La Vara
“For food, you want to go for the bold flavors–fried chickpeas doused in a smokey paprika, artichokes with an amazing aioli, escalivada with romesco.”
“The cordero, cumin roasted lamb, tasted like a confit, with an addictive zingy preserved lemon and date condiment.”
“Dishes I recommend because you shouldn't live without:
1) Berenjena con Miel (crispy eggplant w/honey, melted cheese & nigella seed)…”
La Vara
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Overall: overpriced small portions that are unimpressive
Cucumber salad – Just a simple salad with feta cheese.
Lamb meatballs – Packed with spices.
Stuffed Rabbit – Tender and chewy, but comes in only 3 small pieces.
Pork – The best thing I've eaten here that is also decently sized. Super crispy outside and full of flavor.
Dessert Special – Dough donut with ice cream with espresso poured over it. Dough donut and ice cream by itself would've been awesome, but they went and ruined it. The espresso made the donut super soggy and bitter. Who likes a soggy, bitter donut?? This was the worst dessert I've ever had.
I had high expectations for la vara after recommendations from friends and they hype. The flatbread was a laughably small portion. Most of the portions were on the small side which made it difficult to share some of the dishes. I really liked the paella but wasn't wowed by anything.
Unlike some of the other reviewers, I WILDLY enjoyed my first experience at La Vara, about a month after they opened. It was a birthday dinner there (for myself) and the meal was delicious and memorable in all the best ways. Exquisite execution of unique dishes and ingredients. A quality meal and great service. I very much looked forward to returning.
Fast-forward to NYE 2014. I tried to book La Vara for a NYE dinner, about two months in advance of the date. They accepted my reservation. I sat smug and looked forward to the meal. About a week later, they left me a voicemail saying they decided not to be open that night, and, oh well…sorry! Admittedly, I landed on my feet with a reservation at Brooklyn Fare for NYE, but still, why take orders for a special dining night and then decide to close? That was a head scratcher.
Fast-forward to last week. My fiancé and I are moving out of the neighborhood and I had been telling him about my amazing La Vara meal for so long I thought I should treat him to a dinner there before we upped sticks entirely. The meal was 'meh' for both of us. The portions have become ridiculously small for the price. We ordered three smaller plates and two larger, and then ordered a third larger dish to try and achieve that happy-full feeling. Of the smaller plates, the fried artichokes stood out, but mainly because nothing else did. The biggest offender was the anchovy dish that arrived with 4 slivers of anchovy and 3 pieces of bread to eat them with. For a table of 2. I mean, come on La Vara. You couldn't have sprung for that 4th disc of baguette? Pitiful. Our third smaller plate was the anchovy dish which looked like a puddle of watery tomato and a few headless fish drowning in it's lifeless waters.
At this point I was hoping for a miracle with the other dishes, but it never happened.
For larger plates, we ordered the rabbit loin (which was tender, but the accompanying compote/salad was overly sweet). The Red Spanish prawns (TWO PRAWNS. TWO. ONE – TWO. THAT'S IT.) were delicious, but there were TWO. And, the pasta paella. They use a matchstick shape of pasta that looked (and tasted) a bit like Lipton Cup O'Soup. Not that I think they use this there, but you could basically get the same mouth feel and flavor sensation buying a packet of the soup and added a couple of chewy clams and the teeniest sliver of calamari.
We did not stay for dessert as most of the options were dull and predictable. We saw one of the fig cakes being brought out to a neighboring table, but it looked like little more than a big Fig Newton with a splodge of cream on it.
Five stars for our server, who was exceedingly friendly and pleasant. 2 stars for the food.
Fancy lil neighborhood haunt.
FOOD: The suckling pig and cucumber salad were the favorites. You should get these if it's your first time here. Forego the fried chickpeas and seafood gazpacho for one of the many other tasty apps.
DRINK: The tempranillo rosé was moderately priced, dry and delicious.
DESSERT: nothing on the dessert menu enticed us to stay. And with so many good local ice cream and dessert spots you might as well walk around the neighborhood.
Came here to celebrate a friend's birthday. I made the reservations and we had a few changes, but they were very accommodating.
Between the 4 of us, we ordered 12 plates to share. Our waitress was incredibly cool and approved our choices; she even adjusted some of the serving sizes to fit what she thought would be sufficient for our group. We started off with a pitcher of red sangria… pretty standard and tasty. It was enough for 5 full glasses.
Here's the line up of what we ordered on the menu… plus a few specials they had that night:
Alcachofas (fried artichokes) – I enjoyed these, but it was probably our least favorite dish
Berenjena con miel (crispy eggplant) – SO GOOD. Everyone throughly enjoyed it.
Huevos Rellenos (deviled eggs) – If you love deviled eggs, you will love theirs! If you don't care for DE's then you'll likely find these to be meh?
