A unique fixture of the restaurant is Sonoma County’s first “Ham and Cheese Bar” – a manned station at the indoor tapas bar where skilled “Hamboners” slice to order paper-thin slivers of Spain’s incomparable Jamon Iberico, along with a carefully selected variety of Spanish and local cheeses, and Tortilla Espanola with aioli.
The menu features executive chef and owner Mark Stark’s interpretations of mouth-watering classic Spanish tapas including pan tomate, creamy chicken croquetas, salmorejo soup, and escabeche of mussels. To highlight quality ingredients in an authentic Spanish manner, Bravas will serve seasonal items a la plancha (on sizzling iron platters), like Sebastopol maitake mushrooms with smoked goat cheese fluff or Monterey calamari with salsa verde. The menu will offer Patatas Bravas, a beloved fried potato dish (and the inspiration for the restaurant’s name), and a few unique dishes such as crispy pig ears, Dungeness crab fideua, and chicken wing confit.
The dessert menu keeps it local with Petaluma’s Straus Family Creamery soft serve ice cream with a choice of distinctive finishes: olive oil and sea salt, goats milk caramel, roasted seasonal fruit and more.
The cocktail menu at Bravas is extensive, with items like the Poniente, a gin and tonic featuring The Botanist Islay Dry, Grapefruit, Lime, and a Star Anise Levante; the Ready, Willing and Hazel, with Bourbon, Hazelnut Orgeat, Cardamaro, Lemon, and Egg White; or the ever popular Dingo, with Vodka, Aperol, Amontillado Sherry, Lime, and Cava.
The lively ambience at Bravas extends to the restaurant’s newly renovated back patio area, Bar Bravas, complete with a full bar, a covered deck and a large patio dining area with heaters. Bar Bravas is the perfect setting for sipping sangria or one of five different versions of Spanish inspired gin and tonics and grazing through the extensive tapas menu.
“‘Bravas’ actually means ‘spicy or wild,’ and the atmosphere lives up to the name. We hope everyone enjoys the new restaurant,” says Terri Stark.
BRAVAS Tapas Restaurant
420 Center Street
Healdsburg, CA 95448
p: 707.433.7700
About Stark Reality Restaurants
Founded by Mark and Terri Stark, Stark Reality Restaurants’ popular establishments include: Willi’s Wine Bar, Monti’s Rotisserie & Bar and Stark’s Steakhouse in Santa Rosa, and Willi’s Seafood & Raw Bar in Healdsburg, California. Their newest restaurant, Bravas Bar de Tapas opened in Healdsburg in October 2012. Stark Reality Restaurants are the first in Sonoma County to offer fin fish that have been Safe Harbor® Certified. Find out more at www.starkrestaurants.com.