Mercat

Despite all that transpired after my recent meal at Mercat in NoHo, I must say that the restaurant's Catalan cuisine was some of the best that I've had, maybe even comparable to some of Barcelona's notable hot spots.

We started off with the cheese platter (3 for $14, 5 for $20) which came with an assortment Catalan cheeses. We chose to go for the larger platter, which paired together two goat cheeses, two sheep cheeses as well as a mixed cheese: Garrotxa (a semi-firm goat cheese with a milky flavor and a delicate hint of nuttiness), Caña de Cabra (a creamy and mild goat cheese), Manchego (a nutty, sweet, and tangy semi-firm sheep's milk cheese), Idiazabal (a smokey yet nutty firm sheep's milk cheese), and La Peral (a blue cheese that resembles an Italian Gorgonzola, with a nice olive flavor).

That plate was accompanied by an assortment of meats (Assortiment d’Embotits for $24). In my opinion it was an excellent pairing of four different Spanish meats: Pernil Serrano, Morcilla (a Spanish blood sausage, probably my least favorite), Llonganissa (a thin dry-cured Spanish sausage), Sobrassada (a raw cured sausage), and Xoriç.

We then transformed the remainder of our meal into a tapas-style feast...

First we ordered Croquetes de Gamba ($7), which were croquettes with shrimp and spinach. Despite their small size, these really packed a punch. They were fried to perfection and tasted absolutely amazing – the spinach to cheese ratio was absolutely flawless.

That was followed by another enjoyable appetizer: Bombas ($9), which were chicken, pork and beef meatballs in an aioli sauce. Initially I was concerned about the mixture. My untrained palate had no idea that the combination would be so good.

Finally, we ordered Trencat d'Ous ($13), which was a mixture of sliced onions, fried eggs and salsa verde. It was very good, but I found it to be the least enjoyable of the last three plates.

In terms of wine and liquor at Mercat, it was all quite good. The wine list was impressive, the cocktails were mixed to perfection. Although we were quite shocked to find that they were unable to provide us with a single bottle of port. Still, everything was quite satisfying. Too satisfying. I learned my lesson though.













MERCAT
45 Bond Street
(between Bowery and Lafayette)
(212) 529-8600