“Not all Little Spain spaces start at the same time. The Manolo bar and the beach bar at the entrance start at eight in the morning with the first breakfasts; the kiosks at eleven and our three restaurants an hour later,” my friend Carles Tejedor, executive chef and partner of JAG (José Andrés Group), told me elatedly. “Annex we have the Spanish dinner which begins at eleven and continues until ten at night uninterrupted, a magical place.”
I had met Tejedor, José Andrés’ right-hand man, in the lobby of the venue, on the ground floor of the 10 Hudson Yards skyscraper, west of Manhattan, the new neighborhood where this outpost of Spanish gastronomic culture is housed. I remembered my first visit at the beginning of 2019, just before the inauguration, and I found the evolution surprising.
“Manolo bar symbolizes the essence of Spanish bars. We serve breakfast with pieces of pastries that we make daily. We make our own ensaimadas, cocas and xuxos. We offer cream tartlets and crystal bread with sobrasada. We import most of the ingredients from Spain. José is uncompromising regarding the authenticity of each recipe.” Suddenly I visualized a poster with illustrations behind the counter of the nearby pastry shop. How funny! I commented out loud: “How to order coffee in Spain“(”How to order coffee in Spain”).
Are you really capable of preparing coffee in so many different ways? What sells more, iced coffee, black, stained, cut, bonbon coffee, with milk, Viennese with cream or Americano? “It depends on the time of day, we even have coffee with horchata, and even Cola Cao with milk, which Americans love,” Tejedor responded enthusiastically.
As we continued along that food hall Iberian Tejedor interspersed comments. “In this corner we promote the culture of Spanish ham and cheeses. We detail their origins and the sensory characteristics of each type. As you will see, the hams’ hooves are cut in compliance with current health regulations in the United States. The first time you see a piece without its identity card, it seems strange to you, then you get used to it.”
What can you buy to take home? I asked him again. “Almost everything, we have many products for sale, although all of our activity is focused on restaurants. In La Plaza Central we try to evoke the life of a Spanish town. It is surrounded by stalls where diners, on a self-service basis, purchase each of our specialties, transport them to their tables and enjoy them in a festive atmosphere.”
And the bar? “A symbol of Spanish gastronomic culture. We evoke the Pinocho bar, Quim de la Boquería, Gambara in San Sebastián, La Ardosa in Madrid, El Becerrita in Seville, Nou Manolín in Alicante, and so many other great Spanish bars.”
Where are the portions and tapas paid for? “In every position. Look at that corner that simulates a food trucks. From that cart come the croquettes that we make by the hundreds every day. The same as the bravas with Albert Adrià’s sauce, amazing. And the churros, with a striated profile, that we knead at home and fry on the spot.” They resemble those of Pretty in sight in A Coruña, I commented in a section. I note that the prices are very moderate, I continued, in relation to those of this city that are so excessive, the portion of croquettes, 13 dollars, and the bravas, 9.50.
“Everything is very thoughtful. Apart from the international clientele that frequents us, we also serve Spanish residents or tourists visiting. It is easy for them to find the prices somewhat high at first impression, but they quickly perceive our moderation in relation to the standards of this metropolis.”
Do Americans understand Galician empanadas? “You do not even imagine it. We make the dough and the fillings, like almost everything. We make them in three types, spinach, tuna and meat.”
And the sandwiches? “The same. We fill them with chistorra, sausages, squid like those in the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, apart from the typical mixed sandwich or bikini“.
My surprise increased in tone when in a striking space I discovered a label that was as provocative as it was unexpected: “Txule Burger($32). If spaniards had invented the Burger…” What do the burgers look like in Little Spain? burgers txuletas Basques matured for 60 days and passed through a Josper? Are they not a betrayal of the spirit of the market? “We were forced to make some concession to North American culture,” he answered me convinced. “We make them of two types, both with Spanish products that improve them and bring them closer to the essence of our market. One type of Iberian pork smashed (19 euros) chafada, challenged, delicious. And another spectacular one with meat txuleta of matured meat.” It didn’t take me long to confirm Tejedor’s words when I nibbled portions of both shortly after.
