Boqueria LLC   

53 W 19th St
New York, NY 10011
212-727-1548
www.boquerianyc.com

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Chef Seamus Mullen had already fallen in love with the food market 'El Mercado de la Boqueria', near where he worked and lived in Barcelona, by the time Suba's Yann de Rochefort approached him about a collaboration. The pair opened this evocative and regional tapas 'cervezeria' partly because, despite the wine-and-small-plate popularity, for every one Spanish restaurant in Manhattan there are still 50 French and 100 Italian. Anchored by a long central communal table and a stone tapas bar, the atmosphere is lively and conducive to sharing the sharable small plates. Order a lot and pass it on: cojonudo is fried quail egg and chorizo on toast, txipirones is baby squid and pa de fetge is boar terrine with candied almonds. Or be selfish and go for raciones (larger entrees) like the suquet, a fisherman's fare of monkfish, clams, potatoes, tomato and saffron. The place has a buzz about it, the kind where savvy twenty- and thirty-somethings sip sangria with well-traveled older couples and bask under the glow of a European sun.