Tapas, not topless

[madbaker]

Our local dive bar is apparently trying to attract a more upscale clientele. We got a flyer touting their new focus on tapas. This delightful and authentic menu includes:

1. Turkey tostada
2. Hot wings
3. Pommes frites (with chipotle sauce)
4. fish & chips
5. calamari rings

...this is different from standard dive bar food how? Oh right, it's tapas.

What I'm reading: Elizabeth Bear, New Amsterdam

Comments

[fionnbharro.livejournal.com]

Given the French propensity to legislate their own language (legislating out foreign words, that is)...

Any idea what the official word for 'chipotle' is?

If it's used at all

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

At a guess, "piment chipotle" which would translate to chipotle chili pepper. This is consistent with "piment rouge", or red pepper.

[goldenstag.livejournal.com]

I was gonna use Websters to find out the definition of tapas from there, but what I got had nothing to do with food (has to do with bark painting and cloth). I have a sneaking suspicion though that if you did a direct translation from Spanish to English it would be "appetizer", in which case they probably aren't using it really incorrectly, except that you're (and some of the folk you associate with) used to "proper" Spanish Tapas due to j_i_m_r's influence ...

[otherwind.livejournal.com]

That's really pretty funny--and reflects the American propensity to co-opt other cultures and water them down to nothing.

There is a well-reguarded restaurant in downtown Seattle that serves "Japanese Tapas"--I've always been rather curious what that entails...

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

When tapas became a restaurant craze in San Francisco a couple years ago, they often used the term "small plates". Which preserves the meaning while allowing a change of ethnicity.