Carmen, whom I work with, is from Granada, Spain. We were recently talking about tapas and she asked whether I’d been to Ficelle. …Ficelle??? (For those wondering what tapas are, here is a fun little write up.)

This cute little café is tucked off a side street in Winters. The food du jour on Friday nights is tapas and Carmen gave it two thumbs up for the tapas, the wine by the glass selection, and her favorite, sangria.

We headed to Winters last Friday to see what Ficelle was all about. Arriving at 7:15, the place was humming. Ficelle is an ‘order at the counter then find a seat’ cafe. This came about because the owners (fun loving sisters) Joanne Martin and Marianne Washabaugh wanted a food-to-go establishment where they prepared dishes ahead of time. But what happened was they woke up one morning and realized they’d opened a restaurant (opened on St. Patrick’s day 2005).

How did they get their name? They wanted to serve European type sandwiches on a small French bread called ‘ficelle’. They also wanted to serve a variety of food and not be tied down to a specific cuisine. Thus it’s not French (although the name would lead you to think so) and the food is described as non-gourmet, great tasting with a peasant worldly twist. The sisters are delightfully random and reserve the right to change the restaurant, menu or their minds at any time.

Ficelle seats 35 people. On evenings the weather permits, you can enjoy their tree-laden patio, which has heat lamps for cooler weather. They only serve tapas Friday nights, of which 8 are standard and four or five are specials that change weekly. They have fun, playing with non-traditional tapa varieties too, like “Tapa de Redneck”.

Tapas arose out of exhaustion (19 hour days). They sat down with friends over wine one Friday evening, dishes pilled high in the kitchen, neither wanting to do them. Instead, they decided to sit, drink and have a party. Thus tapas were born.

On our visit, we started with the delightful
“Plato Combinado” which included secchi salami, marinated green beans, fried baby peppers, a Spanish type of bean salad, mixed olives, prunes, goat and manchego cheese, and crostini. The flavors were clean, allowing you to taste each component.

An assortment of tapas followed including a
Chili Relleno, Cordero Asado (grilled lamb), Crostini con Queso (cheese toasts with scallion, olive and mushroom),
Gambas al Ajillo (shrimp in garlic sauce), Tapa de Sur (barbeque beef brisket sandwiches), Tapas Tostado and a plate of sliced baguette with house made Ajo (peasant aioli garlic mayonnaise), which is given to every table.

We enjoyed each dish and would have tried more had our stomachs permitted. Our least favorite was the Crostini con Queso. Next time (yes, we’ll definitely go back) we'll bring more friends and have our own little party!

Ficelle does special events such as birthdays and private dinners. But they do not cater (and don’t want to!)

Ficelle
5C East Main Street, Winters, CA 95654
530-795-9593

Click here for directions or hours of operation.