"Eating tapas on a weekend night at Despaña feels like a more homegrown, less corporate, and decidedly more Spanish version of a night at Eataly. The Soho spot spends its days as an importer of fine Spanish goods, and you’ll walk past shelves full of boquerones and a butcher’s case full of chorizo and jamòn to get to your table. Despaña isn’t reinventing the wheel with their tapas, but they do play the classics really well. photo credit: Will Hartman They only do dinner service on Fridays and Saturdays, but the food encapsulates everything we love about eating tapas. It’s inexpensive, great for sharing, and filling—and the tapas highlight things available at the shop, in addition to some really fresh produce and seafood. You can also grab a bottle of Spanish wine from their shop next door, making this a perfect jumping off point for a night out around Soho. Focus on meats, cheeses, tinned fish, and olives, plus a few must-order bites: Food Rundown photo credit: Will Hartman Goat Cheese, Sardine, and Pesto Toast After we finished this toast (which took two people roughly 73 seconds), we immediately asked our servers to throw a tin of these sardines onto our tab. Salty, yet bright with lemon zest and a punch of basil, this is our favorite dish here. photo credit: Will Hartman Pan Con Tomate For such a simple dish, it’s actually relatively hard to find a great version in New York. Despaña’s is in balance—extremely bright tomato, not too much garlic—and the olive oil is served on the side, so it’s a choose your own adventure with how much you want on each bite. photo credit: Will Hartman Tortilla with Chorizo That chorizo in the butcher’s case is calling your name. Listen to it. The crumbled pork is crisp and the tortilla is nice and creamy. photo credit: Will Hartman Pulpo Grilled and sliced thin, this pulpo almost belongs on the meat and cheese section of the menu. It’s savory and satisfying." - Will Hartman
