Socarrat Nolita Visited 1/29/11 3.75 Forks

Socarrat Nolita 284 Mulberry St, (between Jersey St & Houston St), Manhattan, NY 10012

 I had been to the original Socarrat in Chelsea when it was one of the most buzzed about restaurants a few years ago.  The location is tiny and takes no reservation so it was fairly difficult to eat there.  But when you were able to sit down, the food was delicious.  The paella was slightly overcooked and crispy on the bottom which one would think wouldn't taste good, but the waiter would come by and personally scrape the bottom where the rice had the right amount of crunch and flavor.  So I was very excited that they opened a bigger location downtown.  

Lav and I made a date to meet there at 6pm when it opened so that we wouldn't have to wait for a table and to make a 8pm movie.  This location was indeed bigger but not huge.  It has a similar long communal table concept with a few small tables.  Since it was just the two of us, we decided to get one veggie paella and then one tapas each.  I was all set to get the sizzling garlic shrimp but when they told us the croquette special of the day ($9) was shrimp, I decided to get that instead.  Lav got the egg tortilla dish ($8) because it's always a great classic tapas dish that's hard to avoid.  The croquettes were quite good, perfectly crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside with a tasty side of a mayo-like sauce.  While the shrimp inside was good, I prefer the usual croquettes with ham.  After seeing other people get the garlic shrimp dish, I kind of wish I got it in addition to my croquettes, but that would have just been too much food with the paella.  The paella came out ($22/pp) and it was HUGE.  It's a bit too much for just 2 people, but if you're hungry, you can come very close to finishing it.  The veggies in it were very good and it had lots of variety: peas, artichoke, cauliflower, tomato, eggplant, mushroom, and others.  The rice was nicely seasoned with saffron but the one disappointment was that the bottom was not burned or crispy at all.  The waitress came to "scrape" the bottom, but there was nothing really to scrape.  All the rice was soft, slightly overcooked and not crunchy.  This didn't make it bad tasting but after seeing how other tables had the crunch, it was a bit sad.  They had a few good sounding desserts and we decided to get the chocolate beignts, which was puffy pastries infused with tons of chocolate on the inside and fried on the outside.  It was good but too chocolate-y for me.  With 1 glass of sangria ($9) - which was ok, it could have been stronger, and 2 glasses of red wine ($12), our total bill came out to be $65/pp with tax and tip.  It's a bit annoying that they charge per person for the paella because given its size, it's perfect for three people but to have each person pay $22 is a bit ridiculous.  While I did enjoy the veggies and felt "healthy" eating it, I would come back and try the seafood version as it's just not paella without copious amounts of shellfish.