Sevilla

                Traditional tapas restaurant Sevilla is a far cry from what Spanish chefs would expect from their heralded national cuisine.

            

            Seville is a warm Spanish restaurant on Pine in downtown Long Beach that offers classic tapas dishes.  Sevilla suffers from a common restaurant theme, good ideas but bad execution. Most importantly the dishes are too acidic and under-seasoned.

“It sounded good, but there wasn’t any salt,” Taylor Holm said as he took a bite of a seared scallop.

The menu is comprised of several ceviches, empanadas and an array of regional Spanish dishes. The lime and cilantro puree overpowered the scallop and yellowtail ceviche with a fresh herb mojo, cucumber and avocado. “All I can taste is lime,” Holm said as he took a sip of his gin and tonic.

Photo by Matt Barg
The disappointing ceviche with herb mojo, cucumber and avocado.

The seared scallops with artichoke puree, roasted tomatoes and saffron butter defies basic culinary techniques. First, there was absolutely not salt in any of the food, leaving it incredibly bland. The roasted tomatoes are not roasted and the artichoke puree is coarse and grainy. The saffron butter has only a hint of saffron, which is a distinctive and bold flavor.

Photo b Matt Barg
Seared scallops with no one grain of salt.