Leaning Toward Mateo…My Southern Tapas

Chicharones-Crispy Chicken Skin

 

 

I miss going to Jose Andres' restaurants in the DC area, especially Jaleo, a tapas/pintxo restaurant that showcases food from the Basque and Catalan regions of Northern Spain. Having traveled and tasted food through San Sebastian, Bilbao and Barcelona, Jaleo was the closest to satisfying my craving of Northern Spanish food.

Here, in Durham, I stumbled upon Mateo. The restaurant opened its doors in August 2012. The chef, Matthew Kelly, originally from upstate New York, transplanted to NC over 20 years ago, working at a local French restaurant. Through his traveling of Spain, he fell for the food and decided to recreate the flavor here, in the Triangle area, with a southern influence.
 

Carpaccio de Pulpo

I started off with Carpaccio de Pulpo-thinly sliced octopus. This dish reminds me of the traditional boiled octopus, served with potato, olive oil and pimento on a wooden board, except it is better at Mateo’s. Chef Kelly topped his octopus with diced pepper, olive oil and pickled onion. It was so simple, yet subtly sweet and crunchy.

Mollejas--Sweetbreads

The second dish was the sweet bread. I suppose with his French cooking background, this is where the sweet bread shines. Served with a bed of Migas (bread crumb mixture) and caper. The bread was sweet!

Special of the day-Rabbit Rillettes

The Rabbit rillettes was another French twist of Chef Kelly. Served similar to a crab cake (instead of in a terrine and covered in pork fat), the flavor is much more tantalizing than the rabbit rillettes at Poole's Diner, I can tell you.

The first time I ate stewed tripe in Spain was in a local bar in San Sebastian. One has to walk to the deep end of the counter to find this dish. At Mateo’s, the special was stewed beef heart and tripe with beans, a different take from the traditional, but nice and tender.

Beef Tripe and Heart Stew

The highlight of the night was the chicken skin-deep fried in a batter (maybe tempura) and served with pickled piquillo pepper. It was an original southern tapas at its best. My mouth is watering, thinking about the crunchy texture of the chicken skin and the contrast of spicy, sweet and sour of the pepper. All I needed was a cold beer to top it off.
 

Morcilla

One disappointment I had was the Morcilla or blood sausage. Served with applesauce and slaw, which helps to compensate for the dryness of the sausage, but it was still dried to my taste. A couple of other items that I was looking for but did not find on the menu were Bacalao (salted cod) and squid ink, so I was unable to satisfy my craving for saltiness.

I did hear that the chef cooks pigtails on special occasions. Maybe pigskin will be next. I can't wait for that. But for now, I am pushing Jose Andres aside and learning to like Mateo’s...my southern tapas destination.

Cheers,
Teera