This is one of the restaurants I selected when my mother and niece was visiting us here in NYC in September 2022. I was looking for a restaurant near the theater district, but not one of those tourist trap type places. The menu at Boqueria looked enticing, and it was close enough to the theater we were going to after lunch.
The interior was elegant, spacious, and looked almost like some kind of art space with that impressive ceiling. The entrance had a very high ceiling with a large window, bringing in loads of light. The fully stocked bar was right in the middle, taking center stage. We got one of their booth seatings on the side, roomy and comfortable.
Boqueria is a “Barcelona-inspired tapas bar serving a menu of Spanish classics and market-driven seasonal specials.” Sounds great to me! We decided to order a few Tapas plates to share. The first one was Tomates Mallorquinas ($14), made with Market Tomatoes, Mahón Cheese, Pine Nut Breadcrumbs, Crumbles Mallorcan Pork Sausage, and Manzanilla Olives. Beautiful thick-sliced large tomatoes were covered with amazingly delicious ingredients. It was certainly not your average tomato dish. It had the mixture of flavor, texture, all working in perfect harmony. So good!
Second item was Pulpo a la Plancha ($21), made with Seared octopus, Manzanilla olivada, and olive oil crushed potatoes. The size of the octopus was impressive, and certainly enough to share among the three of us. It was plump, cooked perfectly so that it was not chewy. The potato underneath was very creamy and fluffy. Olivada was amazing, with nice amount of garlic and other spices, but still shining the spotlight on olives. It went perfect with the octopus.
Speaking of spotlight, the main dish we were all waiting for from Boqueria was Paella! They had two sizes, small and medium, and based on the recommendation of our server, we went with medium. The Paella ($49/medium) is made with Bomba rice, monkfish, sepia, squid, shrimp, clams, mussels, saffron, and salsa verde. Since they are made to order, it took about 40 minutes for the dish to come out. If you are planning to have Paella there, make sure you have enough time. The paella was a really nice size, filled with all sorts of seafood and shellfish! We were all so excited! And it was great, the seasoning was perfect, and we got some kind of seafood or shellfish with each bite. However, we didn’t get that socarrat I was looking forward to, like the one we got from Socarrat Paella Bar. It was still delightful and delicious!
The bathroom is slightly challenging to find. Boqueria shares its bathroom with the AC Hotel in the same building, as many restaurants in NYC do. So, first thing you want to do is to walk over to the right side of the restaurant (from entrance) and find the “Restrooms” sigh that leads to the AC Hotel lobby. Walk towards the lobby for 10-20 steps, turn the corner to the left, and go down the staircase.
Once you get to the bottom of the stairs, do a U-Turn and you should find the ATM machine, and another “Restroom” sign. Once you find that sign, you are almost there! Since the bathroom is for restaurant and hotel customers, it was large and also, very clean.
We had a pleasant lunch there, the service was friendly and polite. The food was delicious and high quality. Everything we ordered was a hit. I would love to go back to try more of their tasty dishes in a near future!
Boqueria West 40th St – 260 West 40th Street, NYC 10018