When we opened on West 19th Street in 2006, pan con tomate was $5 on the menu, menu that earned us two stars from The New York Times and changed the way the city thought about tapas. Some of the people who dined with us back then are still regulars.
Twenty years in, some dishes earn their way back. Espinacas a la catalana is one of them — an original menu classic that returns this spring exactly when the season calls for it.
“A la Catalana” means Catalan-style, and this dish reflects one of the most distinctive threads in that regional kitchen: the pairing of sweet and savory in a single preparation.
There’s a moment every spring when the bar program shifts. The stirred, spirit-forward drinks of winter give way to something fresh, chilled, shaken — herbal, citrusy, built for afternoons that refuse to end. The patio fills. The afternoon stretches. The bar delivers.
Boqueria was built at the farmer’s market.
Union Square in New York City, early mornings, whatever showed up that week. A chef walking the stalls. Something catches their eye — not a concept, not a trend — just a beautiful product that begged for a home on the menu.
Somewhere in the Parte Vieja of San Sebastián, behind a door with no sign, a group of men is arguing about bacalao. Not the restaurant down the street. Not the chef on television. They playfully debate the cod they are about to cook, right now, for each other, in a kitchen that belongs to all of them and none of them.
