[Pigging by Wilfrid: June 22, 2015]
Maybe it's the time of year, but after a run of more-or-less serious dining (Chevalier--more; Beautique--less), we seem to have entered those hazy hot days where day-trips are succeeded by parties, parties by barbecues, barbecues by beach jaunts, and where eating dissipates into consumption of passed hors d'oeuvres, tapas, and snacks on paper plates.
And so I go with the flow: here's a collage of the last week (and I see more of this coming). Oh don't worry, that's not a production still from True Detective 2. It's a novel way to eat pizza.
Scroll down for Donostia, Maiden Lane, and Marcha: East Village Tapas.
That's from a business-related event, where the catering was by Marcel Duchamp. No, really. Okay, but the thing about serving pizza this way, cute though it is, is that the pizza can't be hot and moist.
No such problem with the nifty wall of hot-dogs--actually here put to use containing a series of different sausages, featuring mushrooms and shrimp as well as meat.
Sadly, I neglected to expose the meat before taking this photo of the Breezy BBQ pulled pork sandwich ($7), eaten after working up an appetite in the Atlantic Ocean. There was plenty of meat too, tender, nicely smoky; just successful 'cue.
And how about an East Village tapas crawl? Yes, it's now possible.
Donostia, Maiden Lane, and Marcha: East Village Tapas
I complained for years that the Spanish tapas experience wasn't being replicated in New York. Sure, we had plenty of nice restaurants serving tapas-based meals--Casa Mono, Tia Pol, La Boqueria. Places which really assumed you'd make a special journey (probably a reservation) and spend the evening with them. Yes, El Quinto Pino was an exception--more like a place you'd drop by for half an hour, a glass of wine and a snack. But it wasn't cheap.
Over the last year, the East Village of all places has sprung a number of places where you really can do the tapear thing--wandering from one to the next spontaneously, grazing on whatever looks good. There's Huertas, of course--the front bar, at least. Before that was Donostia. Maiden Lane is just a step from there. And now we have Marcha Cocina, in the former Arcane space on Avenue C.
A couple of us visited three of those four on a recent evening. Donostia is far and away the best and most authentic of them, but there's no need to spend the whole night there. Kitchenless Maiden Lane reproduces a version of the canned seafood bar, which can be a refined option in Barcelona (see Quimet i Quimet). Marcha is the least authentic (the staff trends toward Dominican, and there's a Latin inflection to the menu.
For sherries, cavas, sidras, vermuts, and Spanish wine, Donostia is just terrific. No wonder it's hosting the opening party for Sherry Fest this week. It doesn't serve destination food--let's be clear about that--but it does serve tapas you might eat in Spain.
Architecturally complicated tarteletas of sea urchin pâté with pickled chili and a sliver of octopus, or tuna with sweet pepper and aioli. Montaditos of ham and baby eels with sun-dried tomato.
At dimly lit Maiden Lane, we passed over the delicious but combative cod liver (it can make you hurry to a restroom), and tried the scallops in a rich, tomato-based paprika sauce.
Like all the cans, it's generously partnered with a hunk of bread, good butter, sea salt, and a really nicely dressed parsley salad. The cans--and it's a long list--typically come at around $12-$18, but they're suitable for two to share. Look out, though. There may be a good reason to pay $65 for a can of cockles, but I can't think of one right now.
Having said Marcha is the least authentic of these places, I have to admit it's in a sense the most tipico, in that you get the hackneyed classics, but competently made.
Patatas bravas in a mild, rose sauce. Dense, garlicky albondigas. Best, I thought, the overtly Latin-influenced platano y pollo croquetas, crisply reminiscent of alcapurrias. If amontillado is not your poison, you drink refreshing draft Estrella at Donostia or Marcha; American craft beers at Maiden Lane.
There are worse ways to spend a casual evening.
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