Larry Bly

Larry Bly runs an ad agency and does freelance writing in the Roanoke area.

Recent columns

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• Recipe of the day

Is Main Street in Salem ready to tapas on down?  Will the words “chuletas con ciruela” and “mariscada a la plancha” easily roll off the tongue of Southwest Virginians? And will I ever stop asking these silly questions and just get on with the food commentary?

I recently visited Cafe Madrid on East Main Street, in the former location of the highly successful and popular Michelle’s Cafe. It’s a very different restaurant now, serving mostly traditional (and some not-so-traditional) Spanish fare, with just a few touches of American cuisine to help those confused souls who don’t trust anything that’s not familiar.

The unfamiliar may be the biggest drawback to this restaurant to date, though the chef and owner, Michael Wright, has certainly gone to great lengths to make sure you know what you're ordering. It's right there on the menu.

Chef Wright is the big, friendly guy who meets you at the front door with a smile and a few questions to help guide you into this new food territory.  He and the waitstaff work hard to be there to answer questions and to make suggestions.

The lunch menu is simple, with choices limited to a freshly made soup (served piping hot on the particular day I visited) a handful of salads, sandwiches, entrees and desserts.

I opted for the mixed tapas platter, wanting to experience a taste of Spain as only tapas can bring.  At $12.99, it’s a little pricey for lunch, but the mix of exotic cheese, olives, chorizo and assorted roasted vegetables belie the initial presentation. The small oysters were fresh and slightly sweet to the taste. Believe me, the bowl contains enough variety to keep diners interested and to satiate any appetite. Yum.

My dining partner had the veggie sandwich, reasonably priced and ample for a lunch portion, featuring grilled eggplant, roasted red and yellow peppers, grilled zucchini, manchego cheese and garlic aioli on an olive sourdough bread. My friend generally liked the presentation, but felt that the bread somewhat overpowered the ingredients. I have no idea what that means. Perhaps, next time, slice the bread thinner?

The salads are interesting and light: the gorgonzola and walnut salad with vinaigrette and the manchego cheese and tomato salad with a delicious homemade sherry wine vinaigrette both are winners.

Other lunch entrees include pork ribs with sweet paprika sauce, chicken and chorizo skewers, shrimp in spicy tomato sauce, and pork and mushroom skewers.

Dinner entrees are priced moderately: $16.99 to $25.99 and probably a few announced specials above that price. Choose pan-roasted chicken with olive rosemary sauce, or roasted rack of lamb stuffed with apricots and pine nuts, or pan-seared pork in red wine plum sauce served with roasted potatoes. Can you say "chuletas con ciruela"?  Me neither.

Other entrees include pan-seared ribeye steak with a fig and wild mushroom sauce or the traditional and popular paella, a seafood dish for two with rice, clams, mussels, shrimp, chorizo and vegetable.   

I cannot attest to dinner, but I shall in the by and by.

By the way, the dessert selection is slightly unusual: fired milk and cookies (a traditional Spanish dessert of fried custard and Spanish almond cookies), orange flan, hot chocolate and churros (a Spanish pastry) and almond tourene (almonds and honey).

Will we need to be brushing up on our Spanish in these parts? Time will tell.  Meanwhile, get adventurous and discover some new things.