Boqueria, Flatiron

Sometimes at Eats Meats West, we find ourselves unexpectedly in a restaurant with no camera tagging along.  Maybe we were meeting a friend for congratulatory drinks after work, and/or maybe we couldn’t be bothered to search through our murse to see if the backup camera just happened to be on hand.  This was one of those nights, and as such, there are sadly no pictures to elaborate upon this retelling of one meal at Boqueria.  In any case, everything but the artichoke + mussels + shrimp dish was just great.  The Valdeon-stuffed dates had so many different textures; they were smooshy and salty with occasional chunks and some sort of meatiness coupled with a good degree of sweetness.  It sounds gross, but trust us, it was delishination.  Well, to be fair if they were any bigger they would probably be a gross mess in your mouth.  The potatoes bravas are a standard, and per usual they were well made and as simple as they should be.  You really can’t go wrong with them when ordering tapas.  The seared lamb dish had a surprising amount of herbiness, but otherwise it wasn’t a very memorable plate.  The bread on which the meat was presented was kind of pointless and indeed a bit troublesome to force into your gaping maw.  The toast that came with the mussels/artichoke/shrimp dish was perhaps its only redeeming feature, on the other hand.   The flavors of the shrimp and mussels were lost in the broth, which itself had an odd bittery sour aftertaste, perhaps from the artichokes?  It wasn’t appetizing and was fortunately our last plate.  I drank a gewürztraminer, sauvignon blanc, muscat cuvee; which was pleasant.  A Gramona “Gessami” Blanco from 2008, to be exact.  The menu for some reason abbreviates the grapes, so sauvignon blanc is listed as “SB” and cabernet sauvignon as “CS.”  We get it, Boqueria; you’re trying to be cute.  But these are grapes…not US states.  We aren’t there yet!