Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. The pronunciation is chew-lay-ta.
Sure, some potential customers would already know that. And others would pretend to. But I wouldn’t want anyone to skip out on Brugge Brasserie’s new upstairs neighbor out of elocutionary concerns.
Txuleta Basque Cider House (1011 E. Westfield Blvd., 317-919-3555), which quietly opened in December, specializes in cuisine and ciders from the Spain/France-straddling region where txoco—societies of hardcore foodies—take the region’s cooking very seriously.
So, apparently, does the kitchen crew at Txuleta.
Ribeye ($28), Ttoro ($23) and Spicy Chicken ($18) are the large-plate choices, but we bypassed those in favor of sharables.
The Pintxos (peen-chos) menu features 10 such offerings, each stacked on thick bread and easily sharable for two. Among the hot choices, Shrimp a la Plancha ($6) skewered a pair of sizable shrimp with creamed fennel and lemon confit, while Squid Albondigas ($7) artfully added blistered peppers, sofrito marmalade and almond picada.
Squid Albondigas.
Carrots & Beets.From the cold side, Carrots & Beets ($5) were a highly recommended winner, with the vegetables garnished with avocado, marcona almonds, fennel, pomegranate, pepper jelly and a hint of grapefruit. That might sound overly busy, but it turned out to be the “we-want-more” pick of the table.
Slightly larger, the For the Table list includes Artichoke Fritters ($6) with piquillo, a variety of chili pepper from the region. Cider-Poached Txistorra Chorizo ($7) set a party of sausage tubes to sail in a sauce with pickled shallot, thyme and egg. The frittata-like Salt Cod Omelette ($8) included potato and mojo verde, a cilantro and cumin sauce I would have liked to have tasted more of. And Squash ($8), was far more complex than it sounded, with nora pepper, thyme and a sour-orange vinaigrette.
For dessert, Polvorones ($8)—a quartet of barely-over-the-size-of-a-quarter cookies—need a rethinking ($2 each? Seriously?). Ditto for the Mamia ($6), a tiny dish of honey and walnut-enhanced curd. Authentically Basque, perhaps. Worth the price, not really. The kitchen combined both desserts on one plate and it still didn’t feel like a full offering.
The drink of choice to go with all of the above is cider, with a trio of primary choices from the fruitier Sidra Naturala ($4) to the subtler, dry Bon Bon ($4). Wine and beer is also available from a bar backed by a handsome grid of colorful tiles.
If all these choices overwhelm, you can opt for the Cider House Menu for two ($87) which combines the Salt Cod Omelette, Txistorra Poached in Cider, the 26 oz. Bone-In Ribeye and a dessert.
Like its downstairs parent, Txuleta is family-friendly—just know your kids won’t be allowed to play at the shuffleboard table because it’s near the cider vats.•
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.