No Spanish dish captures the imagination more than paella. Everything about it feels exotic: the wide, shallow pan; the saffron-laced rice; the head-on shrimp, clams, and mussels. But to a Spaniard, it’s comfort food—a communal dish to be shared with friends and family. At Boqueria we recommend one of our paellas to almost every table. A meal that starts with a few tapas and ends with a big satisfying pan of paella is hard to beat.

Crackling top and bottom, succulent goodness in the center: that’s our seafood paella. What makes it so great? Let us break it down…