Toro – No Bull

I caught wind about Toro extremely early, as it’s co-owned by a close friend of mine from Cornell, who also owns Willow Road. Although I have never rooted for anything Boston (along with most other New York sports fans), the concept, space, and talent behind Toro justified the buzz and I couldn’t wait to be able to try it.

After a failed attempt to get a Pants event booked shortly after it opened, I was able to have a fun dinner at Toro with the help of another Cornell buddy who happens to be an investor, and could easily bypass the “5PM or 10PM” hostess script. Since there have been superfluous reviews of Toro, I’ll keep this one succinct – the scene and food are in line with the hype, and despite being one block too far west, I’d saddle up to the bar or the chef’s table here any night I’m lucky enough to get in the door at a decent hour.

After trekking to the Westside Highway to find the entrance on an extremely cold and windy night, I was pleasantly surprised at how warm the space is despite its high ceilings and large windows. I left the bitter NYC winter behind, and entered a “hot spot” – literally and figuratively, with it’s packed bar (even at 6PM) and rising noise levels complimenting the warm wood and brick paneling on the walls – not to mention the staff in trendy flannel shirts.

Upon being seated, we bypassed the drink list to order a Spanish red (it was a Monday night,  unfortunately we weren’t about to break out the porron!), and once that was taken care of, I glanced at the menu and was immediately overwhelmed. It is absolutely huge! While I loved my company, I secretly wished I came with 5 more people just to be able to try more items on the menu as there must have been over 50 pinchos/tapas/platos to choose from. Luckily, I was with a Toro VIP, and therefore had some help picking out what the best items were.

We ordered some shishitos to munch on while we made decisions, and then our meal started with the Erizos con Caviar – a little directmedicationsonline.com spoon from heaven – with caviar, sea urchin and quail egg, topped with iberico jamon. I really don’t know how this could possibly be bad, but I wish I could have one of these spoons every day – would make for a perfect happy hour!

Next out were the Setas, warm, marinated mushrooms topped with yet another egg, razor clams with pepper, garlic and lemon, and Ensalada Cortada, a yummy, crunchy salad to break things up. While I don’t love the texture of razor clams, these were incredibly delicious and went down easy. The mushrooms were fabulous, nothing too fancy but cooked and seasoned perfectly, and the salad was a welcome addition to this round of delectables.

Although I was starting to get full, we weren’t even close to finished yet… Out came the chicken and potato empanadas, the low point of the meal, as they had a really thick crust and lacked much other flavor. All of that was forgotten once we were presented with the lobster and black truffle paella, and a sick bowl of creamy corn that was basically what I’d call “crack corn.” The paella, while the flavor was different and the truffle was sparse (a good thing), was delicious, and the rice was perfectly crispy (socarrat) along the sides and bottom of the pan. I couldn’t stop eating this, and only did to shovel in the corn, served off the cob with lime, pepper, and cheese.

When dinner was over, we were given a sneak peek at Back Bar, the latest venture from Will Malnati and Doug Jacob, and since it recently opened, have heard it’s yet another success.  I promised I wouldn’t post a picture, however there are plenty on Instagram now…

Besides the name, the only thing that’s “bull” about toro is how tough it is to get a reservation… When you do, bring a group so you can try lots of bites!