Eat like a bird?

Yesterday I ate lunch at Txori, a new (six months old) restaurant in Belltown. Specialties of the house include pintxos, the tapas of the Basque country in Spain. Good wine, too. The space is tiny - about 900 square feet - and you can watch as two cooks prepare your meal, in a compact kitchen behind a long counter. Behind them open shelves go up to the ceiling, stacked with supplies and the myriad of small dishes used to serve up the pintxos.

"Txori" means "Bird" in Basque (Euskara) and everything here comes in small bites, perfect for sampling a variety of tastes and textures. If you have never tried octopus, this is the place to do it. On an earlier visit I tried the dish pictured here, a piece of perfectly-cooked - NOT rubbery! - octopus skewered to a round of boiled potato. The sauce is olive oil, garlic & chili, among other things.

This time I ordered the octopus salad. That's a spoonful of octopus chopped with vegetables and seasonings, placed on a small thick slice of grilled bread, and topped with a perfectly fried egg. (Don't knock it if you haven't tried it!)

After that I had half a small eggplant, roasted, then returned to the oven long enough to melt a topping of house-made tomato sauce and cheese.

It's a bit like an eggplant pizza, but seems healthier. Mine was topped with an anchovy because the cook (my daughter, as a matter of fact) knows I like them.

Desserts are two-bite servings of a deeply chocolate mousse, or a coffee/caramel flan that is among the best I've had.

Of course I want to go back! By the time real summer comes to Seattle, a tiny deck opening off the left rear corner of the restaurant will be ready. Look for me under a big hat.