quartino ristorante & wine bar.

i heart tapas. this is not new news.

so i was pretty excited when my friends suggested we try quartino ristorante & wine bar, which features some main entree dishes and pizzas, but lots of small plates. basically italian tapas. seriously awesome.

quartino has tons of vegan options. a gm came over to explain them to me... and addition to what i had, there were a few other small plates -- as well as any pasta (obviously with a sort of vegan sauce or olive oil) and the pizza crust. great!

for this meal, however, we decided to stick with a small plates / tapas style of eating... and we shared a ton of options. here's what i had :

assortment of italian olives : 

gaeta, green leccino & sicilian oil cured.
duh. delicious. period. the super dark ones on the right were uh-mazing.

sicilian caponata sputini :

eggplant salad, olives & capers.

the photo of the sputini is actually horrific, so i apologize. it did not look this terrible in person... and it tasted really good. i thought it would be more salty, due to the olives & capers, but it wasn't... especially paired with a slice of italian baguette.

broccoli rabe :

red chili, onion, garlic & evoo.

this was everyone's least favorite dish. not sure what it was about it, but it just didn't hit the spot. plus, it was sitting in such a big pool of whatever evoo + vegetable water + spices were in the dish. so not a favorite, but not bad.

sauteed spinach :

evoo & garlic. 

this was also sitting in a pretty big pool of liquid. kind of a turnoff. but the actual flavor of the sauteed spinach was perfect. i always try to prepare this for myself at home and am just never very successful for some reason. seems like it would be easy, but it's not, okay? this version was delicious.

white bean & garlic spread :

with toasted filone bread. 
this was good, but a little meh. the spread was not garlic-y enough for my liking... it did improve once i started putting those little red pepper slices one each bite for some kick. but it just wasn't the best thing i've eaten. the toasted filone bread though... delish.

quartino is seriously great. the interior decor is super cute and the vibe is fun. basically, a great place for a girls night out! i cannot wait to go back and try some of the other vegan options... and with so much to try, i know i'll be back.