Find a Taste of Old-World Madrid at a New West Village Restaurant

Eater

a day ago

There was a time when an enclave of Spanish restaurants clustered around West 14th Street, making up a 'Little Spain.' Establishments like El Faro, at one point the oldest-running Spanish restaurant in New York, which opened in 1927 and closed in 2012, were homes-away-from-home. Today, virtually none of those original Lower Manhattan restaurants remain. La Nacional, a society for Spanish immigrants in New York, many of them Galician, serves as a living archive. In the West Village, Sevilla — open from 1936 — is still standing. Further north, El Quijote, first founded in 1930, has been luxuriously restored at the new Hotel Chelsea.
Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY
On Thursday, July 31, Bartolo debuts at 310-312 West Fourth Street, near West 12th Street, from a chef who has devoted his career to cooking and researching Spanish food. The West Village is a homecoming for Ryan Bartlow, having long ago worked at Quality Eats. He's adamant that 'by no means is this Spanish inspired, it's a Spanish restaurant.' By that, he means that Bartolo's dishes are 'equal or comparable if you were transported to Madrid.' He did the same at his first restaurant, the Basque Ernesto's, which opened at the end of 2019, in Two Bridges, where he looked more to tradition than trend. But it became a part of one anyway, as gildas found their way to nearly every small plates wine bar in this part of Manhattan (and yes, they'll also make an appearance at Bartolo.)
A space with old-world character was a requirement. Bartlow, along with his wife, Davitta Niakani-Bartlow, and her sister and fellow operating partner, Alexandra Niakani, had considered taking over the decades-worn Spain space, a former restaurant known, before it became a pandemic casualty, for its 'Bohemian pedigree (and free tapas).' But in the end, they infused Spanish history into this West Fourth Street storefront: a space with its inherited low-slung ceilings combined with interior design choices that feel at once like a new restaurant that will age well and one that already has been there for years. The kind of place where there are white tablecloths and waitstaff wear uniforms, as it would be at some of the family's favorite restaurants abroad. 'Spaniards really love to get dressed up to go to dinner,' says Davitta. 'We really want to bring back great hospitality,' Alexandra adds. Details are meticulous down to the custom ashtrays that drop down with the check, but will also be for sale. Overall, the menu and space itself feel more 'sophisticated' for their hospitality group, Terracotta's, sophomore project, says Bartlow.
Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY
Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY
Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY
There's a front bar, where guests can start with pan soplao, little bread pillows, personalized with the Bartolo name from a bakery in Spain called Panaderia Jesus, served with jamón Ibérico, and an embutido plate (charcuterie featuring morcilla, chorizo, and lomo), or pork belly chicharrones, with Marcona almonds. Dinner is in the luxe dual dining rooms. Dishes on the opening menu include ajo blanco, a chilled almond crema traditionally served with halved grapes or honeydew, but with Bartlow's tweaked addition of honeydew sorbet with balled melon. 'It's a contrast of temperature and texture,' Bartlow explains (it'll be rotated out when the weather drops). There's Madrid-style tripe with morcilla; red wine-braised oxtail ('not with mashed potatoes, not with anything else but fried potatoes, a very particular type of fry!' he says); and a fried egg dish with potatoes, shrimp, garlic, and parsley. 'A lot of it is homages to classic Spanish gastronomy… many times it's that the quality and attention to details gets lost by the wayside and you're left with something that doesn't exemplify what it is that we really love [about Spanish restaurants],' says Bartlow. 'We're trying to show how striking and confident an ingredient with not much else on the plate can be.' To do so, you need the best sourcing, and they work with Lidia Sanchez, a premier importer behind Taste of Spain Foods, for many of their featured products.
Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY
Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY
Large-format options, like suckling lamb and whole-roasted pig, served in terracotta cazuela, will be offered in limited quantities.
Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY
On the dessert side, Bartlow is offering a frozen custard with raisins and Pedro Ximenez sherry; an egg-yolk flan, and more. At most Spanish restaurants, tarta de queso (cheesecake) is a required order: at Ernesto's, it's a Basque cheesecake, and at Bartolo, it's whole mini-cheesecakes with crust, where the batter includes a domestic Bayley Hazen blue cheese: 'There's a little bit of salinity, but by no means is it overwhelming,' says Bartlow.
Cocktails come from Thomas Thompson, who is also the bar director at Ernesto's, with drinks like a cantaloupe margarita with txakoli, a Basque Country wine, and a nonalcoholic version with the guindilla peppers; other drinks use ingredients like tomato and saffron. Wine director Daryl Coke, who also holds the same position at Ernesto's, has brought together a list that focuses on sherry and vino de pasto; customization in the fine details extends to its own cuvée, house bottles, including a cava, with the elegant Bartolo logo.
'There isn't much like this, if at all, in New York, and I want to show how good it can be,' says Bartlow of the restaurant's ethos. 'The most important thing is making something I actually like to eat.'
Reservations are now available on OpenTable.
From left: Ryan Bartlow, along with his wife, Davitta Niakani-Bartlow, and her sister and fellow operating partner, Alexandra Niakani. Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY