Restaurant Review: Pamplona

Last week I finally convinced Andrew to throw aside his wrestling-induced anorexia and come out to eat with me at Pamplona, the new-ish Spanish restaurant around the corner from his apartment I had been dying to visit. I had seen Frank Bruni's review in the Times the day before and decided it was definitely time we go-- especially considering I hadn't eaten Spanish food since my return from Spain almost two years ago.

Dining at Pamplona was definitely one of those experiences where you are just so happy at the end because nearly everything goes perfectly. We experienced a bit of a wait to be sat at our table at the beginning, but after that, it was smooth sailing. Everything we tasted was delicious, and Pamplona's large selection of small plates certainly lent itself to quite a bit of tasting. The waiter suggested that perhaps we try two tapas and two appetizers; but that didn't quite work for me. We decided to go with three tapas and three appetizers.

The restaurant immediately wowed us, beginning with the bread basket. While the bread was typical of any restaurant you would find throughout Spain, the accompanying oil, a bright green color enhanced by garlic, was a welcome diversion. From the tapas section of the menu, we chose the bunuelos de queso, small fried balls filled with a mix of three cheeses- Iberico, Manchego and Cheddar, the chickpea fries, and the eggplant meatballs in a sweet-ish sauce. Cracking through the crisp outer shell into the creamy, cheesy center of the bunuelo was knee-weakening. The chickpea fries, small fried squares with a pepper accompaniment atop, were just as tasty, and Andrew, a decided non-fan of meatballs, even went back and snatched the third, and final, meatball before I had the chance.

From the entradas section, we opted for a mini lasagna flavored with salsa verde and bursting with a fresh crab meat center, a dish of plump, poached shrimp sitting in a creamy manchego rice with chorizo sauce, and a lobster salad featuring three of the most meaty, perfectly-textured lobster meat I've tasted, accented by avocado.

By this time, I was utterly stuffed, but not having dessert was obviously not an option, and much to my surprise, Andrew threw himself completely into the game and insisted we order not one, but two. I chose the bunuelos de chocolate, a chocolate version of the cheese balls from earlier, alongside a lemon ice cream. Andrew, as expected, went for the Tarta de Turron, a chocolate and almond mousse cake. And even I, a decided non-fan of mousse, found my spoon stealing numerous samples of Andrew's cake in between bites of bunuelo.