“The way of eating is about being able to have dishes - whether they are cold or hot - and you’re nibbling and you’re talking, and the food can wait and the conversation is still going on,” said Giovanni Garelli owner of Tapas Barcelona in Evanston since 1995.

Spoken like a true Spaniard, or Italian, for Garelli is a mix of both, he emphasizes that his cuisine at Tapas is “all about Spain.”

“You have a plate of food in front of you and you can eat when you want, how you want and the time is not more important than the food or the person,” said Garelli.

His parents owned a tapas bar in Seville for 40 years. Now Garelli, alone of his two older sisters, continues in the family business. He still goes to Spain two to three times per year and comes back with three or four new dishes but despite the new blood, Garelli insists that he sticks to the basics rather than cutting edge cuisine. “My public likes the traditional.”

In keeping with that theme, Tapas tips its hat to ubiquitous Spanish courtyards with an outdoor patio. It seats more than 80 in the summer and clients clamber to stay out there long after Chicago weather turns inhospitable.

While possibly the precursors to the current chic in small-plate dining, each plate of Spanish tapas can be a meal by itself. Pair with a salad and a glass of wine and you, too, may feel transported to Barcelona or Seville, if only for lunch.

Sample the Datiles con Tocino, an authentic Spanish tapa made of fresh baked dates wrapped in bacon with a tangy red bell pepper sauce ($5.50).

The grilled sea scallops, Vieiras con Salsa de Azafran, served with sautéed garlic spinach and pine nuts in a saffron sauce are definitely filling enough to be a full meal ($7.50)

Other specialties include the Avocado con Cangrejo made with an avocado half stuffed with fresh crabmeat and cucumber salad ($6.95) and the Queso de Cabra con Tomate is a traditional dish of a round of goat cheese baked in tomato sauce and served with olives and crunchy, succulent garlic bread to dip ($6.50).

The pièce de résistance (or pieza de resistencia, in this case) at Tapas are the Mejillones Plancha, a signature dish of aromatic mussels grilled on a skillet with garlic, bacon and Spanish white wine ($6.95).

“We’ve been here for so long that sometimes I don’t know if customers like the food better than the ambiance but I think the biggest thing in ‘Barcelona’ has always been the food,” said Garelli. A staple on the North Shore for 17 years he says, “Thank you and thank you for the support,” to his customers.