The culture may be important, but the cuisine is the critical bit. Spanish food has a softness and subtlety about it that is much underrated by our culture. Most folks like a little Mediterranean diet – you know olive oil, red sauces, garlic and pasta, but few know the exquisite food that emanates from the various Spanish regions. Catalonia and its capital Barcelona have drawn many a chef to its excellent gastronomy. Its unique location with four distinct landscapes; the sea, mountains, dry lands and lush garden land produce a bounty of produce that meld together to produce the “real” Mediterranean cuisine. From simple seafood dishes with tomatoes, peppers, onions and a little white wine, to complex and exquisite gourmet dishes. The most important thing about this type of cooking is the “mar i mutanya” or “mountains and sea” that combines seafood with inland or highland ingredients in a way that respects the produce of the seasons. Well it did Todd no harm at all!

Indigo has all the basic things a great dining spot needs. It sports a new patio outside the restaurant for a quick drink or a summer dinner. This helps lift the place out of its suburban surroundings and makes it feel a little special. Step inside and hang onto your hat. If you have any interior design loving friends, be prepared for a long lecture about modernistic Swedish interior and the use of color. Todd did the design himself (that's what he says and given how alike they are, it could even have been Timm!). It's beautiful. Light woods, indigo shades and stainless steel meld together into a very sophisticated interior. Not what you would expect at all.

There is a small bar and a well proportioned dining room with a partially open kitchen. The evening we were there, we grabbed a glass of wine at the bar from their splendid wine list. Too few restaurants allocate enough space for a pre- and post-dinner drink spot. The Campillos have it just right.

We took our table and put ourselves in Todd's hands or rather Todd would ask Timm to select something for us. OK enough twin jokes, onto the meal.

I started with sweet pumpkin ravioli in a buttery sauce. The ravioli was exquisite; it had a little bit of crunchy amaretto, a couple of large shrimp and a healthy amount of herbs. Talk about mouth wateringly good. Pia had to fight for even a tiny bite. That said, she was devouring a bowl of little necks with red sauce of awesome flavor and texture. The tomato base was supported by some Spanish onion and a lot of sweet garlic. Clearly not your usual bowl of seafood.

Thinking that it can't be better than this, we were greeted with a visual delight in the form of a lavender honey glazed lobster over a vegetable and rice compress in a bouillabaisse sauce. This was garnished with a few fresh mussels and the lobster was dressed with a rich sun dried tomato and olive relish. I almost can't describe the intense flavor of the relish or the beautiful rich and smooth bouillabaisse. In fact, I tried to acquire marketing rights to the chutney on the spot, but they weren't interested!

Unabashed by the shameless rejection of my efforts to corner the market in relishes, Todd staggered out of the kitchen with a beautiful lamb shank in a fresh fig sauce. It came with a pancetta, thyme and rosemary polenta that went well with the meat. The fig’s flavor just melted into the lamb flavor as it peeled of the bone. Terrific!

If you think I have lost my mind and gone off into hyperbole city then think again – this really was a splendid meal. I eat out a lot and once you have had one tuna tartare, you have had 'em all, but this was different. Indigo takes risks with flavors that acknowledge the classics, but are on the bleeding edge of modern cooking. I can't guarantee that they will always get it right, but this was a demonstration of real cooking prowess.

One of the nicest things about Todd is that he looks like he's been cooking. No legion of sous chefs here. By the end of the evening, he was wearing much of the night’s dishes on his whites and looked like he had been working hard. It was kind of reassuring that such good cooking takes at least a little bit of sweat.

Indigo has a fine wine list and we finished up our meal with a dessert, a cup of cappuccino and a small glass of “ice wine”, in this case Huber Icewine 2001. It was delicious and just drives home my point that you don't have to be in Back Bay to enjoy some outstanding fare.

So there you have it! I was denied the marketing opportunity of a lifetime (and an endless supply of the best relish I have had in years), but dined on some truly remarkably food. Indigo - a great color and in this a case, a gastronomic Rhapsody in Blue.