In this town we love us some small plates. Call ‘em tapas, dim sum, meze; just make them small, and they’ll disappear faster than a Philadelphia athlete up for contract renewal. As tapas race into the mainstream toward a future of McMuffin sliders, it’s fair to question when a good thing becomes too much of a good thing. Right now the trend shows no signs of slowing down. Here’s where to get your fill on something small.

Apamate
A tree grows in G-Ho, and its name is Apamate. This tree is majestic and tall, blooming with an umbrella of hot-pink flowers. It’s also native to Venezuela and isn’t particularly well suited to pollution and/or Philly pigeons. Fortunately, Apamate is also the name of a relaxed Northern Spanish joint serving Basque country pintxos in the shadows of Graduate Hospital. Beneath exposed ductwork and meandering track lights, co-owner and self-taught chef, Ane Ormaechea, is plating up these smaller-than-tapas tidbits derived from her Basque family’s recipes in her saffron-colored South Street shoebox: tangy tuna escabeche, thimbles of robust gazpacho served with dainty tea party spoons and tortilla Espanola, a potato-onion-garlic omelet paired with strong Intelligentsia coffee, a private-label Chicago roaster. From-scratch churros, hand-cranked from an imported churrera, are Apamate’s pièce de résistance. Get these sugared snakes of deep-fried dough with a mug of Venezuelan dark chocolate sauce that’s thick as Turkish coffee, or stuffed with sticky dulche de leche.

Tinto
When Tinto opened last winter, it proved that Jose Garces, Philly’s original ambassador of the Spanish cocina, is no one-act caballo. A recent expansion into the deserted space next door more than doubled seating, but we still heart the original wing’s lower-level lounge. Here, the buttercup-colored sofas flank broad tables that can safely accommodate several pintxos (North Spain's answer to tapas) at once without the imminent plate-overboard episodes. The surditos sampler comes in a long, slender plate, its dimples filled with gossamer potato chips in rich lobster creme, sweet figs wrapped in serrano, meaty Marcona almonds, silvery anchovy skewer around cantaloupe and baby Arbequina olives the size of marbles.

Sonam
Located in the sub-sidewalk space that previously housed Table and Next, Sonam gives global dim sum an Asian backdrop--river rocks, bamboo, lots of red--with plenty of style, from the sculptural water glasses with their concave equators to the hip staff in vintage Levis and fire-engine-red Chuck Taylors. Ironically, Sonam’s most simple tastes have the greatest payoff in flavor: wild-boar tartare with blood orange, curried chicken kebobs over chilled Israeli couscous, sesame-crusted yakitori steak and a playful riff on the BLT composed of sliced green tomatoes, salty pancetta and a clutch of lemony microgreens.

Ansill
Here's what we love: the casual vibe, the friendly service, the big windows that look out on Bainbridge. And there's the happy hours with $1 oysters, $3 Yards and $5 Prosecco. Ansill feels almost self-deprecatingly more like a neighborhood bar than one of Philly's finest examples of culinary excellence. Here's why Ansill's small plates work: They're precious but not pretentious, small but not small on flavor--think tuna with blood orange and mint, lamb osso bucco sandwiches, poppy-seeded sliders with heirloom tomatoes and, of course, the roasted bone marrow.