Pata Negra

Press

Pata Negra:
Intimate, quiet, and about the size of your studio-apartment living room, this East Village hideaway is definitely not a place to shake off the work-week woes by getting rowdy. Instead, chill out Spanish style with wine and tapas. Named after the black-hoofed pig, Pata Negra offers up cured jamon iberico (a delicacy recently approved for import) on the simple ham and cheese menu, but the focus is on dozens of Spanish wines. Make sure to go during the daily “siesta” from 5 to 7:30 p.m., featuring $5 glasses of wine or sangria and free tapas, and leave the work talk at the office for once. Stay long enough and friendly owner Chef Rafael Mateo just may offer you a shot from his secret stash of mescal.

a really terrific crew running this place only serve to compliment small but tasty patitas y queso. Great place to have a nice - no good glass of wine and snack.

Food Rating star star star star
Service Rating star star star star
Posted on 04/28/08

quality ingredients, excellent service, cozy space. small and very approachable wine list. try the jamon iberico, lomo and desgustacion. will return to try the jamon iberico de bellota.

Overview
Spanish wine and small plates at this new bar from Rafael Mateo, the former manager of Ostia. Closed Mondays.
Outside Reviews
Chef Mateo's Bog
{Full review}

It has been a long arduous process with many a story to tell…
Citysearch
{Full review}

Editorial Review for Pata Negra – by Laura Norkin

In Short
Flickering candles and flamenco music make Ostia owner Rafael Mateo's latest wine bar feel more like Southern Spain than the East Village, even before the ex-pat, accented waitress appears at your table. Space is maximized with individual barstool-level tables, which allow for easy conversation among the after-work set and the casual more-wine-less-dine crowd. Each of the more than 30 wines on the list are from Spain, as is the tapas-style small plate menu, which features delicacies like Lomo (cured pork loin) and La Mancha (Butifarra sausage, Mahon cheese and red bell pepper spread).

Hits: A bonus list of an additional 30-odd monthly reserve wines ($50 - $145) enhances the already well-rounded menu, and the owner manages to please particular palates by recommending glasses from the full-bodied Almansa to a triple-grape Oda.

Misses: The pork-centric menu leaves vegetarians with nothing but cheese plates, while vegans are stuck drinking their dinner--at least there's fruit in Sangria.

Profile

This slender, dimly lit space is owner Rafael Mateo’s shrine to Spanish swine. The menu showcases jamón, from salty, deep-red Serrano—Spain’s house ham—to one of the world’s priciest cured meat, jamón ibérico, which comes from the black-hooved (pata negra) pigs who forage for acorns across the country’s oak-cloaked southwest. Mateo timed the opening of his restaurant with the 2008 lifting of U.S. restrictions on this Iberian delicacy, which he orders from the first Spanish slaughterhouse certified to export here. The dark-purple ham, streaked with yellowish fat, is nutty and creamy, melting on the tongue like earthy, pork-scented butter. “It’s ham candy,” says Mateo. Also on offer are simple sandwiches and imported cheeses from Murray’s; manchego and la serena make sharp, tangy contrasts to the rich cured meats. The cocoonlike interior has only a handful of high tables topped with flickering candles, a frosted-glass front window, and billowing burgundy curtains around the door. Mateo’s wine list is small but well curated with a focus on the herbaceous, leathery reds of Rioja, which make for perfect sipping while Spanish tunes from Manu Chao to wistful bolero love songs purr over the speakers. — AnneLise Sorensen

Recommended Dishes
Jamón serrano, $12; Jamón ibérico de bellota, $35; Manchego cheese, $5.

Dining & Wine
April 9, 2008

"Pata Negra in the East Village serves Spanish hams — glistening jamón Ibérico is among the world’s great delicacies — cheeses and tidbits, with Spanish wines, of course."