Socarrat Paella Bar
Summary
For this very special occasion, I had originally made a reservation for indoor dining at a Michelin restaurant. Unfortunately earlier this month, the governor and mayor disallowed indoor dining, so restaurants can only do outdoor dining for take out. This lovely night turned out to be around 31 degrees F (feels like 25F). They did set up heaters near each table, but it barely helps with the nasty wind chills. Despite this frigid day, let’s checkout the food we ordered.
The left was tinto de verano which was red wine with Sprite. As you can imagine, the boldness of the red wine was diluted with the sweetness and bubbling spirits of the Sprite. I thought this was pretty good, and I am glad I did not get Coca-cola with it.
The right was sangria de cava which is sparkling wine sangria. Originally, my partner wanted sangria with white wine, so this was in lieue of that.
Both drinks were good, but not sure if they were great choices for this very cold night.
The jamón ibérico is cured ham from a Spanish black foot pig which was acorn-fed and aged 36 months. It came with bread that had fresh tomato spread on it. The cured ham had a nice rich, savory taste to it and was slightly more salty than others. Despite its high fat content, it wasn’t that oily. When paired with the bread, it was quite delicious, albeit at a cost. We decided to splurge for this, but unless you’re a dry cured ham savant, this probably is not a necessary order.
The lomo de atún was grilled tuna, with fava bean sherry sauce, asparagus, and green peas. I normally do not care much about semi raw tuna, but this was pretty good. The outside of the tuna was grilled with some saltiness, and it had a nice flavor to it. The pureé it sat on had some sweetness to it and was good with the asparagus and the little peas.
The pulpo a la gallega was Galician style octopus, creamy potatoes, and paprika oil. The octopus came out super hot and had a very nice crunch to it. The oil was very flavorful and was a nice compliment to the crispyness of the octopus and mushyness of the potatoes. The thickness of the octopus leg was actually quite large, and we highly recommend getting this if you want good octopus.
The pescado y marisco paella came with shrimp, scallops, squid, mussels, cockles, white fish, snow peas, peppers, and tomato sofrito. Even though this was served in a shallow pan, it was more than enough for the 2 of us. All the seafood on here was quite fresh, and the char/crust of the rice at the edge of the pan was nice and crunchy. The fish was a very popular star because it was very soft and tender.
The flan came with passion fruit, pistachio crumble, and white chocolate coconut foam. There wasn’t anything particularly special about the flan, but we thought the passion fruit syrup with the pistachio crumble was a delicious complement.
Despite it being cold, the service was nothing short of outstanding. They made sure we were as comfortable as we could be, and they were very attentive. We sat in the back where the patio was, and it was very pretty.
Final Verdict
There were two things that stood out for us tonight. The paella and octopus tonight, thus far, was the best we’ve had in the city for Spanish cuisines. Note that there are 3 locations, and we visited the Chelsea location. If you’re in the mood for Spanish paellas and you’re around the area, definitely don’t hesitate to try this place out.
Yelp Jabs
Down side: if you plan on leaving a cake to cut, there is a $5pp cutting fee which I see almost as robbery so if you’re celebrating, maybe consider getting a dessert? Churros might be good.
Granted, some places charge a $30 cork charge. Isn’t that a robbery too?
I will recommend staying away from the octopus the one we had was tasteless.
Octopus generally doesn’t have much taste unless you have the palette for seafood in general. This elitist is probably referring to the seasoning, but sometimes that’s difficult to distinguish. Some people like their dishes overly salted, and others like me prefer seafood on the blander side.