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Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Newly christened restaurant The Barcelona Connection does tapas in Richardson


Specialties include a Valencia-style paella with seafood, chorizo, saffron rice -- the real deal.

The Barcelona Connection has a killer patio with a western view of the setting sun.

The Barcelona Connection has a killer patio with a western view of the setting sun.

— We're having a tapas summer: Si Tapas opened in May, Stephan Pyles' Samar is supposed to open later this summer, and now Richardson has tapas, too, at The Barcelona Connection, a Spanish/tapas restaurant right off Galatyn Park.

Chef Vernon Morales, who previously worked at Sangria, is from cooked in Barcelona, but the menu incorporates other areas of Spain, as well, says co-owner Ronnie Kyprion. (The other co-owner is Joe Mareno, who also owns De Tapas in Addison.)

"We have a little Madrid, Cadiz, Barcelona, it varies," he says.

Originally called Jaleo, their specialties include skirt steak and a "Valencia-style" paella with seafood, two kinds of chorizo, shrimp, chicken, mussels, and clams -- "the real deal," Kyprion says.

They moved into their location under the impression that they'd have ready-made customers from the residential complex in which they're located. But Kyprion says that, while the complex is 85% full, they only see "maybe 1%" of those residents in their restaurant.

Instead, they've become the darling of Richardson neighborhoods such as Canyon Creek, who welcome having a tapas restaurant so close. And they're surrounded by businesses, including Bank of America, Countrywide, Nortel -- "whoever's left over there," Kyprion says -- Blue Cross Blue Shield. They're right on the DART Rail line; in fact, they're one of the only places within walking distance of the Galatyn Park stop, and their happy hour is brisk. The interior is clean and modern, and there's a beautiful patio that overlooks the Galatyn Park fountain and reaps some beautiful sunsets.

"I think when a lot of people finally saw that there was a restaurant in this area was the Wildflower Festival," he says. "They saw us cooking outside, they saw our patio, they saw that this is a restaurant."



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David Gonzalez, verified:

Yay! I met my wife at my fav spot Hola when we both lived in Lakewood, and now we live up off of Campbell. We'll have to check it out.

2 years, 10 months ago
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OEsophagus, anonymous:

And yet, even with all of this, there seems to be something missing here.

2 years, 10 months ago
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oatbird, anonymous:

we lunched here recently and everything was good. the waiter did mix my order up, i think the original order would have been even better but it was very cute and the service was attentive.

2 years, 10 months ago
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coastaldelsol, anonymous:

Kyprion is not a co-owner!!!!

1 year, 11 months ago
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coastaldelsol, anonymous:

The place closed down due 2 Ronnies compulsive lying after everyone helped his sorry ass!!! He stole $ and wrote hot checks!!!

1 year, 5 months ago
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Teresa Gubbins, staff:

coastaldelsol, thanks for your comment. sounds like you lost some money yourself? I'll be posting a story soon about the new restaurant that's going into the Barcelona Connection space

1 year, 5 months ago
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coastaldelsol, anonymous:

Teresa, Ronnie left evertone in debt!!! Both Jaleos and De Tapas went out because of him. Ronnie wrote about 20,000$ in bounced checks forging Joes name. He never was a stuntman. Look him up on imdb.com!!! He's a homeless bum with warrants out for his arrests. We're looking for him!!!

11 months, 3 weeks ago
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SitizenKane, anonymous:

Tapas...when will this trend die out?

I hear that it already is a fading trend NYC.

11 months, 3 weeks ago
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