Omnivore Atlanta

If Ecco does as good a job with this as it did with cocido, this should be a hit:

Starting Tuesday, March 3, Ecco will begin serving a new “Tuesdays in Spain” dish to celebrate the coming of spring – a housemade fideuà (a paella-like dish featuring fresh shrimp, mussels, chicken and housemade chorizo with toasted vermicelli in place of rice) along with two new Spanish wines.

Fideuà (from fideu, Valencian for “noodle”), the poor cousin of paella, originated in the 1960s in the city of Gandia when noodles were used instead of rice in the popular dish. It traditionally consists of toasted noodles and seafood with variations that now include chicken, chorizo and other meats. No matter how humble or exalted the ingredients, though, this dish really packs a flavor punch from the slowly caramelized onions, tomatoes and garlic – all of which provide a backbone for the rich stock and nutty noodles.

The fideuà is served for two people and includes a 500ml carafe of wine for only $44 (plus tax and gratuity). The featured wines are Senorio de Garci Grande, Verdejo/Viura, Spain, 07 and Altovinum, “Evodia,” Garnacha, Spain, 07.

Also, once the warmer weather of spring arrives, Ecco will feature live Spanish guitar on the patio to complete the “Tuesdays in Spain” trifecta of food, wine and music.

Ecco is located at 40 7th Street NE in the heart of Midtown Atlanta. Reservations are recommended, but not required. Call 404-347-9555.

Click here to see lots more pictures.

By the way, if you’re interested in flamenco — I’m a freak for the music and dance — check out Flamenco-World.com. It is by far the most comprehensive site on the Intertubes.

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I’m not sure how I missed this, but Ecco is now serving cocido on Tuesday nights. Cost is $24 with a glass of wine and, if you dine 6-8:30 p.m., you’ll also get an earful of live Spanish guitar music.

“Cocido” means “stew” and I’m not clear exactly which regional variety Ecco is offering. I’ve eaten the most famous version, Cocido Madrileño, three or four times in Madrid — but always for lunch around 2 p.m., so I could run back to my hotel room and nap for an hour or two. I have never managed to finish the entire serving. (And that’s something for someone who once prompted a server at the old Green Shutters in Clayton to say at the end of my meal, “I’ve never seen anyone eat all of it before.”)

In Madrid, the dish is usually served in two or three courses. The first course is the “caldo,” the soup, which is the broth in which the meats have been cooked. Next are the vegetables, principally chick peas, followed by the meats — chicken, chorizo, morcilla (blood sausage), ham and beef. I prefer the vegetables and meats served together.

I also ate the dish in Sevilla once. It was, as I recall, topped with scrambled eggs.

Unfortunately, Tuesday is the one night of the week dining out is just about impossible for me, so I’m unlikely to get to sample Ecco’s version. I’d like to hear reports, though.

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