Description:

There’s a new tapas restaurant in town – Parallel 38.  Their mission is to delight us with small plates that evoke this temperate, middle latitude.  Charlottesville VA happens to be in the 38th Parallel as does parts of Greece, Spain, Italy, China, Korea, Japan and Afghanistan.

The restaurant has taken foods from some of these regions – primarily Greece, Italy, and Spain – and interpreted them with locally sourced ingredients.  They also bring you wines from regions within the 38th parallel – including some wines from the Charlottesville area.

On their menu are such iconic dishes as hummus, htipiti, labneh and tapenade to start with.  We can attest that their labneh is supurb!  You can then move on to the Olives & Almonds appetizer which has 4 types of olives and two varieites of almonds.  They also have cured meats from Spain, Italy and Virginia.

Their meat selections include beer bok meatballs (goat), roasted pork belly (wonderful!), sauteed shrimp (house favorite) and bronzini.  All very flavorful.

One thing we like about tapas-style restaurants is that the serving sizes are just right for trying a variety of dishes and Parallel 38 does not disappoint in this regard.  They even right-sized their dessert offerings (definitely try the poached pear with bourbon cream).

They are open everyday except Monday.