Sometimes you just need to get away from it all and jump on the next plane to Spain. But since that’s not always feasible, you can thank your lucky stars for the Concord Cooperative Market, 24 S. Main St.
The co-op hosted a holiday tapas tasting last Thursday, giving participants a delicious dose of Europe right here in Concord.
What are tapas, you ask? A staple of Spanish cuisine, tapas are small plates or appetizers. If you’re not going to Spain anytime soon, luckily they’re quite trendy in the American dining scene. Tapas can be a tasty companion to a glass of wine or a great way to try a variety of foods by ordering several plates as a meal. With 12 different tapas staggered to come out every 10 minutes, you could either have a quick nibble with your wine or fill up on plate after plate. That’s the beauty of tapas.
Because the co-op know what’s up, the evening’s tapas were perfectly paired with samples of Spanish wines provided by vendors carried by the co-op. Among our favorites were two fruit-forward reds – Tapeña’s temprenillo and Volteo’s temprenillo. In the event that you’re not as sophisticated as us, vendors were on hand to answer any questions you had about the wine or were happy to make a suggestion based on whatever tapa you happened to be munching on at the moment.
Although we had clear favorite wines, we had a hard time selecting a favorite tapa because the all the ones we sank our teeth into were equally tasty. If we had to choose, we could have filled up on fried manchego cheese which was served with a pepper sauce. So simple . . . yet so delicious.
All the tapas were made by the Celery Stick Café’s talented crew. Even if you don’t find the foods featured at the tapas event, you can drop in for the same caliber of food at the café which always features three soups, four hot lunches, a salad bar and a “grab-n-go” section with pre-made salads and sandwiches.
According to marketing manager, Karina Giodano, promoting the café which also does catering, was just one of the reasons the co-op puts on events like the holiday tapas tasting. “I think people are sometimes intimidated by the co-op because it has such unique items that they are not used to,” Karina said. “This [the tapas tasting] is a great no-pressure way for people to come in and check out the co-op, so hopefully they’ll like what they see and come back at a later date to shop.”
And it was impossible to miss the co-op’s products. The event was dispersed throughout the store during normal business hours. That way, people had to wander the aisles to get from point A to point B, which creating ample opportunities to peruse the co-op’s stocked shelves.
Amazingly, the flow worked out nicely and the small market never felt crowded. Both shoppers and event-goers seemed to not mind sharing the space. It could have been the live Spanish jazz that helped keep the evening relaxing and pleasant, but since this is not the co-ops first tasting, we couldn’t help but think they’ve had plenty of practice on throwing a good shindig.
This past February, the co-op had its first wine event and approximately 250 people showed up. People must have had a good time, because at the second wine event the attendance nearly doubled and the store’s October beer-tasting had an impressive 900 visitors. That’s a whole lot of beer-drinkers! Because the co-op wanted to keep things running smoothly, they decided to put a 135-person limit on Thursday’s event and at only $10 (which included tapas, wine and your very own wineglass to take home) the event quickly sold out.
If you were turned away from the tapas event, there are still plenty of other opportunities to attend an event at the co-op. On Dec. 17 from 6-8 p.m., the co-op is holding a holiday cookie exchange. Admission is free, but the co-op asks that you bring 24 cookies and a container. The cookies will be combined and you can then choose your own assortment. Whether you want to share your new-found cookies with others is up to you – we won’t judge you. Registration is required by calling 225-6840.
For more information about the co-op’s events and wellness classes, call 225-6840 or visit concordfoodcoop.coop.
