Everybody knows about tapas these days. If they know nothing else about Spanish food, restaurant-goers are familiar with the small-plate appetizer lists that offer nibbling possibilities, sometimes before, sometimes after, sometimes instead of a meal. They’re everywhere in Barcelona. Technically, they’re pinxos, pronounced "pinchos" in Catalan, but we almost never saw that word on a menu or sign.
Ordering tapas is easy, and it’s quite acceptable to make an entire meal of them. No one is surprised if diners call for the menu a second or a third time to order another round. What we would suggest, however, is making sure the guidebook tucked into your bag or pocket has a Catalan menu translator, or you may miss some of the most interesting items. Most books point out that it’s easy to go to the glass-encased counter and choose items.
Well, yes and no.
While the display of cold tapas is usually a full one, many of the hot items or those prepared to order, aren’t in view. In most restaurants, it’s difficult to get to the case, since it’s often part of the bar. The more popular the restaurant, of course, the more people are sitting or standing around the bar sipping and nibbling and gossiping. If you want a look at the case, wander up and look around, making mental notes. Then return to the table and indicate to the waiter. Pointing at an interesting dish at the next table is acceptable. So is sign language. And many servers manage a fair amount of English. After all, the British have been having holidays here for many generations.
Most of these restaurants also serve entrees, and it seems that the line at times becomes a little blurry, like the main-dish-size items that come round on the dim sum carts in Chinese restaurants. The point of the whole thing is to enjoy the food. None of the spots we suggest are anything but casual, filled with people relaxing and having a good time, no hushed temples of cuisine, so it’s easy to eat what you like without having to worry about what you Ought To Do.
The one dish not to be missed is razor clams, navalles in Catalan, navajas in Spanish. The long, narrow shells shaped like an old-fashioned straight razor make them hard to miss in a display. They are cooked to order, of course, grilled with a dab of parsley-and-garlic butter, their juices overflowing the shell. Brimming with flavor and a hint of ocean salt, they’re an absolute delight. We ordered them everywhere we went, and never were disappointed. Beans are usually excellent, sausage is garlicky and often spicy and we’ll deal with the potatoes as we go along.
Oh, yes, what to drink with tapas: Cava, the Spanish sparkling wine, is very good and reasonably priced. Like Champagne, it can be dry or sweet. Tempranillas and other wines can be tasty; the lighter, crisper styles work best, in our opinion. The pleasant surprise for us was sangria. It can be remarkably good, smooth and seductive. Spanish brandy rounds out the flavor notes and adds some body.
Taller de Tapas is a very modern restaurant in a very old building in the Barri Gotic, or Gothic Quarter. The tapas here are among the best we tried, including a superb version of patatas bravas, the sort of humble dish that sustains starving students. Fried potatoes, virtually greaseless 
and tasting deeply of potato in a way that one seldom finds in the U.S., come with a spicy red sauce and a garlic mayonnaise. Crisp, smoky grilled sardines soared. Roasted sweet peppers and eggplant arrived with sherry vinegar and olive oil, draped with some anchovies. Tiny lamb chops, also grilled, joined with fresh tomatoes and steamed potatoes, the better to finish up the remaining garlic mayonnaise. For dessert, we found a lighter version of cannoli that floated off the plate. Expert service, despite big crowds; also an area with outside tables, as well as a second location at C/Argenteria 51 in the Born neighborhood.
Taller de Tapas
Placa Sant Josep Oriol 9
93 301 80 20
Open daily
Cerveseria Catalana is within walking distance of Casa Mila, the fabulous Gaudi apartment building, and reminded us of nothing so much as a bar in Clayton on Friday night. It’s full of the young and
handsome, although there were a number of happy family groups also enjoying themselves. While there are, as the name Cerveseria implies, lots of different beers, this isn’t a bar mainly for drinking, but for the selection of tapas and sandwiches. (The people watching is pretty fine, too.) The chilled roasted eggplant and peppers we spoke of above is a classic Catalan dish called esqueixada; different cafes serve it different ways. It’s common to find it with fluffy, mild bacalla, or codfish. Here it was a sandwich with anchovies, another frequent ingredient. We also tried another variation, served with a warmed goat cheese, a swell pairing. Grilled cuttlefish, much like a large squid, was tender and flavorful. The local sausage, this one rather salami-like, also came as a sandwich. Dessert, a strawberry tart, was unimpressive.
Cerveseria Catalana
C/Mallorca 236
93 216 03 68
Open daily
El Portalon, also in the Barri Gotic, displays an interior that was once a stable. We tried our first pa amb tomaquet, a very traditional Barcelona dish. Thick slices from a rustic loaf of bread are toasted, then rubbed with a garlic clove and a tomato cut in half, so the tomato pulp goes into the bread. It’s topped off with olive oil, Spanish, of course, and served warm. When done right, it’s delicious; when done poorly, there’s still some charm to it. Shrimp in garlic is another traditional tapas dish, and mushrooms done the same way are, too, and both were worthwhile. Fresh anchovies, not salted or preserved in oil, were flash-fried. No bigger than a little finger, they went down like popcorn. 
Botifarra, a light-colored fresh sausage, came with white beans and won Joe’s heart. Ann swooned over a pork cheek braised until tender and then browned to considerable crispness. Cockles, the tiny shellfish, arrived in a tomato sauce. El Portalon has a much more neighborhood-y feel than the sleek Taller de Tapas; we were the only English-speaking diners in the room.
El Portalon
C/Banys Nous 20
93 392 11 87
Closed Sundays