Chef Pepe Moncayo Takes Diners on a Tour Through Spain at Arrels - Eater DC
"Introducing all these specialty Spanish dishes while also balancing an upcoming breakfast menu and shared kitchen with the Bodega by Arrels, on the other side of the lobby, is also a challenge. The market serves quick, under-$25 lunches made in 10 minutes that “cross-utilizes ingredients” from the larger restaurant. Paella rice will be cooked up in advance and quickly fried up into a “paella fried rice” for 9-to-5 workers on the go and a Spanish twist on the classic American breakfast combines the main menu’s patatas bravas with butifarra (simple Catalan sausage also served as hot dogs at the bar), bacon, and eggs. Even the high-end tinned seafood and chips, which Moncayo painstakingly sourced from four different distributors to bring in from Spain, will be on sale at the bodega and also served at Arrel’s chill bar area. A chargrilled medium rare tuna belly with olive sauce at Arrels will be repurposed in a confit topping off a salad at the bodega. Later, that same tuna will be found in hand rolls at a rooftop bar, called ART, that’s coming in December. The small kitchen space upstairs will mostly serve up raw fish in hand rolls and other Japanese dishes that Moncayo has become known for at Cranes for the last four years. Beverage director Ferit Ozergul, who’s manned the bar at Cranes for almost three years, will be making cocktails that mix in Japanese flavors at the rooftop bar, while classic gin and tonics, plus sherry and vermouth-forward drinks to pair with the Spanish food downstairs." - Emily Venezky
