Cafe Ba Ba Reeba! Wins "Best Tapas" in TimeOut Chicago Eat Out Awards

CHICAGO, IL (April 9, 1009) In 1985, when Gabino Sotelino (Ambria, Mon Ami Gabi) launched this, Chicago's first Spanish tapas bar, people thought small plates were what you put under your coffee cup. Seventeen years later, a visit to this Lincoln Park spot is still a prime culinary rite of passage for young professionals and recent Chicago transplants. Sotelino's patatas bravas (mayo-and paprika-slathered potatoes tossed in a rustic stone bowl) inspired a new generation of tapas chefs, who now do things like hand-carving sculptural potato cylinders for their small-plates offerings. But, just as when Shannon Lawson made a bluegrass version of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On," all that proves is there's nothing better than unadulterated original.