In theory, staying in New York City on a summer weekend when everyone else is away should mean you have access to plenty of restaurants, free concerts and barbecue real estate in the park while everyone else fights for a parking space in the Hamptons. In reality, the city is just as crowded as ever. [...]

As mentioned, one of the best things at crazy-popular tapas spot Tia Pol is their deviled eggs sprinkled with smoked paprika, or pimenton. This secret ingredient of many Spanish dishes is made of peppers from the La Vera, Extremadura region of Spain. The peppers are slowly smoked over an oak fire, sometimes for weeks, then [...]

Just when you think the city may have tired of small plates or Spanish food, you go to a place like Tia Pol, established in 2004, and find it’s still mobbed. What is it about this formula that keeps bringing New Yorkers through the door? For one thing, Tia Pol is fun and lively, loud [...]

It’s been around for years now, but the tapas trend is still going strong, since small plates mean big profits for restaurant investors. To explain the trend further, I followed the example of Jessica Hagy’s Indexed and drew up this Venn diagram for you.

Mercat is the latest player to enter the tapas game. Chef Jaime [...]

A funny thing happened when I sat down to write a review of Boqueria: Frank Bruni decided to do the same thing. It’s never advisable to be behind the Times, especially when it comes to restaurant reviews. For one thing, I’ll probably never be able to get a table at Boqueria again. Frank Bruni’s review [...]