I've been to Tasca enough to actually say something substantial about a number of its tapas dishes and/or entrees, but I'm already procrastinating too much. So I'm restricting myself to one delight and one disappointment.
Delight: The Black Bean Crab Cakes (Spanish name unknown)
These were delicious. Not too much breading, well-picked crab that wasn't all claw meat, a black bean mixture that kicked a bit of a punch at the end and served with a generous helping of a good pico de gallo (I really love pico). And decently sized, too, on the smaller side of a healthy Maryland crab cake sandwich. They actually would have been enough for dinner, but my eyes were bigger than my stomach and my Zazuela came too soon for me to finish the crab cakes slowly.
Disappointment: A Super-Lame Beer Selection
After I twisted Capt. BF's arm into ordering an adult beverage, the server produced a mediocre glass of wine for me and a COMPLETELY FLAT pint of beer for Capt. BF. He had ordered the San Miguel, but the Lord had apparently forsaken this particular keg. There was absolutely no head and the beer itself had that suspicious metallic flavor it gets when it's well on its way to being skunked. So we asked if this was some kind of European specialty (as in, don't get this in Europe. No one actually drinks it, so they do a booming business in the States. Stella is kind of like that...please do NOT try to tell me that Stella is an exemplary Belgian beverage. Stella is the Coors of Europe, and Coors is weasel urine). Turns out that he hadn't even been given the San Miguel, but instead had gotten some other beer which presumably should not have been flat either. There had been some kind of mix-up and the beer shipment hadn't come in. BF, like any other red-blooded human being, did not wish to drink flat beer. He asked instead for a Sam Adams. And forthwith, the restaurant manager returned to tell him that there was actually no Sam, either (and we're in Boston, remember) and that something had just gone totally wrong with her beer shipment and all our drinks would be on her for the night, so what else could she get us?...anything, BF says. Whatever you've got.
He gets a Heineken. There's nothing wrong with the Heineken. But still, it gave us pause that they had practically NONE of the beers we asked for, and that the one we didn't ask for but got anyway was flat. So while I enjoy their robustly-flavored (if not terribly subtle or delicate) sangria and their wine list isn't too bad (though heavy on Spanish vintages) I would steer the gentle gastronome away from the beers. It just says that people probably don't drink beer that often at Tasca, and what you're getting might not be the freshest anyway.
BUT! They did buy all our drinks for the night AND I was using one of their many email-coupon/special things. I'd gotten it for my birthday, and $15 off your meal isn't bad at all. Someday the two of us will graduate to eating out at the finest $100-an-entree establishments in Boston, but for right now I'll gladly take my price cut with a pitcher of sangria.