When restaurateurs promise to “bring downtown uptown,” count on a sign in the window months later saying, “prime retail available.”
But Manhattan’s third Boqueria “tapas bar,” recently launched on the Upper East Side, does channel the easygoing, Barcelona-inspired vibe from the mini-chain’s Flatiron and Soho locations. And it’s likely to be with us for a long, long time.
It looks so much like the other Boquerias, and the crowd’s so stylish (young women in capes arriving after 10 p.m.!), I forgot I was on Second Avenue in the 70s. It looks much like its predecessors: high-top and communal tables warmly lit by Edison bulbs and mirror-reflected, amid warm beige brick walls and wood plank floor. There’s enough elbow room to enjoy the sexy conviviality of a tapas house in northern Spain without the pain.
I’ve had a grudge against Barcelona ever since I went there to visit its famed Boqueria market and found it closed for an obscure citywide festival.
But I won’t hold it against executive chef Marc Vidal for hailing from the Catalan capital. His white-tiled open kitchen wheels out affordable, crowd-pleasing dishes (tapas $5 to $14, larger plates $13 to 19) from a menu predictably organized into tapas, composed raciones and a shifting “market” lineup. Although not mind-blowingly original, it’s turned out with fine raw materials and attention to detail.
Salt is restrained: Vidal is not cooking for boozers needing to be made thirsty for the next drink. Nor is it aimed at timid uptown tastes. Spices and herbs in the air, garlic especially, ambush delighted locals the moment they step in. They come through most strongly in dishes cooked a la plancha.
Pimenton, smoked Spanish paprika, lend a dusky mood to grilled octopus and squid. The plancha and pimenton similarly flattered pato con lentejas, Hudson Valley duck breast served with luscious puy lentils.
Even better was raya al ajillo — skate plancha-seared to a silken texture, in a pan brimming with toasted garlic, crunchy almonds and capers and sparked by piquillo peppers.
Marvelously nutty bomba rice was the base for strong paella de mariscos. Phantom lobster stock is mostly absorbed before the rice comes out of the oven to be topped with shellfish and monkfish, but its essence pervades the dish. Sadly, the pan didn’t stay on the stove long enough to produce enough socarrat — the crunchy rice that should be one of the classic’s pleasures.
There are ordinary items as well— like mushroom and porcini cream flatbread and steamed mussels in thin white wine broth. But although the new Boqueria breaks little new ground in the emerging Spanish landscape, it’s revolutionary for the Spanish-deprived Upper East Side. Bienvenido al barrio!
