Recommendations

Festive Spanish flavors.

Strengths

• This slipper-sized tapas bar serves some of the most inspired Spanish food in the city. Don’t even try to fight the irresistible lure of chef Alex Raij’s addictive Xatonada (salt cod carpaccio with romesco and frisee salad), patatas bravas (double-fried wedges of potatoes topped with spicy alioli) and txipirones en su tinta (squid in its own ink over rice).
• What’s more, the festive Madrid vibe (read: shoulder-to-shoulder eating and drinking and eating) makes Tia Pol one of those places you’ll return to again and again. While their no reservations policy can make the wait an hour-long affair, they’ve also got a sweet private room in the back. The room’s custom-designed communal tables, iPod dock, and Tia Pol’s terrific tapas and suckling pig make this room a great option for birthday or holiday parties.

Shortcomings

• The private room is small and can only seat 15 for dinner and 25 for a cocktail party.

Insider tips

• Private dinners at Tia Pol need be planned two weeks in advance and start at $65 per person for a family-style dinner. For $45 per person, you can arrange a tapas party featuring plates of tortilla Española, chorizo con chocolate, crisp croquetas, and the chef’s amazingly juicy pinchos morunos (lamb skewers).
• Suckling pigs, a signature dish prepared with honey-crisped skin, must be ordered two days in advance and are $300 each. Believe me, you’ve spent more and gotten less. These pigs are masterpieces.

Anecdotes

• It usually takes me a while to fall in love, but not with Tia Pol. They had me at Hola. I was head-over-heels for the food and the atmosphere from the moment owners Mani Dawes and Heather Belz opened its tall French doors in the summer of 2006.
• While it can be a bit of a Madrid madhouse at night, I love coming for lunch and on Sundays for one of the best under-the-radar brunches in the city. Try the Basque country breakfast (two olive oil poached eggs with pork loin, rough cut potatoes, and piquillo peppers) and some churros con chocolate, and you’ll be an instant regular.

Credentials

• Chef Alex Raij may not have won a Food & Wine Best New Chef award, but it’s only a matter of time. Her fierce dedication to local farmers, her commitment to Spanish flavors, and her pitch-perfect palate make her one of the most talented chefs cooking in New York City at the moment.