"$25 and Under:
Nuevo Latino Came and Went, but Hold On"
By Eric Asimov
9.26.01

"...The chef, Aarón Sanchez, who is also a partner, has an impressive lineage. He is the son of Zarela Martínez of Zarela and the new Danzón, and he has cooked for Paul Prudhomme and Douglas Rodriguez, the godfather of nuevo Latino cooking in New York. He was the chef at the former L-Ray and at Isla...Perhaps his experience has given him more confidence, because his food at the lower-key Paladar is deft and controlled -- not flashy, but flavorful.

...Standout appetizers include sopes ($5.95), thick but delicate corn tortillas covered in avocado salsa and a fragrant sauce of fermented black beans, and a savory quesadilla ($6.95) with chorizo and roasted tomatoes, flavored with a smoky chipotle salsa. A zesty ceviche of scallops and shrimp ($7.50) is generous and refreshing...perfectly grilled Octopus ($7.50) and fried calamari ($6.95) is crisp and greaseless, served with a chili-spiked dipping sauce, while a watercress salad with pungent Cabrales cheese and walnuts ($6.50) is fresh and lively.

Seafood was a highlight of Mr. Sanchez's summer menu, with excellent choices like roasted mahi-mahi ($13.95), moist and full of flavor, in an orange-chili vinaigrette over coconut-flavored rice. Seafood guisado ($13.95), a sort of bouillabaisse, is a hard dish to do right, but Mr. Sanchez unites his flavors with a sure-handed and complex coconut broth that is simultaneously smoky and spicy. Sautéed shrimp ($13.95) was another stewlike winner, served in a soulful, mildly spicy sauce of peppers, onions and garlic that resembled the Puerto Rican sofrito.

I loved the meaty Cuban-style stuffed pork chop in a tart grapefruit mojo sauce ($12.95).

Paladar offers a small but decent selection of inexpensive wines, and tropical cocktails like mojitos ($6). Desserts include a tres leches cake ($5) that resembles a rich and wonderful rice pudding, and an intensely flavorful coconut flan ($5).

...As long as Paladar...continues to employ the Nuevo Latino vernacular in a sound and appealing way, it is clear that it is deeper than passing fancy."

BEST DISHES: Corn tortillas with black beans and avocado salsa, chorizo quesadilla, ceviche, fried calamari, watercress salad, roasted mahi-mahi, seafood guisado, sautéed shrimp, stuffed pork chop, tres leches cake, coconut flan.

PRICE RANGE: Appetizers, $3.95 to $7.50; main courses, $8.50 to $13.95.

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Two steps at entrance; narrow restroom access.

***

from "The New Old World of the Lower East Side"
by Mimi Sheraton
4.5.02

"...But among the young chefs testing their skills downtown, my favorite by far is Paladar's rakish Aaron Sanchez, who spins gastronomic wonders based on a Mexican-Hispanic palate, honed by his mother, Zarela Martinez of Zarela's. Many inventions in this festive cafe are so skillfully realized that they seem to be classics. Among such are the frothy pumpkin soup, calabaza cappuccino, and an addictive seafood guisado, a saline soup-stew in a spicy coconut milk broth."

top

Critic's Picks
by Jenifer Van Vleck

Chef/owner Aaron Sanchez is the son of Zarela Martinez, and with Paladar he’s done for Lower East Side foodies what his mother did for their older, uptown counterparts: created a colorful, lively circus of a restaurant that’s equal parts serious cooking and serious partying. Seafood is the standout on Sanchez’s bold pan-Latino menu: a zesty tomatillo sauce gives new life to the pan-roasted salmon you’ve eaten a hundred times before; jumbo sea scallops are perfectly accented by asparagus. Even the freebies – red and blue tortilla chips with a lightly creamy black-bean sauce – reflect the kitchen’s attention to detail. The bar in front is always packed, and with good reason: the house specialty drinks, such as a yellow-watermelon margarita, are killer.

Best of New York 2002
Restaurant for Large Groups

The enclosed garden at Paladar is a more economical oasis, its slapdash yet seductive backyard-party setting a happy complement to Aarón Sánchez's beguiling Latin cooking.

top

Paladar: Una rica experiencia gastronómica
Neida Torres
Nueva York
10.5.01

En 'Paladar' se puese apreciar una nueva forma de variar y ampliar el horizonte de la culinarria latina, especialmente caribeña asimilando elementos que antes se consideraban marginales

'Paladar' está dentro de la línea de los restaurants de moda, se puede sentir en los sabores, los aromas, y la variedad de salsas que hacen parte del enriquecimiento de neustra gastronomía ya que, come ciencia, es dinámica, abierta a muchas posiblidades que la transforman en una cocina exotica y diferente pero con raíces latinas. No sería arriesgado decir que aún falta mucho por conocer otras influencias multiculturales que llegaron a nuestro continente como el importante aporte de la cocina árabe o italiana que se sintió sobre todo en el Caribe continenal. Ojalá que en el futuro tengamos la oportunidad de que se investigue más a fondo y que nuestros chefs latinos nos maravillen con mayors contribuciones a la "nueva cocina latina" tan en boga en el momento actual.
'Paladar' es un restaurante-bar abierto al público have diez meses. Es un sitio muy apetecido en la actualidad por la calidad de un menu diseñado de manera cuidadosa en inspirado en la cocina latinoamericana con un toque mexicano y nuevos aportes por sus dueños, e chef Aaron Sánchez y el irlandés Eamon Furlong. El lugar, además de competir con precios muy razonables, posee un ambiente de bullico juvenil, simpatico y atractivo. A pesar de ser pequeño, un salon rectangular con un patio cubierto, la gente espera la oportunidad de sentarse degustando las tradicionales bebidas latinas al so de una salsa y de una amena charla. No se aceptan reservaciones, los primeros en llegar ocupan las mesas, los que vienen detrás esperan en la barra.