Pincho de Cueta (chicken hearts w/ fresh herb salad) – the combination of the chicken heart and salad was good, but on their own the hearts were…. different/interesting. My group couldn't decide whether or not they liked it, but I thought it was a good dish for the more adventurous eater.
Cordero al ajo Cabañil (roasted lamb breast) – This was really awesome… it was more like pulled lamb meat put together into a log and seared a second time. Def get this dish!
Albóndigas (lamb meatballs) – these were yummy and a perfect dish to share… not mind blowing, but the meatballs were cooked perfectly and flavor was good with great sauce
Fideuà (paella) – VERY small portion, BUT very good… they use short thin pasta noodles in lieu of rice, plus a white sauce that oddly made the dish reminiscent of chicken and rice… except in seafood form if that makes any sense. Came with clams, octopus, and shrimp.
Butifarra con Mongetes (Catalan sausage) – meh… the sausage was decent on it's own, but we agreed that the greens it came with took away from it's flavor
Cochinillo (suckling pig) – WINNER WINNER PORK DINNER! You have to get this dish. SO delicious. Our table's favorite of the night…. and I saw a bunch of suckling pig orders coming out of the kitchen. Nice portion size too.
The specials… I can't remember any of the names, but will describe:
Poached egg over asparagus and mushrooms – unfortunately the poached egg was overcooked and was a disservice to the dish. The yolk was over medium and the rest was forgettable.
Duck breast – very thinly sliced duck breast with what kind of tasted like a chimichurri sauce… cooked perfectly, but forgettable and disappointing as well
Salted Doran (I think that's the name? It was fish) – this was great and very enjoyable
I feel conflicted, because most of the dishes were well done and better than average… but it was so expensive and I don't feel that it was worth the price. Our bill came out to about $243 for 4 people, but I think we could've gotten our monies worth elsewhere with the same caliber. So while it was a good experience overall, it is too pricey to justify a return visit.
I had dinner here with my parents and my boyfriend when my parents were visiting NYC. It's not cheap, so it's a great place to go when your parents are treating you! 🙂 I made us a reservation about a week in advance, which I would recommend since the place is small. There are two booths by the windows in the front-perfect for larger groups. There is also seating at the bar, and then one table that seats probably 10 people, and then a small number of 2 person tables behind that. We sat at the 10 person table (be prepared to sit close to other parties!) The hostess and our waiter were both very welcoming and patient. The food came out at a good pace and our waiter even offered to chill our bottle of wine to my dad's liking.
The space felt clean and simple in the best way. The exposed brick, the lighting, the minimalist decor, and the white furniture were all perfect.
Now for the food! We had:
-spiced fried chickpeas — We loved these!! They had a lot of flavor–cumin, I think? They were so simple but super flavorful and addicting.
-cucumber and grain salad — Also really yummy! Again, super simple but flavorful and refreshing. A nice contrast to the salty and fried dishes.
-noodle paella — Not my favorite. Didn't have much flavor.
-Catalan sausage — This was good except that I was expecting one large sausage. This was a skinny sausage wound around a few times.
-Spanish red shrimp — Really good! Each plate comes with 2 large shrimp-lots of flavor. Expensive though.
-duck special — Delicious! This was done perfectly.
I only wish we'd ordered the suckling pig! We meant to but forgot by the end of the meal.
For dessert we had tres leches flavored custard. This is was okay but I would probably get the ice cream or almond cake next time.
Tapas style places are nice because they draw out the meal and allow people to just sit, relax, and talk. No one is in a rush or busy scarfing down their meal because each plate comes out as it's ready, and everyone just eats a little of each one. We had a really wonderful dinner here! My only complaint is that it does get loud, so don't go with anyone who is hard of hearing!
Came to this place on a weekday, recommend making reservations.
We had the red sangria which was absolutely delightful! Definitely recommend, they give you a heaping glass (but lots of ice so I guess it is pretty normal).
This place does tapas so you share pretty much everything. The shishito peppers were incredible, and like candy, very addicting with the crisp charred and salt. We had gotten the Escalvida which was an onion dish, pretty yummy as well. They brought out a complimentary tasting of a carrot which was soft sweet and unlike anything I had?! I found myself asking what this was and what I was enjoying!? I wasn't crazy about the blue fish special which you can get one or two fillets (we split one). I don't think I enjoyed the sauce or the fish, buuuut my friend did enjoy it, so you be the judge. Last but not least the chicken was a must, end of story, definitely try, you can't go wrong! Dessert we got a rhubarb sauce with ice cream which didn't disappoint.
The restaurant recommends splitting 5-6 plates between 2 people and I think this is perfect, they also give you bread. Mmmm mmmm good!
Very creative, well prepared dishes in a beautiful setting. The patio is particularly nice, with a few tables right next to a big tree trunk.
There are many vegetarian options. I recommend the eggplant and honey dish and the Persian salad. The pasta is pretty good too.