Review: Mojito

There was plenty of wailing and gnashing of teeth last summer when Chef Fernando Martinez left Louisville to open a new restaurant on a Caribbean isle. And with good reason.

For five years, Martinez was the guiding force behind two of Louisville's favorite restaurants. In 2004, he won the hearts and tongues of Louisville diners with vibrant Cuban cuisine at Havana Rumba; in 2007, he followed up with Mojito, a Spanish-themed tapas restaurant that had folks lined up outside the door from the moment it opened.

And then he was gone.

But the restaurants are still in place, and after a couple of recent visits to Mojito Tapas Restaurant, it seems clear the gnashing of teeth has been supplanted by the smacking of lips. Martinez's erstwhile partners, Marco Lorenzo and Chef Pedro Lorenzo, and a well-coached staff are running the place with as much enthusiasm as ever.

It's easy to get lost in the labyrinthine menu, but it hardly matters, since every path leads to happiness. There are dozens of choices — distinct choices, not just repetitive variations on related themes.

Every possible culinary technique is on display, and the list of ingredients includes smoky piquillo peppers and roasted stuffed dates, long-cured Serrano ham and grilled lamb, cheeses from Spain and Southern Indiana, sweet potato fries and saffron-infused soups. And though the sheer variety places extraordinary demands on the kitchen, execution is generally at a very high level.

A small selection of Spanish cured meats and sausages makes for a vivid starter — or a light meal. Glossy slices of Serrano ham ($6.99); red, spicy slices of Spanish chorizo ($4.99); or dense, dry, intense wafers of the Catalan sausage called fuet ($4.99) can be had separately, or all together ($9.99) in a marvelous carnivorous feast.

Add a colorful medley of house-marinated olives ($3.99), linger over a glass of wine, and you might feel as if you've washed up magically on the shores of Barcelona.

And if you're ravenous and prone to temptation, you might try to eat your way through the entire menu at one sitting — but don't get your hopes up. Better to return often, and take a more leisurely approach.

One time, you might lunch on asopado ($5.99), a yellow soup, thick with rice, chorizo, chicken and shrimp, that tastes like a bowl of paella. (Paella is on the menu as well, in three varieties, including a vegetarian option, at $16.99 per person, in multiples of two; it takes about 60 minutes for paella, and if you're eating tapas while you wait, you might consider ordering half the recommended quantity of paella: paella for two will likely satisfy four people who've just spent an hour eating small plates.)

If you're generous, you might follow your bowl of asopado by sharing a savory Catalan flatbread sandwich filled with braised short ribs, Spanish blue cheese and caramelized onions. But don't ask me to split my pato confitado — the one that's filled with duck confit, goat cheese and fig marmalade (both $6.99).

And if you lust after sandwiches, Mojito serves the finest egg sandwich anywhere to be found, the Bocadillos de Huevo($7.99) — an exquisitely light roll filled with a fried organic egg (it actually tastes the way an egg should taste), a crisp lengthwise slice of chorizo, luscious Manchego cheese and fig marmalade. Best of all, it's served with sweet potato fries and an extraordinary dipping sauce made from smoked honey, a dash of vinegar and a hint of cayenne.

Some dishes are competent but unimpressive: lightly floured calamari (alla Romana; $6.99) is crisp and tender, but served with a couple of insipid aiolis — one of garlic, the other of honey.

Roasted dates ($7.99) are stuffed with Capriole goat cheese, wrapped in bacon and touched up with smoked honey and pureed piquillo peppers to create richly layered flavors that would have been wonderful if only the bacon had been crisp enough to offset the softer textures within.

Likewise, piquillos stuffed with goat cheese were luscious — to the point where they bordered on mushy excess.

More often, though, the kitchen puts an impressive, exotic stamp on even the most familiar Mediterranean concepts. A hummus trio ($6.50) offers three delectable purees, one pale and creamy; another rich, rustic and flecked with black beans; and a third spiced up with pureed piquillo peppers and smoky Spanish paprika (also available on its own, $5.99).

And a seafood croquette ($6.50) stuffed with shrimp, lobster and whitefish was pretty darned brilliant.

And if an order of bread pudding ($5.99) didn't exactly wow us with its texture, the dark Spanish chocolate at the bottom, an intense dose of banana and a creamy scoop of vanilla ice cream perched on top didn't hurt.