Isabella

Building conversions usually come when a family trades a garage for a den, or when a sexy synagogue comes to town, and that horny Methodist chapel starts wearing a silly little hat and learns to love gefilte fish, even though the sexy synagogue thinks it's gross. Taking a former hole of a resto and converting it into a comfy tapas bar is Isabella.Isabella's an airy multi-level joint serving share-happy portions of Mediterranean comfort fare in a two-level interior with a balcony and an exterior hosting a stone dining area that's surprisingly not a Taco Bell. Tap that -as with a plato marinados of marinated olives, piquillo peppers & truffled mushrooms, calameres a la parrilla (grilled calamari drizzled w/ cilantro/green chili pesto), pinchos de carne (beef skewers w/ porcini mushroom crema and charred onion salsa), and Higos Borrachos, or drunken figs, which're totally DTF (Deciduous Tree Fruit). If you smartly hate other people, bigger non-sharing dishes include pollo con chili (organic chicken w/ a roasted tomato/cumin vinaigrette), fruta del mar (mix of sauteed shrimp, scallops, and calamari), and diver scallops prepped w/ almond horchata, haricot vert, and bomba rice, but not La Bamba rice, cause Lou Diamond Phillips is lost on the other side of the Stargate.They've got a fully-stocked bar serving all the standards along with a hardy list of Medi wines like a deep ruby Tempranillo from Vaza or a golden Albarino from Martin Codaz, none of which can be converted to Manischewitz, leading that chapel to feel gelt-y while drinking them.