El Porron is located at 1123 First Avenue at 61st Street and is open for lunch and dinner on Sunday to Thursday from 12 PM – 11PM and on Friday to Saturday from 12 PM – 12AM. For reservations, please call 212-207-8349.
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Authentic Spanish Cuisine Hits The Upper East Side
If you’ve never used a porron before, just look at the exuberant how-to photos lining the walls of El Porron, This amazing Spanish Tasca. The latest project by Gonzalo “Mr. G” Bermeo of Long Island City’s much-loved El Boqueron,
An ode to the Catalan blown-glass vessel that pours wine through a point spout that leads directly into your mouth, El Porron is decidedly a family affair, conceived by Mr. G with his son and front-of-house director, Diego (an astonishing knowledgeable and professional young man) and executed with the teamwork of his Poconos-based restaurateur brother, Mario. 
The Sparklingly Attractive Dining Room (Above) Supports Fine Dining in the True Sense of the Word
At the heart of its mission, El Porron aims to recreate the best of Spain’s culinary and cultural offerings, all from its brick-walled, contemporarily outfitted slice of the Upper East Side. After traveling their native Spain extensively, Mr. G and Diego broke down their experiences and translated them to a New York state of mind: an endless array of Spanish wine bottles lining the restaurant’s shelves and bar, There are lovely flowers, comfortable banquettes, and terrific lighting. Service is warm and helpful.
Regional dishes to exemplify the country’s broad offerings, and a meticulous sense of authenticity and pride in developing the menu and wine list’s unconventional offerings. Don’t let the reasonable prices deceive you. El Porron is a class act.
A night at El Porron may start with cold tapas, then hot—stay for entrees and paella or a linger longer for a flight of Spanish wines and sangrias.
Open the appetite with the Escalibada al Estilo de la Abuela, a cold salad of roasted eggplant, red peppers, sweet onions and salted cod, all with a lightly pickled flavor at once sweet, tangy, and refreshing. Queso manchego con membrillo kicks up a classic combo of cheese and quince by piling it onto raisin pecan bread—a sweet and salty number with real pizzazz. 
Hot tapas benefit from Mr. G’s love affair with sauces. A best-seller of calamares al ajillo (Above) sounds no different from other versions until it arrives at the table: whole, pillowy tubules of fresh baby squid redolent of the white wine and garlic flavors that explode on the palette with unusual brightness. It’s impossible to resist sopping up the briny, spicy wine sauce with the bread alongside. Pulpo a la Gallega, a traditional dish from Galicia, is equally addicting, with sliced chunks of tender octopus, spicy and sweet, slathered in a sauce of house-made Spanish pimenton and Mediterranean sea salt.
Those who prefer dishes from the land—admittedly a minority in Spain—will find good company at El Porron, where traditional albondigas de ternera, or veal meatballs, are among the best that the city has to offer. Impossibly tender with the crunch of slivered almonds atop, they’re served in a clay dish filled with the leek, carrot, celery and tomato stew that gives them their delicately balanced flavor.
A baby Lamb Chop (special) was available in both tapas or entree portion ($15 or $28). It was tender and succulent. Let’s hope it becomes a regular.
Some favorites can be ordered as tapas portions or entrees, such as the Vieras con Tocino, or bacon-topped scallops—a Navarran classic. Covered in a bacon crumble rather than getting the more typical wrap-around treatment, they’re a delicate pleasure served in a velvety white asparagus sauce whose earthiness makes an unexpected pair for the mostly oceanic flavors. Also a surprise? The grilled tiger shrimp, or gambas a la plancha—they traditionally eat the shells in Spain, which explains the amazing concentration of sweetly charred flavor on their crispy exterior.
Heartier entrees include a Pollo con Pisto—the Spanish take on ratatouille—with eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and onion atop a juicy portion of grilled chicken breast. Salmon Fresco a la Plancha makes for a lovely summertime treat as well: the farm-raised catch gets a pick-me-up from a citrus-berry reduction to contrast its natural fishiness.
Adventurous souls must order the Mollejas Al Espuma De Cava Y Ajo * crispy sauteed sweetbreads in a garlic & cava reduction, served over julienned seasonal roasted vegetables and the miraculous Callos Madrilenos mildly spicy stew of braised tripe, chorizo, pig’s feet, morcillo & assorted traditional meats-a madrid classic that puts the French version to shame.
The whole spread can be washed down with a bottle of wine or a few glasses apiece—either way, the all-Spanish list contains an abundance of rare varietals that aren’t to be missed. Txakolina is a Basque favorite—an up-and-coming, hard-to-find effervescent wine that’s drunk as commonly as water abroad. Albarino, a grape whose popularity is just starting to climb here in the States, comes in three varieties at El Porron, making for a fascinating tasting flight by the glass. Prefer more traditional Spanish reds like Tempranillo, Rioja, or Garnacha? They’re all on the list, available by the bottle or the glass, hand-picked by Diego after extensive tasting throughout Spain’s best vineyards. (Check out Monastrell (Mourvedre) hails from Yecla, a small and rather obscure wine region in Southeastern Spain, near Jumilla. Very dark reddish-purple in color, it shows almost a bluish cast and an off-beat white, incorporating a blend of five local grapes, producing a sprightly and engaging food companion.
Whichever route you go, save room for dessert, which, in keeping with the theme, brings some of Spain’s less-exported traditions stateside. Favorites include the Flan de Mocca, a coffee-infused flan made with Colombian coffee, and the Torrejas, or strips of French toast soaked in Rioja and caramelized to a brulee-like exterior.
It’s all executed by Mr. G himself, drawing on his 25+ years in the business beginning at El Cid and most recently culminating at El Boqueron, where the influences of his once-mentor Clemente Boscos and other notable Spanish chefs earned him his reputation as a tapas authority in his own right. The emphasis is on sauce
s that amplify the scope of traditional tapas preparations, making them more exotic, exciting, and compelling as a whole
One of the few restaurants in this area of town that dares to break the tried-and-true Italian mold, El Porron brings serious Spanish food and wine to lucky residents of the upper east side and lays claim to being the finest Spanish kitchen in New York City.
Torrejas, or strips of French toast soaked in Rioja (Above)
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