There’s No Bull About it, Cuerno is a Keeper!

I have to admit, my heart belongs to Beleza, Riccardo Ullio’s other recently opened restaurant on the ground floor of the 905 Juniper condos where I spend way too many evenings. But when his Spanish spot Cuerno opened next door a couple weeks ago, I was itching to try it. No disappointments here. I sipped on the white sangria (made with Viura and Cointreau and garnished with star fruit) – refreshing and delicious. The restaurant has snagged a great bartender, Jason, who used to work at Murphy’s. We sampled a few of the tapas to start, including the ham croquettes, potato and onion tortilla and a scallop tart with sofrito (pictured above). These dishes were definitely my favorite part of the meal and were quite filling; I probably could have done without the rest of the dinner altogether but what fun is that the first time around? So we tested out the lobster paella (for two) and the bacalao. While a bit pricey, the paella contained plenty of lobster left in the shell which made for a lovely presentation, and was worth every penny. For some strange reason, Cuerno’s décor reminds me of scenery from the movie Romeo & Juliet (the modernized adaptation from 1996), which I’ll also admit to adoring. It has a dark, yet warm and pleasant ambience with charcoal walls, fabulous chandeliers, maroon and gold drapes and dark wood. And then of course, there’s the giant metal bull in the front of the restaurant welcoming guests as they walk in…