We started off Kevin’s birthday celebration at Tertulia, one of our favorite Spanish restaurants in New York. Since we made a reservation for a group of 9 people, we did the chef’s tasting menu at $55 per person – a steal for the amount and quality of food you get. We ended up adding an extra dish for an additional $10 per person.
If you haven’t been to Tertulia, I hope you will be inspired to go after reading my review.
We started off the tasting with some Pan Con Tomate and Jamon Serrano (not pictured), unfortunately, Jamon Iberico is not part of the tasting – it is especially unfortunate as Tertulia has Jamon Iberico from Cinco Jotas, my favorite.
Next up was a nicely chilled, very refreshing gazpacho made with heirloom tomatoes and watermelon (not pictured), it hit the spot on a very hot and humid night. The large group table at Tertulia is located at the back of the restaurant, right near their oven – great ambience, but it gets a tad hot on a summer night.
Two more tapas came out next – hamachi and tosta with clams. The hamachi was good, but I liked the tosta with clams more. A nicely toasted piece of bread topped with grilled clams tossed in aioli and a tasty slice of chorizo. Yum!
Next round of tapas included, Tosta Matrimonio and Guisantes Lagrimas. The Tosta Matrimonio consists of black and white anchovies, slow roasted tomatoes, sheep’s milk cheese and aged balsamic on a tosta. Anchovies are not my cup of tea, but these were quite good as far as anchovies go, my husband who loves anchovies found this very delicious. The Guisantes Lagrimas consists of sugar snap peas, radishes, sheep’s milk cheese and mint. This was a refreshing and light dish that appropriately contrasted the Tosta Matrimonio. I’m not personally a fan of sheep’s milk cheese, but this cheese was extremely mild and not gamey at all.
A few classic tapas dishes came out next – Pimientos de Padron and Croquetas de Jamon Iberico. Tertulia’s croquetas are some of the best I’ve ever tasted, perfectly fried on the outside, soooo creamy with a small piece of jamon tucked inside and the membrillo is the classic accompaniment with jamon.
Seafood dishes were next. Grilled chipirones (baby squid) with vidalia onion puree and arugula and Grilled octopus with confit potatoes topped with peas and kale. The octopus was cooked so well… so tender! One of the best executions of octopus I’ve had.
Our final savory dishes – chicken paella and Chuleton de Buey a la Brasa. The paella was tasty and the chicken was super moist! However, I still prefer the paella at Socarrat, if only because they really do crust up the rice perfectly there. The Chuleton was our extra dish and it was well worth the extra $10/pp. This was a 40 day dry aged prime rib grilled on coals. It came with romesco, piperrada and fingerling potatoes. Definitely the star dish of the night, even though we were all stuffed, the chuleton disappeared within 2 minutes of arriving at the table.
Finally, we had a selection of desserts – Creme Catalana, Tarta de Chocolate (dark chocolate ganache on almond crust), Torrija Caramelizada (caramelized spanish toast with hazelnut ice cream), Borracho (vanilla ice cream topped with cocoa nibs and drowned in Pedro Ximenez sherry), Mel I Mato (peaches, fresh ricotta, walnuts and honey). All of the desserts were great, my favorites was the Torrija, Borracho and Mel I Mato.
Tertulia never fails to deliver – it is one of my favorite places to go with a group of people. Reasonably priced, perfectly executed dishes, friendly and knowledgable servers, as well as a fun, convivial ambience, you really can’t ask for more.
Tertulia – 359 6th Avenue – 646.599.9909
must love jamon 