Nai

www.nairestaurant.com
84 Second Avenue (between East 3rd and East 4th St.)
212-677-1030  

Tapas.  Right before I went inside, a guy on the street turned to his friends and said, “All they do is tapas.  And they’re good”.  As I was about to learn, truer words were never spoken.

Every one of the dishes I ordered made me happy (and twice, delirious enough to go back for seconds).  Take the gambas al ajillo.  It’s shrimp.  It’s garlic sauce.  And such an amazing combination of flavor, not grabbing the bread to absorb every last drop would be loco.

The croquetas de pollo, no less attention getting, a wonderful lead in to the sea bass wrapped in white toast and crunchy deliciousness.  Their albondiguillas estofadas is a multisyllabled way to say meatballs in brandy sauce.  They could also just rename it WOW and perfectly define it.

There’s actually a lot more wow to go round, as evidenced by both the tartufo and chocolate infused churros.  I wonder if they thought, “Why just serve churros when you can deliver pure, inspired genius?” because that’s exactly what you’ll experience.

Then there’s the server, who could not have been nicer and the room, a continuous stream of fun.  But it all comes back to the food.

The guy on the street was right.  There’s no going wrong at this tapas standout.