Barcelona Wine Bar welcomes everyone with tapas, wine and fun | Opinion

Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we offer our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems). Find our previous Staff Favorites here.

My girlfriends and I still chortle over ordering tapas at a seaside bar in Barcelona in 2004. (We guessed, since it was all in Spanish.) One dish was some little fried minnow-looking things, and my friends looked to me, an East Coast seafood-eater, for what to do.

I confidently popped the whole thing in my mouth.

In between spitting out shell and bones, I had to admit I had no idea what I was doing.

I looked for those crunchy little mystery morsels on the tapas menu at Barcelona Wine Bar in Denver’s River North neighborhood when it first opened in 2018. But although it has boquerones (little anchovies), I never did find what I was looking for. Which is quite OK, since I was happily distracted by the 30 or so choices on its small plates menu.

Don’t expect huge plates; these are tapas, after all. But from what I’ve tried, the flavors put out by executive chef Libry Darusman and his team are large and satisfying. Tapas on the regular menu include prawns a la plancha  ($11.50), bacon-wrapped dates ($8), patatas bravas ($8) and flank steak ($14.50). Also available are some large plates (I’ve tried the striped bass and the paella, both amazing), salads and desserts. At happy hour, try the potato chips and lomo iberico ($7.50) or the mini churros with chocolate sauce ($4.50).

You can also make your own charcuterie board ($7 for one item, $19.50 for three), or take the guesswork out of things and go with the apertivo board ($26), which includes olives, patatas bravas, manchego and mahon cheeses, serrano ham, chorizo and marcona almonds.