37 E. 28th Street (bet. Park & Madison Avenues)
212-213-2328
http://www.pamplonanyc.com/
http://www.opentable.com/
Dining at Pamplona Last Night
Funny to open up the New York Times this morning to read Frank Bruni’s review of Pamplona. We were just there for dinner last night with our friend Steve Geerts of John Varvatos and had an all round terrific meal. For years, we’ve considered Alex Ureña to be in the top echelon of New York City chefs, yet one who never quite gets the recognition that we think he deserves. We hope that Mr. Bruni’s favorable review will encourage more people to try Alex’s new venue.
Why You Should Go
Pamplona is a casual place serving seriously good Spanish food. Prices are extremely reasonable considering the quality delivered. What comes on the plate is the one but absolutely compelling reason to make your reservation at Pamplona. Keep in mind that the décor is very simple, neither exciting nor offensive. Service is okay; if last night’s dinner is any indication, it can be pleasant, but not always attentive and at times quite slow.
The Menu
It seems you can’t miss by starting to nibble on the tapas, little dishes in the $4-6 range. Just pick what sounds appealing to you. Last night we sampled various meats (embutidos) and cheese balls (quesos). All absolutely delicious! Moving on, we all loved our first courses, trying three different choices: the poached shrimp with creamy Manchego rice and fresh chorizo sauce, the cured tuna sliced thin with sobreasada aioli, and the truffle oil poached egg with white asparagus salad, fresh chorizo and pimiento del piquillo sauce. Expect to pay in the $9-14 range for your first course.
Sea scallops with salsify, shiitake mushrooms morcilla, Cantipalo, Vizcaina ($24), the slow cooked chicken with artichoke-truffle puree and oyster mushrooms ($20), and the “hamburguesa,” a beef suckling pig and chorizo burger server with salad and fries ($18) were our main course selections.
The burger was addictive and like nothing any of us ever tasted. Alex explained that he uses a lesser known soft chorizo as one of the ingredients. (In fact, while “chorizo” appears all over the menu, Alex explained that he actually works with nine different varieties in Pamplona’s menu.) Steve insisted he was coming back over the weekend to eat the burger again! The scallop dish disappeared in a New York minute. Only some of the chicken was left on the plate. It was incredibly rich and too intensely truffled for our taste, especially after all that we had already eaten.
We looked at the dessert menu, but the choices did not leave us feeling compelled to order anything. Perhaps next time we’ll try, but Mr. Bruni’s comments today led some credibility to our gut reaction to take a pass.
The Bar/Cocktails/Wine List
There is an appealing, comfortable bar when you walk in. Last night while waiting for our friend to arrive we witnessed a solo diner having a terrific time ordering up several tapas and an appetizer (entrada) while sipping a glass of red wine. The amiable bartender gave him a second glass on the house. We would think it would be a great place to meet up, and even if you can’t stay for dinner, just have a glass of wine and some tapas. There are some house cocktails with a Spanish accent, house Sangria, and a wine list dedicated exclusively to Spanish wines.
On a Personal Note
We’ve been longtime fans of Chef Alex Ureña, and he and his wife Martine, who runs the dining room, have always been sincerely appreciative of our compliments and repeat visits over the years.
We first met Alex at Marseille in Hell’s Kitchen in 2000, followed him to Suba on the Lower East Side a few years ago and visited Ureña last year. Five weeks ago, Alex and Martine reopened the space into the current Pamplona (and had a baby girl six weeks ago!) Say hello to Martine when you come in & tell her that Pat & Bill sent you. If she’s not there, then ask the waitstaff to let Chef Alex know.
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About Us
Bill Gillen and Patricia MacKenzie are a husband and wife team, who published a monthly newsletter, “The NY Food Letter” in the 1990’s, have written food, wine and travel articles for the Daily News, and are co-authors of The New York Chocolate Lover’s Guide (City and Company 1996). They live in New York City, Columbia County and Paris.
Our Story
We were both born in Brooklyn and in our adult lives have lived in Brooklyn, the Upper West Side, Hell’s Kitchen and now Carnegie Hill, and for the past 20+ years, we’ve always ready to go to any neighborhood in any of five boroughs to find something good to eat. Some people might just go shopping to Ikea in Elizabeth New Jersey and return home. Not us. We come back via the Bayonne Bridge just so we can stop at Denino’s on Staten Island for pizza. When we go on a family trip to the Bronx Zoo, we have to eat at Dominick’s and then go shopping on Arthur Avenue picking up prosciutto rolls and other Italian treats. And on a regular weekday, we’ll go miles out of our way and walk the long avenues in Hell’s Kitchen just to buy a loaf of bread from Sullivan Street Bakery.
We are avid home cooks. On a daily basis, we love shopping for the best ingredients, and don’t think of it at all as an effort, but as an enjoyable activity. We carefully plan our special celebrations sometimes by mapping out an extravagant homemade meal, or more often by making reservations at an exceptional restaurant, including a mix of New York classics and the latest trends.
