Restaurant Review: Manzanilla

After tasting some of Dani Garcia's delicious food at Celebrate Flatiron Chefs! two weeks ago, I was excited to try it out with three of my girlfriends. The space is quite large, so it did not feel busy though it was not as if it was dead. We sat in a booth next to the window looking out at 26th street, and the bar separated our table from the main dining room. This was great because the volume was low and we were able to converse with no problem. Service was fine. Nothing to rave about, but nothing to complain about either. The waitress was nice and answered all of our questions and made a few recommendations. After making a few difficult choices (everything on the menu looks great), we decided on 4 tapas dishes, the paella, and a side. The paella takes about 40 minutes, so it worked out well to start with the tapas and have the paella as our main course.

First out was the famous Montaditos de Rabo de Toro, which is the steamed brioche buns with pulled oxtail, mushrooms, and kale. I tried these at Celebrate Flatiron Chefs! and the ones there were about triple the size as at the restaurant, but equally delicious. The waitress suggested we get two orders because one came with two buns and there were four of us, so we did. This was probably the favorite of the table. The bun is so soft and slightly sweet and the oxtail is tender and savory. This time, since they were smaller versions (like sliders), the oxtail aioli on top was just the right amount.

Montaditos de Rabo de Toro

At about the same time, the Pulpo Con Pipirrana came out. This is octopus salad with cherry tomatoes, apples, oranges, red pepper vinaigrette, and smoke pimenton oil. I love a good octopus salad, and this was just that. I loved how each piece was piled with fruit and tomato and the vinaigrette and smoke pimenton oil were drizzled on. I really appreciated the smokey flavor from the pimenton oil, which is made from paprika. I think it balanced the dish without being overwhelming. This was just a light, fresh, colorful dish and I would definitely order it again.

Pulpo Con Pipirrana

Also at the same time came the Croquetas de Sepia, which is squid ink and cuttlefish croquettes with citrus aioli. These were little fried balls with squid ink stained rice inside and had a little chunk of cuttlefish in the middle. These were extremely rich, but also very salty. It was pretty heavy, even for being small, because of the crispy fried exterior. The aioli was fine, but not memorable. I liked these, but I am not sure I would order them again. Also, we all got black tongues immediately after eating it, very cute.

Croquetas de Sepia

Inside of Croquetas de Sepia

The next tapas dish to come out was the Berenjenas Y Broccolini Frito. This was another table favorite, with roasted eggplant, crispy broccolini, honey, and herb yogurt dressing. It came with two strips of incredibly soft eggplant that was sweet, almost caramelized tasting. The broccolini was roasted until very crispy and brittle and savory. It reminded me of baking kale in the oven, but way better. The two textures balanced each other very well. My only complaint is that I wish there was more eggplant.

Berenjenas Y Broccolini Frito

Now for the main event, Paella de Bogavante. This paella came out in a huge pan with crispy, golden brown rice sticking to the bottom (but not so much that we couldn't scoop it out), and a huge grilled lobster laying across it. There was crispy broccolini, like from the eggplant dish, on top which was great. I could eat an entire plate of that broccolini. So we knew that the paella was also supposed to have cuttlefish and shrimp in it, but we really had to dig to find it. They were chopped up into very small pieces and mixed in with the rice. I guess we were expecting paella with the seafood all still in their shells, or at least whole, so this was different. Once I dug out the rest of the seafood I was a happy camper. This was a really great dish to share.

Paella de Bogavante

The waitress had suggested we get a side of veggies to go with the paella so we went with Calabacines de Verano Salteados. This is sauteed summer squash with crispy onions, cumin, and mint. I liked the mint with this, it really added something refreshing. I also like the crispy onions as a textural component. This dish was otherwise nothing special.

Calabacines de Verano Salteados

Overall, we had a delightful meal. There was nothing that we didn't like, but I would say that the brioche buns and the eggplant dishes were my personal favorite. Will definitely be returning!