Boqueria

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Like its namesake market and jamón mecca in Barcelona, a visit to Boqueria's crowded Flatiron location is sensory surfeit—clanging glassware, sizzling sea creatures, sharp elbows angling for a table, and an order of Ibérico at the no-reservations shoebox. The restaurant's chef, Seamus Mullen, who also runs the kitchen at Suba, takes pride in the chaos. "The fun with Boqueria is that you do stand and wait," says Mullen. "It's our way of forcing people to eat the way they do in Spain."

And boy can the Spanish eat—and not just paella, thank you very much—with Mullen earning a following by serving the fruits (and pork) of the nation: classic tapas dishes like bacalao, croquettes and serrano, in concert with offbeat seasonal grub like truffled lamb sausage with lentils and hake tongue.

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Flatiron restaurants, Spanish restaurants, Tapas restaurants