Bar Pintxo open for business

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Joe Miller’s Spanish tapas bar, Bar Pintxo, opened yesterday at noon, providing respite from the light rain for the holiday shoppers at the nearby Santa Monica farmers market. With high ceilings, high wooden tables and bar stools, walls lined with wines, chalkboard menus and a sushi-style case displaying the tapas, it’s a very welcoming little (30-seat capacity) spot. And if Miller has his way, it’ll be a respite not only for shoppers but for the farmers too -- at least on market days, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Miller was just in from shopping himself, grabbing a few tapas on his way back to the market, and said he wanted to encourage the farmers to stop by after they’re done packing up. ‘I’d love to have them all come down for a glass of sangria,’ said Miller. (It makes sense: Miller’s 16-year-old Venice restaurant, Joe’s, has always had a menu largely reliant on local produce.)

If not sangria, maybe slices of baguette topped with foie gras mousse, caramelized onions and pomegranate seeds; or cherry tomatoes stuffed with marinated tuna, garlic and parsley; or endive with Roquefort cream, anchovies and walnuts. There were 15 tapas on the printed menu this afternoon, but Miller says that’s just the beginning.

Bar Pintxo, 109 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica; (310) 458-2012. Open noon to midnight, every day. (Website still under construction.)

-- Amy Scattergood

Photos by Amy Scattergood