Pic courtesy of Gothamist.com
One of the best things about Gramercy’s small Spanish restaurant Casa Mono is that if you’re stuck waiting for your table, you can hit the tapas joint Bar Jamon around the corner for a pre-dinner Iberico ham gorge. And if you can’t quite cram into the tightly jammed Jamon, you can…try to get a last-minute table at Mono without a reservation? (Good luck with that.) However oversubscribed and high-maintenance both places can be, Mario Batali and company had the foresight to open the sibling restaurants right near each other—to double your pleasure or pain, depending on how you see it. Casa Mono: Fiercely flavorful Spanish-Mediterranean food (confited goat with saffron honey; soft-shell crab with Meyer lemon aioli; morcilla sausage with chanterelles) in a miniscule dining room. Jamon: An impeccable mix of Spanish cheeses, wines—and hams, naturally—in a Madrid-style, standing-only tapas bar.
Casa Mono: 52 Irving Pl. between 17th & 18th Sts.; (212) 253-2773. Bar Jamon: 125 E. 17th St. at Irving Pl.; (212) 253-2773.
Prices/Features: MOD (See Welcome to Salmaland for key to letter abbreviations.)