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“Suba”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	Spanish	Lower East Side	Moderate	Great

MY DINNER AT SUBA
It was toward the end of my dinner at Suba that the conversation took a dramatic turn. We started dinner on a normal enough note. We had been drinking glasses of rosé cava and had already moved onto Txakoli—an effervescent and refreshing summer white from the Basque region and the conversation was going as you might expect from a table of four women. We had canvassed shoes, movies, men, sex, food, chefs, bosses, money, apartments, and vacations, not necessarily in that order. The meal was off to a great start. We had a plate of embutidos—pan con tomat (pressed and grilled bread rubbed with tomato and garlic, glistening with olive oil and sea salt) tagged up with three rosy piles of cured Spanish pork products: Serrano ham, salschichon, and chorizo. We devoured the alternately smoky and spicy sheets of meat with our hands.

A small tapas feast followed. There was the crudo—wide slices of stunning sushi grade red snapper topped with cheek puckering pickled beets, sour plums, candied pine nuts and grains of sea salt ($13). Then came the calamar y sandia ($10)—delicately salted, crepe-battered ringlets of crispy squid matched with pink chunks of juicy watermelon with a pumpkin seed oil vinaigrette ($10). And then the sweet summer tomato salad—luscious wedges of ripe late summer tomatoes steeping in a cool broth of herbaceous celery vinaigrette ($11). And there was also a skewer of lamb meatballs, tasting more Turkish than Spanish, but no matter. They were fantastic, served with a cool and creamy green sauce ($7).

While I was quite impressed with the food at this point, nothing prepared me for the bravas peludas ($9). They’re not your traditional patatas bravas (double-fried wedges of potato with spicy alioli). Nope, these were a step beyond the ordinary. These were sort of an updated, grown up tater tot. Perhaps more accurately, a tater tot on steroids. Let me explain. The core of these “tater tots” is a ball of hot and creamy mashed potato, and its robe is a wrapper fashioned from crunchy golden flakes and fringes of fried potato. The crunchy potato balls are then served piping hot in a spicy alioli (Spanish mayo). Let me suggest that a single-item operation by the name of Bravas Peludas, be opened post haste.

While the tapas we shared to start were really inspired—beautiful clean flavors flirting with cool and crunchy contrasting temperatur ... [more, click below]

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Posted: September 3, 2007

Other restaurants in Lower East Side :
+ Mojo   + WD-50   + Schiller's Liquor Bar   + Azul Bistro   + Barrio Chino   + 71 Clinton Fresh Food-- Closed   + Little Giant   + Kuma Inn   + Falai   + The Stanton Social   + The Tides   + Thor   + The Orchard   + El Bocadito-- CLOSED   + Bondi Road   + Rayuela   + Suba   + Bun (boone)   + Sorella   + The Fat Hippo   + Pulino's   

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