Viva paella!
Vicky Cristina Tapas and Wine Bar warms up winter with a paella festival: 10 variations on the hearty Mediterranean dish from Spain.
Vicky Cristina is a restaurant—or two—for any mood: a large, colorful venue with music for a festive evening, or a smaller, more intimate venue for someplace quieter or romantic. The good news is the same exceptional food and drink is available at both Vicky and Cristina—including during these winter months, when the restaurant famous for its tapas is celebrating paella, a Spanish treat worthy of a festival.
Perusing the menu at Vicky Cristina is best done while sipping wine, from an extensive international wine list that features no fewer than 14 vintages that can be ordered by the glass. In cold weather, it’s tough to beat the house red sangria, served warm with chunks of apple, slices of orange and sticks of fragrant cinnamon.
Food choices have also been given an upgrade this winter, in the form of the 2017 Paella Festival. Paella, of course, is a rice-based dish in which various ingredients and spices are simmered together in a huge pan; and in fact, the impressive pan and cooking process can be observed at Vicky Cristina during the festival, at a special station in full view of diners.
For the festival, Vicky Cristina’s chefs have come up with 10 creative variations on the basic paella, including two vegan options. Most of the paellas feature fish and seafood, which are the most common ingredients in the Spanish originals. But other ingredients are also featured, and the seasonings vary as well, even though it’s hard to beat the classic saffron.
During the festival, the paellas are served in small skillets—ideally portioned to enable tasting two, or even three, different combinations over the course of an evening. We started with the most traditional: mariscos—assorted seafood—in which the perfectly seasoned rice was studded generously with fresh shrimp, calamari, mussels and blue crab.
Tempted as we were to try yet another of the remaining eight paellas, since this was our first visit to Vicky Cristina we wanted to try at least a few of the tapas on the menu. Our waiter recommended one of the specials—the sirloin: two slices of steak, grilled medium-well, and served alongside mashed purple sweet potato. The meat was succulent, and the creamy sweet potato the ideal complement.
The waiter also insisted we try the restaurant’s signature dish: mini hamburgers, with garlic aioli, caramelized onion and a film of melted cheddar. The burgers weighed only 45 grams, but they were plump, juicy and bursting with flavor.
The cheese tapas goes especially well with any of the wines: a trio of Manchego, chèvre and Gouda, the savory cheeses paired intriguingly with sweet cherries. The cheese comes with excellent crusty sourdough bread, as well tomato salsa, olive oil and garlic.
Even though there are only four desserts, choosing among them was still difficult. It is always hard to resist the typically Spanish churros; in the end, however, we once again went with our waiter’s suggestions, starting with the decadently rich, sweet and authentic crema Catalan.
An equally pleasing ending to a meal at Vicky Cristina comes in the form of an extraordinary sundae: vanilla ice cream crafted on the premises, drenched in hazelnut sauce, topped with candied cashews, and finished off with an almond tuile. Enough said.
Vicky Cristina
Not kosher
Hatachana, Tel Aviv
Tel. (03) 736-7272
