Oro Bar
Broome Street between Mott and Lafayette is that nowhere-zone where Nolita melts into whatever’s left of Little Italy. You wouldn’t go out of your way to come here—unless, like me, you’ve suddenly become addicted to the Basque snacks at the gorgeously well-curated Spanish food shop Despaña. Or to the handmade candies and lollipops at Papabubble. Or to the two drinks-for-one happy hour special at Oro Bakery and Bar across the street. Together they make a wicked trio of savory/sweet/liquor-ific joy, especially in the middle of frenzied last-minute xmas shopping. Plus they’re all within a block or two of each other.
As I sped around on the icy sidewalks today, trying not to break my neck during my last-minute tear of shopping around Nolita and at the Gifted market (the holidays-only Manhattan spinoff of the Brooklyn Flea), I stopped by for some Basque tapas from the takeout counter at Despaña, which now also has some tables in back if you can spare a few minutes to sit. My new favorite thing to eat here: the Flautas Castañas, small sandwiches of salchicon sausage, goat cheese, and pickled piquillo peppers on a mini-baguette, sweetened with a dab of chestnut cream. Mind-blowing deliciousness. At $5.50, they’re a bit pricey as snacks go, but one could’ve held me over in a happy stupor for a couple of hours at least. But I couldn’t resist also trying the Pintxo Asturiana—a tapas-size ($3.50) wedge of crusty bread topped with luxuriously tender morcilla (blood sausage) and pickled piquillo peppers—after having just spent a half-hour hearing a Spanish-Colombian couple rhapsodize about Despaña’s morcilla at a holiday party. I remembered how much I love it. It’s not for everyone, morcilla. But once you’re a convert there’s no going back.
Two blocks east on Broome, at the NYC branch of Barcelona’s Papabubble—a slightly surreal Wonka-esque candy store where you can watch the staff roll out Technicolor handmade candy on the countertop, then buy the results in the form of swirly lollipops or old-fashioned hard candies—I picked up some $5 bags of banana and pink-grapefruit drops. Certain little kids I know would go nuts in this shop, but some of the candy flavors here are more adult-geared, like the fiercely good, spicy-sweet mang0-chile. The bags make great stocking-stuffers; the bigger jar sizes, inspired hostess gifts for the sweet-toothed, or the unapologetically regressed.
If you suddenly need a drink once you’re done with Despana and Papabubble—and who doesn’t after a Basque blood-sausage snack followed by sugary psychedelia—hit Oro across the street for some boozy, candlelit R&R. If you’re there at happy hour, between 4 and 8pm, you’ll get a free second round of wine, beer, sake, or champagne. Happiest of holidays to all.