Try this one ten times, fast: "Sherry pairing." Did you get to "sherry parry"? Did you feel drunk? Thirsty for more?
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La Boca, that paragon of Spanish sensibilities—wine, olive oil, more wine—is really hard for me to avoid. Even if it weren't less than a block away, and situated conveniently across the street from my first-favorite card shop and second-favorite fashion boutique (Mira!, and I won't reveal the first lest you steal my inimitable style), the place's delectable tapas would enthrall me like a siren song. Ah, the roasted asparagus with lox and goat cheese! The addictive hummus; the luscious garlic shrimp and thin-sliced jamón serrano !
La Boca, it turns out, also specializes in sherry. Whatever the hell that is.
I solicited friends to join me for drinks.
"We can have sherry!" I said. Not really knowing anything about sherry, I assumed my drink-anything buds would be up for it. No dice.
"We drank my mom's cooking sherry once, when we were like 13," one friend told me. "It was gross."
Last week, James Campbell Caruso, La Boca's owner and chef, was one of four chefs nationwide who was called to participate in the annual US Copa Jerez food and sherry pairing competition. He didn't win, but La Boca's still proud to be on the map
