Perfection.

It’s a word we don’t use often outside of being hyperbolic. An experience that offers perfection is rare, generally occurring without warning or time for emotional preparation. The other night, due to some sublime good fortune, my parents and I had a brush with perfection. It was unexpected, though quite welcome, and it had a name: Tapas Sunday at Ciudad.

Let it be known that tapas are loathed by my father and mistrusted by my mother, both feeling there’s never enough food to leave them truly sated. Needless to say, they were less than pleased as we took our seats in the warm, cubism-inspired dining room. The waitress was sweet and helpful, offering several suggestions and personal favorites from an extensive list of choices.

The first to arrive was a small bowl of delicate Sautéed Clams, Diced Pickled Tomatoes, Miniature Purple and Yellow Fingerling Potatoes, all floating in a Salsa Verde Broth that was so exquisite, we placed two orders for grilled bread to sop up any lingering traces and my mother proudly licked the bowl clean in the middle of the restaurant. There’s no need for restraint when something is that unabashedly delicious.

Following closely on its heels, Goat Cheese Fritters served with Grilled Apricots, Caramelized Onions and Homemade Crackers. When all three components are piled onto an accompanying cracker, the warm, sweet, nutty, creamy combination sings in harmony like a barber shop quartet.

Butter Lettuce Salad with Toasted Almond Dressing arrived to provide a perfect clean and crunchy palate cleanser just as a plate of Crab Salad with Shaved Cucumber, Melon, and Sherry Mint Aioli was being scraped clean of all its refreshingly sweet, crunchy, rich, meatiness.

Next, a duo of Calamari battled for dominance on the table. Fried Calamari with Paprika and Garlic was a decided favorite, dodging the typical, heavy Calamari bullet that feels like it shoots you directly in the stomach after a single, greasy tentacle. Instead, this Calamari, though fried, was crackling with flavor and the back burning heat of Paprika. It was, without question, the best Calamari anyone at the table had ever had…that was, until the Sautéed Calamari with Chorizo, White Beans, and Roasted Peppers arrived demanding a third and fourth order of grilled bread to transport the buttery, winey, smoky, garlicky accompanying sauce to our mouths. Two totally different kinds of Calamari offering two very different experiences, both sending your mouth into such ecstasy, you might find yourself discreetly composing sonnets to each bite.

But before you can count the ways you love thee, dessert arrives.

The Basque Apple Tart must make the French (my former favorite apple tart provider) burn with envy as sweet slivers of apple rest atop puff pastry which has slightly caramelized along the bottom requiring a few extra, buttery, sugary tugs to procure a bite.

Espresso Dusted Churros are served with a healthy dollop of whipped cream that gets a lovely speckling of espresso, cinnamon and sugar every time you drag a still hot from the pan churro through the creamy fluffiness.

Ciudad is the Downtown outpost of everyone’s favorite Too Hot Tamales, Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, champions of all flavors Third World and, more recently, all food organic, sustainable, and environmentally conscious. But, on Sunday, they do more than make responsible food; they (with the help of Ciudad’s Executive Chef Kajsa Dilger) make meals where every bite, from start to finish, brings back that one word that seems so elusive in daily life: Perfection.

(p.s. My parents had a conversion after this meal and are now major tapas, and Ciudad, fans.)

Ciudad
445 S Figueroa St # 100
Los Angeles, CA 90071
(213) 486-5171
www.ciudad-la.com
Sunday Tapas: 5pm-9pm

Daily (with regular menu)-
Mon-Tues: 11:30am-9pm
Wed-Thurs: 11:3oam-11pm
Fri-Sat: 5pm-midnight

If you’re talking about Latin food, you need a drink that speaks the same language…The Mojito, favored by Hemingway himself.

1 teaspoon sugar (powdered, granulated, whatever you’ve got)
1 lime, cut into wedges
4-6 mint leaves
Light Rum (2 ounces)
2 ounces club soda
1 sprig of mint

1. Put sugar, mint leaves, and lime wedges into a large glass and muddle (crush and stir) gently.
2. Fill with crushed ice
3. Add two oz. rum (about half the glass), stir.
4. Fill with soda water and garnish with a sprig of mint.
5. Enjoy!