Aldea

Aldea - Highly Recommended
31 West 17th Street
New York, NY 10011
212- 675-7223

At last, the highly anticipated George Mendes restaurant has opened.
And according to many reliable sources, Chef Mendes hasn't missed a beat. Formerly the Chef at Tocqueville, Mendes returns to the kitchen with nothing less than a mouth watering menu.





















I had the pleasure of dining at Aldea last Thursday (yes, just a few hours after my heroic lunch at Bar Artisanal) with some friends, and it was spectacular.

The menu is inspired by the Iberian Peninsula and Mendes’ heritage. The chef adds a modern, seasonal approach to create a menu perfectly balanced between rusticity and refinement. His menu includes a variety of shellfish, various preparations of salt-cod, or bacalao, rice dishes and Iberian-cured hams.

I loved everything about the restaurant. The decor is modern, sexy, and the hospitality (for the most part) is spot on.
A colleague of mine had gone a few nights earlier and sat next to Danny Meyer himself.
After the meal, Danny congratulated George on a great opening and showered him with compliment after compliment.
I now know why. The food is amazing and extremely reasonably priced.
There is no doubt in my mind I will be back within the next few months to try George's next seasonal menu.
It truly is a real treat to eat his food.