The choice to come here for a Sunday brunch was very random as I was not aware of Boqueria Fulton Market other than it had a Spanish flair based on their description of the restaurant on their page. I had not really looked at the menu beyond knowing that they served tapas and Spanish based food. Well after today, this made it on the rotation simply for the family style offering of brunch items, getting my own personal pitcher of cranberry mimosas and our wonderful server Raquel.
Once I saw the offerings for the family style serving for brunch, I wanted to try that, but The Doctor and BFF #1 didn't want to do it. So, I was pleasantly surprised that they allowed me and The Queen to do the family style offering while The Doctor and BFF #1 got regular entrées. The family style serving was $29.99 and well worth the price as there was plenty of food. This is the first place that I can remember that did not require the entire table to order the same thing and I loved that as The Queen and I got to explore the menu. For the family style option, you pick two tapas, three entrée tapas and final dish are the Churros clásicos.
For our two tapas we got the Albóndigas (beef and pork meatballs, tomato sauce, sheep's milk cheese, chives) and Croquetas (creamy croquettes with ham). The Albóndigas were served in this really lovely sauce that we ended up using on one of our entrées. The meatballs were "soft", as The Queen and I describe meatballs since she was a toddler. They were light and flavorful, tender to the point where they was almost had no give when using the fork to cut through it. The croquettes were served on top of what we think was an honey applesauce, which was sweet and a nice difference against the savory flavor of the croquette.
For our entrées, we got the Coca de Costilla (braised short rib flatbread, pickled baby peppers, Mahón and Manchego cheese, caramelized onion, Marcona almonds), Huevos Estrellados (shoestring French fries, truffle potato cream, Jamón Serrano, fried egg) and Boqueria B.E.C (mini scrambled egg sandwiches with bacon, Jamón Serrano, Mahón cheese, salsa verde, garlic allioli). All three dishes were very good. For the Boqueria B.E.C, I learned something new as I did not know that allioli (Spanish) was different from what most of think of as alioli (French). There was a subtle enough difference for me to notice. This dish was so good that The Queen and I thought about ordering an entrée size order, but we still had the other two items coming out. The flatbread was good as it came out hot and on point as I love short rib meat on just about anything. The blending of the pickled baby peppers, Mahón and Manchego cheese were just right. The Huevos Estrellados were interesting with that creamy potato truffle sauce. My only thing about this dish is I would have loved some more of that Jamón Serrano ham in the mix. With this dish, because of truffle sauce, I would recommend eating some of the fries with that first, so you experience the truffle flavor.
The Doctor and BFF #1 got the Huevos con Bistec (5 oz seared Outside Skirt steak, crispy potatoes, sunny side-up egg, mojo verde). I had a little of The Doctor's steak, potato and mojo verde sauce: steak was flavorful and tender, and that mojo verde sauce was very good. Potatoes were crispy and had a nice crunch to them but were soft on the inside.
To top off the meal, you had the option of getting unlimited Sangría (The Queen) or Mimosas (me). I started with a traditional mimosa for the first pass but went with cranberry juice for the remainder of the meal. Boqueria offered a red, white and rose for the Sangría, and The Queen got the rose one. That was really good and for me the first time I have seen a rose offering. Because we stuck with the same flavor, Raquel provided me and The Queen a small pitcher of our own drink, which was fine by me. I have always thought restaurants with this option should just do this and I was happy Boqueria.
Raquel was absolutely lovely. We sat outside and she took care of us. She was around enough to make sure we were okay without hovering. And as the place got busier, she did not disappear. She was quite bubbly and pleasant to chat with. And as I was a bubbles lady, she made a point of letting us know about a special they were offering at a discount price for a sparkling rose, which looked nice from what I could see at a table not too far from us, but I am glad I went with the unlimited cranberry mimosas.
The outside patio was nice to the point that The Doctor didn't mind dining outside. He is an indoor kitty and as rule does not like eating outside per se, but he enjoyed it as we were under a canopy and not in direct sunlight.
Parking was not an issue as there is a lot literally across the street on Halsted. I love the family style option for brunch but saw someone get the brunch paella and think I want to try that next time. read more