He Said: New Phoenix tapas spot CoR is headed the right way

CoR, a new tapas and wine bar, opened up on 12^th Street in Phoenix in November in what was once a post office.

The owners kept the shell of the building but redid the entire space to create a wonderful environment with lots of natural light thanks to big windows in the front. They reused some of the wood for the bar and the art work perfectly matches the ambiance.

The owner and his father did a lot of the work themselves and you can see the love of their restaurant in their work and in their story. Thought they are still working through some details with the menu but the service is friendly and knowledgeable.

The owner was happy to share their story and, it turns out, he was also the mixologist that created their extensive sangria menu. I ordered their Desert Island Sangria and found it to be refreshing and enjoyable. With white wine, vodka, coconut water, and pineapple juice, it definitely had the air of a perfect beach drink.

While we experienced some issues with their ordering system, which delayed our order, they were very apologetic and kept checking on us to make sure we understood what was happening — nothing I wouldn’t expect from a new restaurant fine tuning their service.

We ordered multiple tapas, starting out with the CoR board with ricotta salatta, Danish fontina, manchego, serrano ham, coppa capicola, and calebrese soppressata. Our favorites where the fontina and serrano ham.

Next, we had the albondigas, which are meatballs with mariana and asiago. The meatballs were slightly overcooked, but the sauce was divine and I would happily take a jar of the sauce home with me.

Our next dish was the CoR-Tobello with was a nice roasted portobello mushroom sliced and laid in a balsamic reduction with cured tomatoes. Each part of this dish was enjoyable and, while a bit on the small side, was well prepared and presented.

Our last tasting was the Patatas Fritas, which were fried fingerling potatoes with ground meat and melted cheese. You also have the option of doing a tomato basil aioli with mozzarella if you want to keep it meat-free. The potatoes were perfect and, while the combination of the meat and cheese were good, the aioli and mozzarella option sounded like a better option for this dish.

CoR has a solid starting point and — as every restaurant experiences — will have a few points to fine tune. Make no mistake: This Midtown eatery is in a great location and has the heart and soul of a locally-owned winner. With the love and dedication we saw from the owner, we can easily see this becoming a neighborhood favorite with just a few updates.

We look forward to coming back and fighting the crowds at this soon to be crowded restaurant.

For more information on CoR, including location and photos, visit WhereShouldWeEat.com.

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