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Beat bobby flay tico dc9/16/2023 “We decided to bring back - we don’t really have that fare in Rockville.”Įl Mercat Bar De Tapas makes use of a sleek space originally made for Gumbo Ya Ya, which relocated there from Germantown at the end of 2019 but closed due to COVID-19 just a few months later. “I used to go to La Tosca all the time when it was on the same block,” he says. is home to top-tier tapas spots, the Rockville resident says his neighborhood could use one of its own. A 30-seat patio will join the mix next spring. His new 60-seat restaurant is about half the size of what he’s used to at Boqueria Penn Quarter. A board of pulpo con patatas with mushrooms sautéed with garlic and finished with salsa verde, olive oil, parsley, and garlic puree. Other tapas on tap include lamb meatballs, shishito peppers, calamari, spicy papas bravas, pulpo con patatas (slightly cooked octopus and potatoes), pollo rostizado (roast chicken), and a section of Spanish cheeses and meats like Serrano ham. Catalonia’s go-to escalivada (roasted vegetables) will make an appearance, as will the same region’s lesser-known calçots, or charred and smoked scallions that get their own festival in Spain every year.Įl Mercat Bar De Tapas chef/owner George Rodrigues has devoted half of his 20-year career to making Spanish tapas. Tapas tied to various communities across Spain, from Catalan to Galicia, are spread across vegetarian, meat, and seafood sections. “I’m going back to what I learned with Boqueria - the traditional way that focuses on the cooking process,” says Rodrigues, which includes starting and finishing the communal dish in the oven. The key to a spot-in Spanish paella, he says, is the final touch known as “socarrat,” or the crust that forms at the bottom of the bomba rice. Rodrigues’s breakout menu at El Mercat Bar De Tapas will kick off with a few of his personal favorites, packed with seafood chorizo and chicken and squid ink, served in 10- or 14-inch circular skillets for one or two people. Rodrigues was part of Boqueria Penn Quarter’s opening team in 2019 and learned how to perfect his paella under its Barcelona-born executive chef Marc Vidal, whose group oversees a pair of locations in D.C., four in NYC, and one in Chicago. George Rodrigues hopes to debut El Mercat Bar De Tapas in mid-December in the 2,000-square-foot space that housed short-lived Cajun and Puerto Rican restaurant Gumbo Ya Ya ( 101 Gibbs Street, Rockville, Maryland). The outgoing chef de cuisine at Penn Quarter’s tapas bar Boqueria will showcase his polished Spanish cooking skills at his first solo project opening in Rockville Town Square this winter.
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