Tapas de España

[jhlurie]

David Corcoran yesterday reviewed this one and gave it a "Very Good".  But with the NY Times, it won't be available on the web site for about 2 weeks.

$*%#!!! I still haven't gotten there yet and now it's going to be mobbed. Ah well... my fault entirely. From what I've read, they deserve the business.

Even before the Times review the place was always mobbed. The big problem in the area has got to be parking though... in the long term that might actually help though, since non-locals will be a bit more hesitant to come back.

Me, I'll make sure to visit mid-week from now on.

[ngatti]

Here is the David Corcoran review from the NY Times.

FYI: Tapas de Espana

Nick

[thereuare]

Tried this place last nite (Sat) based upon recommendations here. Although i'm no expert in the field of Spanish food, i found it to be quite good, some dishes merely "good", some excellent.

There were just two of us so we decided to get 3 Tapas and 1 entree.

First we started with the complimentary soup. It was not the color of a soup that i would typically eat, but i found it good, although it wasn't hot (temperature wise). I asked what kind of soup it was, but didn't understand the name told to me. The 3 tapas we ordered were: shrimp in garlic sauce, shrimp in green sauce, and beef enpenadas.

The shrimp in garlic sauce was OUTSTANDING!!, and the overall winner of the evening. The dough on the outside of the beef enpanadas was also outstanding, and although i would prefer chicken (not on the menu), these too are HIGHLY recommended. The shrimp with green sause was "ok".

For an entree we split the chicken with rice, but asked for boneless chicken insted of how it's typically served which they were more than happy to do it for us (they seemed to be very accomodating). It was served piping hot and after one bite i joking told my wife, "Don't eat another bite... this will taste much better tomorrow." We were already full before the entree came, but we put a small dent in it and i would describe it as "good". However, my suspicion was correct, as when i had the leftovers for lunch today it was fantastic! I even ate some of it cold it was so good.

I concur with the above recommendations on the sangria as well. We had white (i can't drink red wine) and it was one of the best i've had.

Overall, it's nice to have this place nearby and i would sooner head here than into Newark for my next dose of Spanish food.

PS- we got there about 9pm, were told it would be about a 20 minute wait, and were offered a table in the bar area after about 10 minutes which we took. On the way out at about 10:30 there were a few open tables in the restaurant, but the bar area had a pretty good crowd going.

Edited March 16, 2003 by thereuare (log)

[phaelon56]

For others in North Jersey who prefer not to head into Ironbound.... there's a very good and reasonably priced Portuguese place in Lyndhurst called Teros Snack Bar. It is a restaurant, not a snack bar and I think the food's better than what I've typically had in Newark. Prices are quite reasonable. I recently had a tuna steak with mustard sauce - two huge hunks of perfectly cooked tuna and it was only $13 including vegggie (perfectly steamed broccoli) and sides (yellow rice and a few delicious hunks of potato). Their paella could be better in that the shrimp could be larger ans tastier but it's comparable to the paella in Ironbound but a few $$ cheaper.

Drawback is a small dining room that shares space with the bar - it can get noisy and smoetimes fols at the bar are smoking and the smoke drifts around. I was tod that they recently acquired the space next door and will soon open a separate dining room (non-smoking I presume).

It's on Ridge Road (Route 17 south) just south of the New York Avenue Intersection and not far from the train station. That's about 3/4 mile south of the Rte 3 intersection and across from the cemetery. On street parkign is generally plentiful.

Edited March 19, 2003 by phaelon56 (log)