Home Eating Out CADAQUES: TIME FOR SOME CATALAN DECADENCE

CADAQUES: TIME FOR SOME CATALAN DECADENCE

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If Mathieu’s parents met in the famous town, chef Guillaume Thivet (fresh from David Bouley and Shelton Craig’s kitchens) grew up right around the Basque corner. And together they bring you Cadaques in a way that no womanizing cubist or mustachioed surrealist ever did.

You open your mouth, candidly expecting one of those slightly exotic and tasty bites that New York dishes out regularly – and suddenly, it doesn’t matter that Cadaques created a setting you wouldn’t mind living in full-time: you’d go and seek this food out anywhere.

We’ve all heard of Tapas, some of us world-wandering souls have even encountered a bit of Catalunya’s culinary prowess some summer or other. But nothing quite prepared us for this. Seared-foie gras that rivals Jean-Georges’ atop the biggest scallops you’ve ever seen, with roasted Serrano, Chanterelle mushrroms and crispy brussels leaves, slow-roasted octopus to die for, a ridiculous selection of all those hard-to-find Spanish charcuterie, like Pata NegraIberico or Mangalica. You’ll think there was never much to be expected from ham and cheese croquetas – and then you’ll think again. Things you never knew existed, (tender fideuas pasta in cuttlefish ink, sprinkled with aioli, out of this world) and things so simple you never knew could be so good (Fried artichokes? Asparagus a la plancha? pan con tomate, really???) Yes, some offerings to blow the mind of even those picky vegan friends and other allergy-plagued citizens that keep filling your address book.

And then there’s the paella. If you grab four of your favorite acquaintances and reserve in advance you get the whole Mama Paella experience in the back. They have five of them and they probably are all equally phenomenal but I wouldn’t know as I find it simply impossible to go and not have the Paella negra, the squid ink arroz negro from Barcelona. Black teeth is a small price to pay in exchange for such bliss. (Do avoid it on romantic dates though, there are many things more conducive to kissing and countless of them are on the menu.) Gargantuan weekend brunches cozily riding the wave of your varying appetite, subtle and generous, fresh and spicy – with always welcomed kicks of unexpected flavors. Desserts you were not hungry for and will now fight over with passion, like oven-fresh churros to be dipped in liquid, yes, dark chocolate… I could go on and on.

I just happen to love food, you see. French people are the only creatures known to men that can spend an entire dinner talking about what’s for dinner, or what was for dinner two-and-a-half years ago. Creatures that have a special place, deep in their cortex, where they store their entire collection of favorite-dishes-ever since the time they first ate solid food.

Now you might not be endowed with such a delicate and thorough sense memory. So I’d suggest you hurry over there and start your collection afresh. And then come back often. This is not something you want to forget.

CADAQUES – 188 Grand St, Williamsburg

(between Bedford and Driggs  avenues)

Reservations:  (718) 218-7776

www.cadaquesny.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cadaques-tapas-bar/190560580966133

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