Este Oeste’s Tasting Menu Brings Unique Spanish Food to The Mission

OFF MENU IS SPONSORED BY BENDER’S BECAUSE THEY ARE BADASS. DROP BY AND MAKE SOME BAD DECISIONS WITH SOME GOOD PEOPLE!

photo by Wes Rowe

Last night I went to the media dinner at Overproof, the tiny little upstairs restaurant that’s inside ABV on 16th Street. Overproof has an interesting concept: every three months they completely transform the space and the menu, focusing on a different locale’s food and booze. The previous incarnation was Double Back, a whiskey inspired “Izakaya Saloon”. Last night was the unveiling of their newest adventure, Este Oeste, an ode to the cuisine of Spain and the country’s love of gin and sherry.

Let’s get the price tag out of the way. At Este Oste all they serve is a fixed five course menu for $75. To be perfectly honest, while $75 may seem like a lot of money for a dinner, you get a shitload of value for it. Not only are you getting five courses of food, you’re also getting five courses of cocktails. Five cocktails downstairs at ABV would probably cost you nearly $75 by themselves, so the fact that you get five courses of food as well is pretty stellar.

My crappy attempt to shoot the the menu.

While neither sherry or gin are really my favorites, there were some good cocktails, particularly the Don Karlos (named after Karl the Fog), which has oloroso, lemon, orange, orgeat, and gin. I still don’t know what oloroso is but I’d like some more please.

Of the food my favorite was the hand paella, this shit was genius! Since the best part of paella is the crispy edges, the Chef Collin Hilton and Sous Chef Nick Salazar, just decided to paella into brownie shaped finger foods where all the sides are crispy. Check it out below:

This gorgeous photo is obviously by a professional and not meat-hands McIphone me. The photog is Wes Rowe

Looks yummy right? I was also surprised by how much I liked the sardines. Most of us think of sardines as the oily gross things that come in a can. The sardines on the bread bites below were fresh and actually delightful. The jamon on the bread next to it was also wonderful of course.

Photo once again taken by unprofessional me. I’m actually pretty unprofessional in nearly everything I do.

The octopus was also fucking brilliant but I didn’t manage to get a photo of that.

Finally the desert was a cocktail itself. Called the “Buena Vista”, because it looks like an Irish Coffee, the drink has well…I don’t remember. We were pretty damn toasty by then but I do have this photo of my lovely date drinking it. They paired together very well.

My lovely date going after the foam like it was ice cream…it actually might’ve been.

And that’s the end of my story. But lucky for you Este Oeste’s story is just beginning. Tonight, August 10th, 2017 is the opening night. So make sure you get a reservation while you can. I have a feeling it’s gonna book up fast.