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“Txikito”


  Occasion: Cuisine: Area: Cost: Rating:
  Night Out Spanish Chelsea Moderate Great

I don’t know if they do Bar Mitzvahs in Basque country, but if they do, and the smorgasbord is anything like the marvelous pintxos and share plates served at the newly opened Txikito, I think I’d have a full-time occupation as a Bar Mitzvah Crasher. Ditto weddings, come to think of it. My culinary dance card would be full. Tixikito (say Chee kee toe), which means “little” in the Basque language of Euskera, opened a few months ago in a row of rather bland non-descript shops that resembles a strip mall in New Jersey (Jim Lahey’s pizza parlor from heaven, Co., occupies the anchor corner store). The restaurant serves the native cuisine of one of its chefs, Eder Montero, who was born in Basque country. Eder, along with his wife, chef Alex Raij, wowed many of us at Tia Pol and then El Quinto Pino, and they’re continuing their reign of truly inspired Spanish cooking at Txikito.

Their first solo venture smacks of Basque authenticity, with its cozy U-shaped bar where cider, Txocoli (the fizzy brisk white wine from the Basque), Zurracapote (a wine based cocktail), and Zuritos (mini beers indigenous to the region) are poured. The tight space around the bar offers a slender ledge to lean on and wait (hooks for coats and purses make things orderly) while drinking and noshing. It may take awhile as the weathered pine dining room only seats 34, but you’ll probably meet a few new friends at the bar who’ll volunteer their list of must-have plates from a menu that includes well over two dozen items divided between Pintxoak (Basque canapés), Hotzak (cold plates) and Beroak (hot plates).

Your dinner should traverse all of these categories, and might even come to resemble a Bar Mitzvah buffet, though one of a family not terribly concerned with notions of being Kosher.  If you love pigs in a blanket, the guilty pleasure hors d’oeurve of the buffet (I see them as the edible equivalent of Reality TV), you’ll be advised to start with Alex and Eder’s txikxiki: tight little baguette torpedoes piped with spicy chorizo hash and deep fried so that you crunch through the bread to meet a soft spicy tapenade of chorizo. No mustard needed. The Basque Bar Mitzvah of my dreams would also include their brilliant take on artichoke and spinach dip. For a snack called “tutera,” ($7) spinach is replaced with (what else?) jamon, and instead of a bowl of steamy cheesy dip with chunks of bread o ... [more, click below]

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Other restaurants in Chelsea :
+ Matsuri   + La Bottega   + Tia Pol   + Bombay Talkie   + Cookshop   + D'Or Ahn: THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED   + Buddakan   + Crema   + InTent: THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED   + Trestle on Tenth   + Klee   + El Quinto Pino   + Socarrat   + Txikito   + Co. (Company)   


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