My building mates and I headed to Boqueria for our birthday celebration together, this time lunch in the hood at a new location of the Spanish tapas restaurant, Boqueria.

A pitcher of their white sangria ($48) is a perfect start for lunch. We placed our order for a vegetarian paella ($38) with Bomba rice, strips of eggplant, fava beans, peas, grape tomatoes, piquillo peppers, saffron, and salsa verde, as it takes approximately 45 minutes to prepare. It’s worth it with its crusty rice.

We then chose our tapas to enjoy while waiting for the paella, taking advantage of their special lunch deal ($25), which included two tapas and came with warm churros for dessert, accompanied by chocolate sauce.

We chose the semi-hard, 6-month-aged goat cheese with black truffles from Jumilla, the 16-month-aged jamón serrano, and the mildly spicy chorizo seasoned with smoked pimentón.

With that, we ordered their seared octopus leg, Manzanilla olive tapenade with sweet olive-oil crushed potatoes ($28) and the blackened Chilean salmon with a lemon-herb butter and sautéed spinach with garbanzo beans ($29).

We finished our birthday celebration with warm churros and chocolate sauce, served with sparklers.

I highly recommend a visit to Boqueria.

Boqueria
Flatiron
53 West 19 Street
New York, NY 10011?
212.255.4160
boqueriarestaurant.com/location/nyc/flatiron/