Cooking With The Wolfes

Anniversary Dinner at Tapas 12 West

Sunday night Mike and I celebrated our one-year anniversary, so we went to Tapas 12 West for dinner. For those of you that don't know, tapas are appetizer-sized entrees that you're supposed to share. Sorry the pictures are so bad, they were taken with my camera. We started out with a Caesar salad with red onion, homemade croutons, parmesan cheese, and an oil-based dressing (I couldn't get a picture before we devoured it!). Then we moved onto grilled flatbread with white bean spread, parmesan cheese, olive oil, and oregano. After that came Gruyere and Chorizo Fondue, made with white wine, gruyere cheese, garlic and chorizo sausage, served with crostini. We finished off with pork meat balls with chard and spicy tomato sauce.For dessert we went to Cold Stone for ice cream. I had the fat free sweet cream ice cream with strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries, and Mike had fat free sweet cream as well with Cookie Dough and chocolate chips.

The verdict

What an anniversary dinner! The croutons on the salad were made in the restaurant (as was everything else) and they were very good. The thought of white bean on flatbread had never occured to me, but it was mild, which let the high-quality cheese and oil shine through. Everything was excellent, but my favorite by far was the fondue. I don't think I've ever had Gruyere cheese or Chorizo sausage, but I had a dream about it last night. I'll be trying to think of a way to replicate this recipe myself! Mike especially loved the meatballs; the sauce was definitely made from fresh tomatoes, as it was slightly sweet, which paired nicely with the spicy-ness. For what we got we were very happy with the price, and the atmosphere was pleasant and romantic. Everything was fresh and delicious, and if you live in Gainesville you have to try this place!