Dining in Spain (a.k.a., Dining at Tia Pol)

Whenever I encounter restaurants where numerous reviews expound upon the “epic” waits, I always wonder if any place could be worth such a wait. However, at one particular restaurant in Chelsea, Manhattan, we decided to brave the wait, based on the rave reviews, and some personal recommendations from a Jodi and a Tom, both fellow barflies at our local favorite in Adams Morgan, Washington DC, Cashions Eat Place. Therefore, as planned, we arrived at Tia Pol, at 205 10th Avenue last night at approximately 8:15 PM.

As we walked up, we noticed it seemed to be about the size of a closet, and was packed to the gills with people sipping sangria. The hostess gave us a wait time of 1 hour and 15 minutes. Desperate to sit down after a day of hiking around Manhattan, we gave her my phone number, and peeked into the next door restaurant Isakaya Ten. There we found a wonderful and chatty bartender, and a unique quirk for regulars: you can order a whole bottle of Shochu from their extensive list, and if you don’t finish it, you can put your name on it and have it for the next time you visit. Our hour wait was therefore spent mercifully having a lovely glass of Shochu in air-conditioned comfort, before the main event…an amazingly authentic meal at Tia Pol.

There are very few seats in this little restaurant, and the menu is one laminated page long or small plates, with the daily specials written on a chalkboard behind the bar. The wine list has a broad range of prices on excellent Spanish wines, and the staff is very knowledgeable about each of the wines and dishes available. After our preferred Rioja was unavailable, our waiter recommended a 2003 Laurona Montsant, from the Priorat region of Catalonia. 50% Garnacha, 25% Merlot, 15% Syrah, and 10% Cabernet, and aged for a year in French Oak, it was well balanced, light, and hinted of stewed fruits. A perfect wine for the broad range of flavors we were about to embark on. Everything we saw looked excellent, but here is the list of tapas we ate, representing a broad range of flavors and textures:

1. Montadito de crema de habitas con beyos: a fava bean puree, with just a hint of garlic on toasts, drizzled with excellent extra virgin olive oil (we had them hold the beyos cheese, as it is a cow’s milk cheese, and I am allergic)
2. Gildas: ondarroan anchovies, pickled peppers, and green olives on little martini skewers. It was the perfect little snack, and I’m dreaming of making a martini using these…
3. One of the daily specials, four perfectly small slices of grilled rare white tuna served chilled with a cilantro, almond, and olive oil pesto, and a white bean salad of beans, onions, and olive oil. Eaten alone, the tuna was rather bland, but eaten together, the three elements complimented each other perfectly.
4. Paquetitos de jamón con alcachofa: crushed artichoke hearts mixed with anchego cheese and wrapped into three perfect little triangles of Serrano ham. It was a lovely combination of creamy-ness and salt
5. Piquillos rellenos de ensaladilla rusa: what I would consider one of the highlights of the meal, four small roasted red sweet peppers, stuffed with a puree of potato, garlic, and pimento, topped with shredded pickled white tuna, and served with a salad of watercress. It was at once creamy, tangy, and bitter, and served at the midpoint of the meal was the perfect pallet cleanser after the heaviness of the grilled tuna and the ham
6. Granicha: charred baby green long peppers, simply tossed in salt, were at once bitter and salty, and I can see these served at a bar with some almonds as a nice accompaniment with a cold beer on a hot day.
7. Navajas y almejas: razor clams and cockles, which were perfectly cooked and tender in white wine, garlic, parsley, and butter. We must have gone through a whole loaf of bread sopping up the broth
8. And finally for dessert, we chose a cheese plate including Valdeon (a cow/sheep’s milk blue cheese), Manchego (a creamy lightly aged sheep’s milk), and Garrotxa (a wonderfully stinky goat cheese). Also included on the platter were roasted marcona almonds, lightly candied and spiced walnuts, and the best preserved red cherries I have ever had.

It was a truly decadent evening, with the only downside being the wait. Needless to say, next time I am in New York City, I will be returning for another authentic Spanish treat!