By: Becky Blake When: Thursday night, 9:00 PM Where: El Xampanyet in El Born Who: 3 French-Canadian visitors and me What: Tapas and a surprise evening of opera How it Happened: I’d been wanting to go to El Xampanyet for a while, but it never seemed like the right time to dive into such a crowded, chaotic space. That particular night however, I had three friends visiting from Montreal and they were itching for a traditional tapas experience. We stood outside the bar for a minute contemplating the dense wall of people at the door, then decided to take the plunge, wiggling our way in through the crowd and up to the bar. An elderly bartender raised his gigantic eyebrows at us. I didn’t know where to begin. “Um, como funciona?” I asked a little sheepishly. How does this work? “Funciona muy bien,” he answered with a broad smile. “Basically, I bring you food until you tell me to stop. Does that sound okay?” It certainly did. A minute later we each had a glass of house cava in hand, and, as u...