In 1986 we went to France on our honeymoon. We were in the Champagne region and ate at the then Michelin three-star restaurant, Boyer Les Crayeres. It was literally a life altering experience. How could food be this good? Up to that point, we never ate anything that was even closely comparable. Thus started a love affair with France that has only grown through the years. Our time spent there has educated us enormously on what it takes to deliver good ingredients and outstanding meals. We’ve traveled and eaten in every region in that country and since 2000 have had the good fortune of owning a tiny apartment in the St. Germain neighborhood on the Left Bank in Paris that gives us the opportunity to eat and cook like Parisians, when our schedules permit. (The spoken language is another story…)
Along the way, we became interested in wine. In 2000, we had a blast studying with Kevin Zraly in New York City at his renowned wine course. We have been to many of the major wine areas in France, Italy and California, and every year go on a buying trip in Burgundy. But much more of our education has come from simply buying and drinking on a regular basis. We’ve shopped at dozens and dozens of wine shops in New York, and always converse with sommeliers at restaurants, asking for their recommendations and learning from them. We are rarely disappointed, and more often are delighted with a new discovery. So, while we don’t claim to be experts on the more technical points of wine, we do know where we like to shop, what stores offer what, etc.
We feel fortunate to live in New York City and that’s in no small part to all of the people who have dedicated their lives to feeding the rest of us. Ethnic family food stores that have been around for generations, a master chocolatier from France who opens up shops around the city, a chef who has worked in the best of places in the Far East and Europe but has decided that Manhattan is where he wants to hang his toque, these are just a few of the many resources that we have at our doorstep. And we love it.
What we put on this website is highly personal. We really like to write about things that we enjoy, places that we’d like to go back to, meals simple or grand that are exceptional, and shops where the experience is fun and not a simple transaction. It’s really not our style to be edgy or nasty. Too many people work too hard, put in long days so the rest of us can be well fed. So, for the most part we only include enthusiastic recommendations and omit those places that don’t make the mark. But sometimes we do feel the need to issue a few cautionary remarks.
So, we hope that from time to time, the people and places that we write about might make your food and wine life a bit more rewarding.
Our Story
We were both born in Brooklyn and in our adult lives have lived in Brooklyn, the Upper West Side, Hell’s Kitchen and now Carnegie Hill, and for the past 20+ years, we’ve always ready to go to any neighborhood in any of five boroughs to find something good to eat. Some people might just go shopping to Ikea in Elizabeth New Jersey and return home. Not us. We come back via the Bayonne Bridge just so we can stop at Denino’s on Staten Island for pizza. When we go on a family trip to the Bronx Zoo, we have to eat at Dominick’s and then go shopping on Arthur Avenue picking up prosciutto rolls and other Italian treats. And on a regular weekday, we’ll go miles out of our way and walk the long avenues in Hell’s Kitchen just to buy a loaf of bread from Sullivan Street Bakery.
We are avid home cooks. On a daily basis, we love shopping for the best ingredients, and don’t think of it at all as an effort, but as an enjoyable activity. We carefully plan our special celebrations sometimes by mapping out an extravagant homemade meal, or more often by making reservations at an exceptional restaurant, including a mix of New York classics and the latest trends.
In 1986 we went to France on our honeymoon. We were in the Champagne region and ate at the then Michelin three-star restaurant, Boyer Les Crayeres. It was literally a life altering experience. How could food be this good? Up to that point, we never ate anything that was even closely comparable. Thus started a love affair with France that has only grown through the years. Our time spent there has educated us enormously on what it takes to deliver good ingredients and outstanding meals. We’ve traveled and eaten in every region in that country and since 2000 have had the good fortune of owning a tiny apartment in the St. Germain neighborhood on the Left Bank in Paris that gives us the opportunity to eat and cook like Parisians, when our schedules permit. (The spoken language is another story…)
Along the way, we became interested in wine. In 2000, we had a blast studying with Kevin Zraly in New York City at his renowned wine course. We have been to many of the major wine areas in France, Italy and California, and every year go on a buying trip in Burgundy. But much more of our education has come from simply buying and drinking on a regular basis. We’ve shopped at dozens and dozens of wine shops in New York, and always converse with sommeliers at restaurants, asking for their recommendations and learning from them. We are rarely disappointed, and more often are delighted with a new discovery. So, while we don’t claim to be experts on the more technical points of wine, we do know where we like to shop, what stores offer what, etc.
We feel fortunate to live in New York City and that’s in no small part to all of the people who have dedicated their lives to feeding the rest of us. Ethnic family food stores that have been around for generations, a master chocolatier from France who opens up shops around the city, a chef who has worked in the best of places in the Far East and Europe but has decided that Manhattan is where he wants to hang his toque, these are just a few of the many resources that we have at our doorstep. And we love it.
What we put on this website is highly personal. We really like to write about things that we enjoy, places that we’d like to go back to, meals simple or grand that are exceptional, and shops where the experience is fun and not a simple transaction. It’s really not our style to be edgy or nasty. Too many people work too hard, put in long days so the rest of us can be well fed. So, for the most part we only include enthusiastic recommendations and omit those places that don’t make the mark. But sometimes we do feel the need to issue a few cautionary remarks.
So, we hope that from time to time, the people and places that we write about might make your food and wine life a bit more rewarding.
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