Note: Prices may be inaccurate, as this is from an online menu without a listed date…read more
I was here with one of my usual larger groups at this excellent Spanish, or rather Spain-ish, tapas restaurant, a good while back. The inside was a tad dark, and the staff seemed a bit overwhelmed, which was to be expected given our large group size and the various other tables they had to attend to. The food, overall, was excellent, with this being the first Spain-ish (last time I'll use this bad joke) spot that reminded me of the Ironbound in Newark. In terms of drinks, they have the usual sangria, wines, sherry, and some standard cocktails, but I went with something that's not commonly found in the city. That was the Tinto de Verano, a refreshing mix of red wine and lemon soda, which I believe was around $12. This is a more local drink from Spain, and I was happy to see it here. They also have the Basque drink Kalimotxo, a mix of red wine and Coca-Cola, for $9. They gave us some bread to begin with, which was munched on and soon used with their delicious sauces. As for the rest of the food, we stuck primarily to tapas, aside from a paella.
The first thing that arrived was unfortunately something that I couldn't eat, as I have a cephalopod allergy. This was the delicious-smelling Pulpo a la Gallega for $22, consisting of sliced boiled octopus with paprika, salt, and olive oil. The rest of the people loved it, and from serving it to some people, I could tell it was fork-tender.
Outside of the pulpo, we got two other seafood tapas. The $16 Vieras a la Casuela, or scallop casserole with red & green peppers, paprika, and olive oil, was delicious. There were plenty of plump scallops with a mild sweetness accentuated by the olive oil and paprika. The $14 Gambas al Ajillo, or prawns in garlic & white wine, was also excellent. The shrimp were cooked very nicely, and the garlic flavor was as strong as it should be.
One of the earlier things to arrive was, ironically, my least favorite. This was the $15 Pimientos de Piquillo Rellenos, or Piquillo peppers stuffed with tuna, egg, olives & vegetables. The dish was cool as expected, and while I liked the sauce, I didn't find the texture appealing. The flavor was a bit light for me as well.
Next came an excellent version of Tortilla Española for $13, a Spanish omelette with potatoes & onions. A lot of the other Spanish places mess up the texture, but this was perfectly soft and tender. There were plenty of potatoes in there as well, with the onions only mildly cooked down, which added a little bite.
There were also two dishes featuring Serrano ham. One was the tasty $13 Judías Salteadas con Jamón Serrano, or sautéed green beans with said ham. The green beans had a nice texture, and the salty ham added a pleasant bite. The other dish with this ham was the Garbanzos a la Española, which was slightly more expensive but also better. For $16, this consisted of roasted garbanzos sautéed with Serrano ham & chorizo. I was surprised I liked this more, as I usually don't like these beans much, but the mixture was very pleasant with the chorizo adding some nice spice.
We also ordered two other dishes with chorizo. First was the excellent Huevos al Antojo for $16 with cottage fries, egg, grilled chorizo, and red peppers. This almost felt like a fancy breakfast option with the thin-cut cottage fries having a nice texture, especially when mixed with the runny fried egg. The chorizo and red peppers added a necessary spice to this dish. Otherwise, there was the simpler Chorizo al Vino, or chorizo in wine sauce, for $14. This was as good as can be expected for such a plain dish, but it was still tasty.
Rounding out the tapas was the $9 Patatas Bravas, or spicy potatoes with a cooling white sauce, which was pretty good too. I've had this in plenty of places, and this was decent. I have liked the texture more in some other places, but it was still good and was plenty piquant.
Our remaining main dish was the $48 Paella Valencia, which had a mix of seafood and meat. The seafood included one of my allergens, but they removed it, so I was fine eating that dish. Otherwise, I believe the remaining ingredients, aside from the spices and peppers, were mussels, clams, shrimp, scallops, chicken, and chorizo. All the seafood inside was cooked nicely, and the rice had a good flavor. This was an excellent paella, and the portion size was quite large, still served in the large vessel it was cooked in.
The remaining dish was dessert, the $9 Tarta de Santiago, or Spanish almond cake, served with vanilla ice cream, which might have been an extra charge, but I'm not positive. The cake had a marzipan flavor and was lightly sweet. It was a satisfying end to the meal.
We had a very good meal here. No particular favorites, as everything was very tasty overall.
