Made Kitchen & Cocktails

Made Kitchen & Cocktails Restaurant Review:

About the restaurant & décor: Made Kitchen & Cocktails is the work of longtime area restaurateur and chef-trained Chris Sedgwick. Industrial chic décor takes its cues from repurposed and recycled elements, including old beams and shutters. A large painting of a bull imposes itself over the main dining room, an evidently de rigueur icon whenever Spanish cuisine is being referenced. An open kitchen and a sizeable bar area flank this space, while an enclosed patio provides a stage for Thursday's live music so it doesn't dampen dining room conversation.

Food & Drinks: Small plates constitute the core of the menu, and are frankly more interesting than the mains, only a couple of which --- a pair of paellas for two persons --- suggest Spanish cuisine. Start with a "copa" of dry fino sherry, properly served chilled, with Marcona almonds and six-month manchego cheese. Spanish charcuterie also is offered. We like the stuffed piquillo peppers, plump with a filling of soft goat cheese, and the patatas bravas. Most of the other dishes aren't the sort one would see in Spain, although the grilled octopus would be, but they are in the spirit. Crema Catalana, the original crème brûlée, flavored with espresso is the right dessert. The wine list inexplicably has only a scattering of white Spanish wines, most notably an Albariño from Fillaboa and a rosado from Marqués de Cáceres, but there are plenty of Spanish reds.