Restaurant reviews

Meantime, one man’s challenge is another’s opportunity as they say, and Bacaro—which means wine bar in Venetian—opened earlier this year on little Carrer Jerusalem as a welcome antidote to the seemingly never-ending sea of burger joints landing on these shores. Don’t get me wrong: I like a burger as much as the next girl, but finally, somewhere for dinner!

To give a bit of background, owners Alfredo, Mauri and Pablo were part of the troop of Venetians who opened Xemei in Poble Sec and Santa Marta on the beach. They’ve broken off—amicably—and gone their own way, serving simpler dishes than those at Xemei, more upmarket wines than those at Santa Marta.

The space itself is small, casually thrown-together, a bit chaotic with part-owner Mauri zooming around yelling, “come in, my love” to anyone who happens to walk by. A pal of the trio visiting from Venice hands out slices of beautiful, fennel-infused salami for customers to try. Alfredo pours me a goldfish-bowl-sized glass of Strada de Guia 109 Valdobbiandene, Foss Marai, Extra Prosecco (note the wine glass, not a flute) that they are trying out, so fresh and lively it actually makes me feel 10 years younger and transports me right back to the Rialto market in Venice where I’d stop in for cichèti—the Venetian equivalent of tapas—and a glass of wine after shopping.

This isn’t really a cichèti bar, but they have captured the heart and soul of the bacari. The mood is boisterous and convivial as complete strangers share nibbles and notes on topics of the day (in this case FC Barcelona’s spate of victories), and yell across the room at each other: “Where are you from? Oh, yeah. I got a cousin there. You tried the salami?”

Half the clientele are resident Italians, the rest a mix of Catalans and expats, but what’s so gloriously refreshing about the place is it feels like everyman’s home: the kind of place you could show up to on your own and run into a bunch of friends or soon make them. But even if you didn’t, you’d be very happy sitting at the bar chatting with whoever happened to be there.