Alcala, Midtown East - She says...

He's always good at motivating us to go out when we're about to give in to the temptation of Seamlessweb. It also helps that we have some very decent restaurants just a few blocks from home. We decided to go to Alcala on Friday night, a neighborhood Spanish tapas restaurant.

As I've mentioned before, small plates are my favorite way to eat. I love tapas in particular because it encourages everyone to try different dishes. We'd been to Alcala a few times before, so we ordered a mixture of favorites in addition to a few new dishes. Croquetas are usually a staple for us. At Alcala, the dish comes with both bacalao (dried salted cod) and ham croquettes. The ham croquettes are good, but it's the bacalao filling that's really special here. Extremely smooth and creamy, the bacalao is subtle but retains the distinct saltiness of the fish. The croquette "shell" is super crispy, which contrasts nicely with the creaminess of the filling. Another favorite of mine is the baby squid (chipirones) in squid ink, primarily because I really enjoy the flavor of the squid ink. The black ink-covered mounds don't make for the prettiest dish, but the chipirones are succulent and the squid ink is sweet and faintly fishy. It's even good as a dipping sauce for the warm house bread. The only meat dish of the meal were the grilled baby lamb chops (chuletitas), which were juicy and perfectly simple.

The llescas catalanas, pieces of toast rubbed with a tomato spread and covered with either anchovies or marinated salmon, was a new dish this time and certainly worth ordering again. I've only recently started to like anchovies, and I generally need something to balance their strong flavor. This dish matched the intensely salty fish with a fresh, cooling tomato spread on nicely toasted bread. The salmon, marinated in olive oil, was simple but also very tasty. The other new dish of the night were crepes stuffed with a Spanish cheese and shiitake mushrooms, topped with shredded jamon serrano. The cheese and mushroom filling was nice, but the crepe was eggy and chewy. So the overall bite was a bit bland and lacked texture.

We ended the meal with a trio of desserts: tarta de Arrese, leche frita, and what tasted like a chocolate mousse. The custard pie and chocolate mousse were good, and it was the first time I've tried leche frita. The leche frita, similar to the croquetas, had a crispy exterior shell and a gooey sweet milk filling. It was sweet, but not overwhelmingly so, and surprisingly very light. It would have paired perfectly with a latte, but unfortunately we were still working on finishing our wine. At least I know better for next time.


Alcala is not one of those trendy, chic tapas spots, which we didn't have the energy for after a long work week. There isn't any loud music, the decor is charming although slightly dated, and each dish's presentation is simple, plated with barely any garnish. The service at this restaurant is also quite special. Granted it was almost 10pm when we arrived to eat, so the dinner crowd was just finishing up, but the staff was warm and attentive without being awkward or intrusive. The restaurant's focus is clearly on the food and quality, comforting service. It's a great place for an easy, delicious meal.