El Meson

213 Washington Avenue Cuisines: Spanish

About

In an elegantly rustic setting reminiscent of an old Spanish hacienda, this restaurant serves up enticing tapas and dynamic entertainment. The service is efficient and knowledgeable. My favorite tapas are the steamed mussels in herbs and the blue-crab cakes with a garlic-caper aioli. But most of all I can't pass up the paella here, made the way the Spaniards do in Valencia with prawns, calamari, shrimp, mussels, chicken, and chorizo all cooked slowly with saffron rice. For dessert, try the tres leches, one of the creamiest concoctions imaginable. Chispa!, the neighboring tapas bar, offers live entertainment -- jazz combos, guitar duos -- Tuesday through Saturday nights. Most notable are the tango Tuesdays, in which the city's tango adepts turn out to burn up the floor.

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