Tapas, Tapas! I Would Eat Them Anywhere!
RESTAURANT: El
Quinto Pino
DATE: June 17, 2014LOCATION: 401 West 24th Street, 9th Ave.
So far, on my gastronomic adventure, whenever I've eaten
somewhere I really enjoyed, I couldn't wait to write & share the foodie
experience. Last month, our little group
went to El Quinto Pino, an intimate
and cute Spanish tapas restaurant in Chelsea.
This time, the experience was quite different. EVERYTHING we ordered was just so delicious,
it (almost) leaves me speechless. Although
I love a good meal, my food vocabulary palette just cannot describe or dissect
thoroughly the tapas goodness.
Everything was just so tasty, yummy and gratifying... I could end this
blog post right here and say it's an open & shut case: Good food, try
everything, order to your hearts' content!
But of course, it wouldn't be me without giving the extensive long of
it, so here it goes :)
We first sat at the small bar in the front and drank a
robust red sangria. When the rest of our
group arrived, we moved towards the back to the dining room. This is the list of all (or most) of the
tapas that I can remember.
- Huevos Rellenos (deviled eggs)
- Crispy creamy Serrano ham croquettes
- Nuestras Bravas (signature rough cut potatoes with spicy aioli)
- Fideúa- Valencian toasted noodle paella, shrimp, squid, aioli
- Torreznos- Castillian cracklin’ bag of bacon!
- Tortilla Española (Classic egg and potato omelet)
- Calamarala Plancha- Calamar,squidjus, parmesan cheese, black garlic
- Uni Panini- Sea urchin sandwich
- Bocadillo de Calamar- Flash fried squid po’ boy, spicy aioli, lettuce, tomato
- Lomo- House cured pork loin sandwich, melted cheese, piquillo pepper
It's almost unfair to highlight my favorites, since there
really can't be any favorites here... everything is worth ordering! However, there were dishes I was more than
eager to order & eat another round of (and that we did!)
The huevos rellenos are not your everyday homemade deviled
eggs. The velvety yolk is topped with a
creamy green sauce. And what is a
Spanish tapas restaurant without ham croquettes? (Note: one order has only 2 croquettes, so you would definitely need more than 1 plate!) These Serrano ham croquettes were definitely
one of the more smooth and creamy croquettes I've ever had. I think Dr. Seuss must've been inspired by a
trip to Spain... Because I do like them,
for sure I am, I would eat them here or there, I would eat them anywhere! I do so like green (deviled) eggs and ham
(croquettes)! They are so good, so good
you see!
Up until now, Boqueria in Flatiron had my favorite patatas
bravas. While Las Ramblas in the West
Village has some good tapas, their version was mostly patatas, not so much
bravas. It's hard to mess up a good
potato dish, so El Quinto Pino doesn't disappoint. If anything, they surpass 'just good' for a
standard Spanish potato dish and quite possibly edges out Boqueria's potatoes. The potatoes are fried to crispy perfection
and sprinkled with red pepper... but
what gives El Quinto Pino the extra brownie points (Mmm brownie) is that they
douse plenty of spicy aioli sauce to ooze and drip onto every piece of
potato.
Speaking of aioli sauce... Ahhhh the Fideúa. I think, no, I KNOW I had reached noodle
noshing nirvana when I chowed down this toasted noodle paella! This is a unique tapa that I never had
before. The Asian in me was really
curious about the combination of noodle + paella. The noodles were cut short but I can't even
complain about that. This dish married 2
of my food favorites: noodles & aioli!!!
The shrimp and squid were merely pleasant precursors before stabbing my
fork relentlessly at this noodle heaven.
As the self-proclaimed Noodle Nosher, this was subjectively my favorite
of the night, as it is one dish I don't think you can find at every tapas
restaurant.
The
torreznos are a bag of little bacon chips, so if you're a bacon lover, go for
it! The bacon fanatics in our company
went for a second round. I like bacon
but one bag was enough for me to nibble on.
We only had 1 plate of the tortilla española, which is a Spanish staple,
so this can be found anywhere. It was
one of the better tortillas I've had though.
The calamarala plancha might be the only dish I would have passed on,
not because it wasn't good, but because of how small the dish is to share with
our group. And that's saying a lot as
tapas already are literally small plates.
As for the sandwiches, the sea urchin was the least favorite around the
table. The texture of the sea urchin
wasn't a crowd pleaser. I think the
horseradish-like sauce made it a make-it-or-break-it deal. The lomo pork loin sandwich was satisfying. The bocadillo de calamar is probably the
safest sandwich to order when you love fried food with creamy mayo.
Bottom Line: Cozy and comforting food. Try anything and everything that catches your eye & speaks to your stomach. More than likely
it will be a hit.
Happy Noshing, Jeanne
Happy Noshing, Jeanne
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