El Born (Greenpoint)

[Wilfrid]

I sneezed my way through McCarren Park today and emerged needing a light lunch. I pretty much gave up on NYC tapas a long time ago but finding myself outside El Born on Manhattan Avenue, I thought why not?

The first thing that startled me is that the menu is in Catalan/English rather than Spanish/English. Fair enough, El Born is in Barcelona. When I commented on this, the server told me the owner (herself very busy serving) is from Barcelona.

So I entertained myself by saying "embotits iberics." And then pointing to it on the menu to help my anglophone server.

It was really, really good. Wherever they're sourcing this is the right stuff.

Here's the puzzle. Server says it's been open 12 years. Why didn't I know? But I have a very distant memory of eating tapas on that strip a long time ago. Who knows? I want to go back for dinner.

[Wilfrid]

For comparison, some of the bites from my last visit to La Pineda.

[Orik]

You can see the difference in service temperature! 

[MitchW]

They sure trimmed a lot of the fat from the Serrano ham.

Maybe they're sourcing from Despaña?

[Wilfrid]

Well, El Born is drizzling olive oil, La Pineda isn't.