"If Xerta looks fancy, that’s because it is. Gentlemen in sharp suits and ladies with purses that look like they cost more than college tuition come to this cream-colored restaurant surrounded by a terrarium-like garden inside of the Ohla Eixample hotel for the over-the-top, seafood-forward tasting menus. The arroz—made with ingredients from the marshy wetlands of the Delta del Ebro region south of Barcelona, where most of Catalonia sources its rice is worthy of Willy Wonka’s factory: it emerges from a miniature thatched house with a smoking chimney and caviar-topped tuna sashimi is served on a bed of dry ice. You can sample it à la carte, or during the 8- and 11-course dinner (€105-€135) and more down-to-earth €55 weekday lunch." - isabelle kliger