Mercat A La Planxa has some great dishes, and we found everything out of the kitchen to be well-prepared and again, proportioned for more than two people. We ordered eight dishes and that was too many. We could have stopped at six, due to both stomach space and time. But what we ordered? Good stuff.
Flash-fried Padrón peppers –Pimentos de padrón – with salbitxada and sea-salt were tasty. We got these based on the fact that we’d liked them at Txori in Seattle.
Wasn’t sure how this was going to go, but we got bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with almonds. Turns out, it’s my favourite of the night. Not as date-tasting as you’d think. Lovely. I want to try and replicate this at home. Great char.
The Morcilla (blood sausage) was nicely grilled up and tasty.
Calçots are charred green onions with salbitxada. I quite liked these sweet and caramelized onions, but there was too much for us, so we didn’t finish.
I didn’t remember actually ordering Pulpo con patatas – Spanish octopus, confit potato, smoked paprika – but we must have because we ordered dishes in pairs (and we didn’t get a third dish that round). Octopus was perfectly cooked and it was a nice taste. But we were getting full and we had three dishes to go…
We got a Gambas con garbanzos flat-bread. Shrimp, chorizo, & garbanzo bean purée. Nice crust, shrimp was not over done.
Though we were way too full now, we had already ordered the sausage-stuffed rabbit leg with creamed escarole, rock shrimp, & whole-grain mustard, jus. Didn’t like the rabbit leg as much – found it a bit dry – but loved the rest of the dish.
Was excited to try the Paella Negra with calamari, octopus and Chipirones. Didn’t get a thorough taste of this, as we had to run to our next reservation, but what I did have was pretty good. A bit salty, but good crusting of the rice on the pan.
Right! So we paid, ran off, and got ready for our next reservation – dessert tasting at TRU!
- Mercat De La Planxa 638 Michagan Ave. Chicago
- Menu on flickr
More at Mercat De La Planxa
[flickr-gallery mode=”photoset” photoset=”72157624238754187″]
July 6, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Love that I found your blog, after searching for current reviews of Mercat a la Planxa. Finally trying it this coming weekend with out-of-town friends and am pleased to see the food still seems top-rate. Great site. I’ll be back for more!
July 13, 2010 at 12:52 pm
I’m glad you like the site! Hope you enjoyed your visit to Mercat – I thought the food was quite good, though the space is really almost cavernous. Not bad, but not what I was expecting at all!