Woody Cavenaugh

For those who did not know or have not stopped in yet, Greensboro has a tapis place downtown and its name is Solaris.
Sara and I stopped in after work yesterday to give it a try. Everything I knew about tapas I heard from someone else and from their description it sounded like a good idea. You have a big menue filled with cool and interesting appitezers. Everyone picks a couple and you can share or not depending on how you made up your mind.

As a born and bread North Carolinian this was not a foreign concept even if it happened to be a spanish style. Since 1800 Cavenaugh's have been having covered dish dinners, barn raisings, wakes, weddings, family reunions and pig pickings. You could say that the buffet is in our blood. In my case its more like an all you can eat buffet and its in my blood pressure but that is neither here nor there. In a nut shell, a variety of food, eat your fill, share with friends. This is what Solaris is all about. The menue is three pages long, the first two pages are appetizers (tapas) and the back page is entrees (for the fearful or greedy) and deserts.

Christian, who I guess was our server (her name was on the receipt), guided us first timers into the wonderful world of tapas. Her recommendiation is that everyone choose two or three and if you are still hungry then you might choose to order more. This works for me, I love buffets because of the variety, Sara hates going up to the "trough" and serving yourself. The tapas style satisfied us both, we got wonderous variety, and we never had to go get it ourself. I could not have asked for a better server and I don't think I have ever had one better either.

The restaurant is open and airy with local art on the walls all around. The bar was large and fully stocked, the music was jazz, the atmosphere very friendly without being too relaxed. Business suits melded perfectly with sweaters and pullovers. I could easily see the other coaches and I slipping over here after practice for one of our regular "business meetings". The seating was tables of two and four seats but I saw no reason safety or aestheticly why you couldn't pull a couple together for a larger group. I admit though the acustics lended itself more to intimate pairs and couples.

On Christian's advice we ended up with three tapas each (which we shared evenly) and finished with coffee and desert. The plan we went with and stuck to was to order something, enjoy it, and order something else, and the menues were left with us for this very reason. We began with Spanish Orchards, well actually I began with Red Oak, but I ordered Spanish Orchards. This was a very simple plate with a variety of three cheeses, some apple slices and some nice toasty bread to have it with. This dish was made for Red Oak. Sara started with a Good Time Dip, and it was a good time, hot cheesy and flavorful with plenty of toasty bread (they have a cool hip spanish name for the toasty bread but I have forgotten it.) Had it been less open and friendly I might have licked that bowl clean, as it was, and me in my work cloths, we opted to scrape the bowl clean with a spoon. We had gotten off on a good start!

Next we went in a slightly traditional tangent. I had wings in a hoi-sin sauce. Think of it as terriaki from an alternate realtiy. The dippings wasn't blue cheese, it was blue cabrales. (please don't be "cheese" in spanish). Its texture was thinner than blue cheese dressing and really had a richer flavor. Sara went with a Mediterranean Pizza. Both were delightfully different and I couldn't recommend the pizza enough, fresh, flavorful, and four slices so you can share its goodness with three friends if you are feeling generous.

By this point we could have stopped and been happy but the spirit of adventure was upon us and we had to go on. This round we went with filet mignon medalians and Classic Ceviche (apparently "Ceviche" translates into something that translates into "Wake up dead people" or so the menu said). The filet mignon medalians were served with melting brie and pesto sauce. It is the first time in my life I ever found a good use for pesto. I can only guess that's what steak in heaven is like. The Ceviche is a light, cool, seafood dish perfect for a summer day on their patio. We joked that its power to raise the dead might be from its onions and garlic but upon trying it it was just such an amazingly refreshing dish that its name was earned honestly. It was this dish that made us immediately want to plan a night out with the couples we know to share this with them.

We were very much sated at this point, however the spirit of adventure being what it is we broke down and had Cheesecake, and Java Sol Flan with our coffees. The cheesecake could cure mental illness, the Java Sol Flan delightfully evil with three liquers and three coffee beans, decadent enough to make you think of bring in a third. ;)

All in all I can't wait to go back. With my temp budget this isn't a place I could eat every week at but surely we can find it in our means to splurge here once a month. And what do you know, our anniversary is next week!

If you live in Greensboro, make it a point to go eat here, there is plenty of parking and it is easy to get to. If you are visiting friends in Greensboro ask them to go there with you, it will be a perfect evening. There is live music on the weekends if that's your taste and the week days are perfect for quiet dates, "business meetings", or just hanging out with friends. Your mouth will love you for it.