“We have a section dedicated to salads like those found in Spain, in addition to traditional gazpacho, which has achieved notable success.” We make potato tortillas at the pace dictated by demand. We fry the potatoes with the onion, beat the eggs and set them instantly. With the octopus (18 euros) the same. We boil it in copper pots following the guidelines of pulpeiras in Galicia and serve it with potatoes, paprika and olive oil. We don’t even lack the chopsticks for the tasting as the Galician canons dictate.”
Two steps further I found the Mar restaurant whose fish and seafood counter, limited in content, acts as a lure from a distance. “One of our problems is the supply of marine products. Nothing like our country, although we try to get closer. The red prawns come to us from Spain, we serve them boiled or grilled. Fortunately, we have found others in Hawaii with larger heads, quite good, which we prepare with garlic. We have cod and sea bass dishes. The small oysters come from Maine, we serve them with pickle.” Do I have to make a reservation to eat at Mar? I asked him again. “It is not necessary, there is always a table because the turnover is high.”
Adjacent to Mar, the Leña restaurant, a generic name that in Little Spain groups together those preparations in which fire defines the essence of each recipe. It includes paellas that are prepared in plain sight on trivets over bonfires, grilled steaks and an oven where suckling pigs are roasted in the Segovian style. In a refrigerated display case, the striking cuts of Spanish matured red meat are visible. “We do everything on the grill or over a wood fire, we don’t hide anything. We serve portions of the large paellas in the Plaza and the smaller ones we reserve for the restaurant. We use rice from Molino Roca. We are super rigorous. “You can taste a steak of the best Spanish meat as if you were sitting at a steakhouse in the Basque Country, with candied piquillo peppers (150 euros).”
The gourmet apotheosis awaited us in the pastry shop. “We offer horchatas, ice cream and Santiago tart, mini croissants, xuxos, ensaimadas, cheesecakes, palm trees, rice pudding and nougat. All our classic sweets have a place in this corner, including the pink panther, the tocinillos de cielo, the gypsy arms, the cardinal – a typical meringue from the Pastisseria Turull in Terrasa -, the custard with María cookies and the burnt rice pudding Asturian style. Among our best sellers are the xuxos, fried and filled with cream. At first they didn’t work, but after the article he dedicated to us The New York Times “Their demand has skyrocketed.”
Tejedor had saved my visit to the adjacent Spanish Diner for last. “You already know that diners in New York they are those places where you can eat all day long. Informal kitchen spaces and casual atmosphere. Our version is wonderful, the transposition of a Spanish food house. Look at the labels on our dishes: stewed chicken; salad; Cuba style rice; cod with ratatouille; broken eggs, beef fricandó and stewed lentils, among others. The tripe, which we assumed would not work, are exciting, alone or on potato omelet. Look at that table. A whole family in which each one eats different things, a mixed sandwich, a fried egg with garlic rice, and an egg with blood sausage. They eat lunch on a foosball table while watching the big screen television where the US Open Tennis in New York is currently being broadcast. And all this in an unbeatable place. Right at the end of the High Line, the elevated park on the old train track, one of the tourist attractions of the Big Apple.”
Sitting at a table I did a tasting of tapas and portions that I had chosen from different stands, most of them of a more than notable average level. Magnificent rice with ribs (35 euros); excellent patatas bravas (mixed, due to the addition of aioli); The potato omelettes with onion are very good (whole 27 euros, skewer 9); the garlic prawns (32 euros) are correct; The empanadas are succulent in all their versions, and the Asturian-style rice pudding is wonderful. I even had the strength to try the tripe with chickpeas in which there was plenty of red shrimp that accompanied them.
Before saying goodbye, I greeted part of the team responsible for Little Spain, just those who support its framework on a daily basis: Nicolás López, culinary director of the complex; Stacy Lasprogato, director of operations and Jordi Andrés, José’s brother, who acts as brand ambassador (brand ambassador).
Little Spain – José Andrés, who has the support of Ferran and Albert Adrià, has repeated it on numerous occasions – is not a business, but a cultural mission of Spanish gastronomy in the United States. Without official financial aid of any kind, in this 3,500 square meter enclave, a culinary identity is defended with as much passion as a desire for perfectionism. Rigor in the dissemination of a background of flavors with intelligent gestures of adaptation to North American habits. The foreign and the local subtly overlapped in an ambitious and commendable project.
#Spain #Spanish #market #York #coffee #horchata #tripe #popular