes into season.

The meat and cheese plate was actually a mistake; we ordered the mixed cheese plate, but didn't see the need to send back such a tasty array of charcuterie. The three meats were serrano ham, lomo, and chorizo. The lomo and serrano were too similar to my coarse palate, but the chorizo was a huge, glorious triumph of charcuterie. It went magnificently with the dried fruit that accompanied the plate. There was only one cheese: manchego, and not nearly enough of it.

Aside from the shortage of cheese, it was a great light lunch (albeit a bit heavy on the sangria for Melanie). The tapas menu is brief but promising, and the daily specials look especially interesting, so we've already booked our reservations for our anniversary dinner.