Txikito — Restaurant in New York

My friends (yes more than one and from different cohorts) mentioned this tapas place to me and intrigued me about their whole turbot dish. I really liked turbot yet I only had turbot steaks not the whole fish so I decided to take leap of faith with a dinner for two.

Small plates:

Cogollos A combination of mainly gem lettuce, Catabric anchovy, tuna (could be wrong). Quiet on the salty side. I ordered this as a salad, and I expected the salinity to be high due to the existence of anchovy. The gem lettuce is quite crispy and the drizzle of the dressing on top is herbaceous and cuts the salinity with acid. I personally still think the dish is way too salty for me.

Arroz Meloso A dish of cooked bomba rice with tomato, uni, wild shrimp, enoki mushroom. Still on the saltier side yet I would order this again. The umami-ness of this dish is through the roof. The rice is a lot like a risotto texture, with a bit of chew and bounce. The shrimp is succulent and cooked to a perfect texture. Both uni and tomato give the dish its bright color and the rice and the mushroom soak up this umami-ness like sponges. A burst of flavor bombs on the tongue and it is a dish I would scrape the plate until no residue is left.

Large plate:

Whole Turbot (the special, not always there) Okay as the name implies it is a whole turbot baked with herbs, garlic, and olive oil. It is not the real name of the dish but the original name is in Spanish and I don’t know how to spell. The fish itself has a high omega-3 content, and after baking it resulted in a quite rich and smooth mouthfeel. There is no charring for the most part of the fish, the primary texture is pretty tender. The garlic and the herbs aid to balance the rich taste with some spice and flavor besides the intrinsic subtle sweetness of the fish. However, due to the fish’s innate oil content, I found finishing the whole fish is still a bit too much, as my taste buds and brain got saturated with fat pretty fast. I kinda wished there is more acidity to help counterbalance.

That being said, it is a pretty good tapas place with a high price tag. I liked the inside of the restaurant, feels pretty graceful with a homie touch. The space is a bit limited but the hospitality is great. I would go again, but probably would order some other things instead.

PS: their menu changes often according to the daily inventory and don’t forget to ask about the...

This is a review of the even by Tasting Collective that we attended. It was a 10 course Traditional Basque Feast. This restaurant is owned and operated by husband and wife chef team. They have a few other restaurants in NYC. I always enjoy Basque style food, Spanish cuisine and tapas, so I was excited for this event.

The interior is heavy with wood, making it cozy and warm atmosphere that is so inviting. They have two rooms, one with a bar and small amount of seating, and another room with many more table seating.

We were pretty crammed in the second room, barely fitting the table, sitting over the edge… And since there were no space to put everyone’s coats and bags, the seating was really, REALLY tight.

At this event, we got to try Marijuli, Croqueta de Bakalo, Pimientos de Gernika, Mondatio Tutera, Pulpo de Roca, Gulas del Monte, Bakalo Andra Mari, Pochas, Cochinillo, and Txakoli Poached Pear. Even though this was a tasting event, the amount of food we received was very small. They were all tasty, high quality, and some dishes were even creative and very interesting. I wish if we had a bit more portion so that we could fully appreciate the flavor of each dish. The best thing fro the 10 course was Pulpo de Roca and the dessert.

We had a nice dinner here. Each dish was very tasty and high quality. I liked the uniqueness of the dishes and creativity that came with it. It was not as comfortable, as we were over the edge of the table, and the portion received was small…but we were still happy to attend this event. Chef Alex was great, provided us with loads of interesting information and...

Being a Spaniard I always have high expectations if I try a Spanish restaurant. This one I have to say that surpassed my expectations and it's the second time I visit. I highly recommend the Arroz meloso, which is similar to a risotto dish with sea urchin, prawns and enoki mushrooms. Delicious! I also LOVED the octopus carpaccio, and can't forget the amber Jack which was VERY good specially dipping the sauce with bread, the pikillos peppers which are a variation of red peppers, the artichokes with jamón, krotetas are so typical and YUMMY, the boquerones are a type of sardine macerated in vinegar (super Spanish too) , and the rodaballo which is a Mediterranean turbot, my favorite fish. They are all small size dishes "tapas" so you can order some of them.

I tried 3 desserts and my FAVORITE was the "Ruso" which reminded me of a Swiss dessert called meringue with Gruyère crème, but it was meringue with cultured cream. BOMB!!!! Soooo GOOD! Service was great as well.

The only thing I didn't think it made much sense was to use basque language in the menu. It was even hard for me to know what some of the dishes were and I'm Spanish. So I'm sure it's even harder for anyone who comes.

PS: I was also surprised that they had barnacles which are a DELICATESSEN in Spain and tough to harvest... I ate them but I'm not sure if people in New York would appreciate them since for them barnacles are not...