Especialidades
La sugerencia del chef Sánchez es empezar con el ceviche mixto que a diferencia del estilo peruano o ecuatoriano, el cual es ácido por estar marinado en cítricos con anterioridad, aquí el concepto es agregar los jugos de mango y lima al ultimo momento para mantener el salbor fresco y un nivel de acidez más bien bajo, agradable a las papilas gustativas. Es un ceviche marinero con camarón y vieras en una mezcla de vegetales y hierbas.
Un magnífico aperitivo es la 'conoa de plátano' que realmente sorprende por la combinación perfecta de sabor y textura. Se trata de un plátano maduro asado y relleno de bacalao guisado. El menu también cuenta con dos clases de sopas, la de frijoles negros y de maíz. No deje de probar la ensalada de berros con nueces y queso Cabrales aderenzada con una vinagreta de jerez. Se ofrecen tres tipos de quesadillas: de setas silvestres, servidas con salsa de tomatillo y aguacate, de chorizo con papa y zucchini y maíz con salsas mexicanas.

Platos principales
Una excelente selección es el 'guisado de mariscos', un tazón de sopa que recuerda la boullabaisse francesa con una aromática variedad de sabores muy bien balanceados de frutos de mar, tales como mejillones, anillos de calamar, ostras, camarones, en un caldo a base de coco con trocitos de mazorca, papa, y tres rodajas de pan como un matiz final. Recomiendo la exquisite chuleta de cerdo marinada en un sofrito con ajo y toronja a la parrilla en su punto sobre una cama de pure de boniato y por encima hojas de berros que contribuyen a su maravilloso contraste de sabores. En los platos a base de pollo encontramos dos interesantes preparaciones. Una de ellas es la pechuga glaseada con tamarindo que le imprime un sabor tropical muy original, acompañada con un pure de plátano maduro para hacerse la boca agua.

Postres y Bebidas
La lista de postres es sencilla. Paladar ofrece tres clases dentro de los más conocidos como el tres lechjes, pudín de pan y el popular y bien preparado flan de coco con una textura suave y un nivel de dulce que no empalaga. Cuentra con varios tipos de cervezas latinoamericanas y nacionales, así como los cocteles de la casa 'michilada' o 'bachat' y algunos típicos como las margaritas o mojitos. La lista de vinos es corta e incluye vinos argentinos, chilenos, españoles e italianos entre tintos y blancos.

GUIA
Dónde: 161 Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Infomación: 212-473-3535
Servicio: Cordial, solícito
Ambiente: Bullicoso, festivo, grupos de amigos
Precios: Aperitivos $3.95 - $7.50; platos principales $8.50 - $13.95; postres $5; cervezas $3.50 - $4.50; cocteles $4.50 - $6.50; vinos $19 - $28

top

Best of Gay New York 2002
Overall Category
11.02

In a convivial cafe with an enclosed garden, the chef Aaron Sanchez grounds his inventions in solid Latino roots all at moderate prices. Appetizers are deliciously diverting, as are main courses like adobe rubbed steak and chicken stew in a pumpkin seed epazote sauce.

top

Latino Fare at Loco Low Prices
By Cynthia Kilian
2.14.01

THE sea bass special at Paladar arrives beautifully bundled, neatly tied in a stiff, blond wrapper of banana leaf. Peeling it back frees a misty scent of vegetables and ocean, and reveals a snowy white fillet steamed to dewy perfection.

The most amazing thing about the dish, though, is its price. In a city where anything that swims commands caviar prices - particularly if it's a daily special - this pretty piscatorial package runs a mere $13.95.

Nothing on the menu costs more. In these days of recession-wary spending, that's reason enough to warm to this newie to the scene below Houston.

But there's more. After a few sips of a gutsy, bitter lime mojito, we'd be happy just nursing cocktails in this colorful room filled with bright Latin tunes, framed album covers and what looks like a tinsel stripper's curtain separating the bar and kitchen.

Twentysomething chef-owner Aaron Sanchez worked his way to this stove via Patria (alongside Douglas Rodriguez and Alex Garcia), Isla and L-Ray. Factor in that his mom is Zarela Martinez of Zarela, and Latino cooking seems practically a birthright.

Three-week old Paladar - which means palate - is still getting its footing. While tastes don't always hit you like a pinata stick, neither are they muddled in a mishmash of frenetic fusion. Instead, they're earthy and simple.

A yellow corn arepa ($5.95) proves how good things can be. Cornmeal's honest aroma precedes a tender, muffinlike disc, topped with a cross of garlicky chorizo slices and drizzles of crema fresca. A tamal ($5.95) is also appealing; the husk, full of cornmeal, braised pork and red peppers, is dense yet moist atop a frisky chili sauce.

Unfortunately, chewy, raw bass distracts us from the citrusy shards of scallops and greenery in ceviche mixto ($7.50), and that night's special empanada ($5.50) is surprisingly bland for oxtail. Seared salmon ($13.95), glazed to a slight crunch on top, is rescued from a similar fate by mushrooms and a perky tomatillo sauce.

The stuffed pork chop ($12.95) is a regal specimen, glistening mahogany brown, a bit overcooked but invigorated by a layer of garlicky minced peppers and onions. The simply impressive presentation includes a side of rice topped with bitter greens that prompted my fellow chow hound to bark, "It's wearing a crown!"

Roast chicken ($11.95) is done to a turn, wading in tart, spicy tamarind sauce for dipping and paired with a squat cylinder of sturdy mashed plantain. An eggy, sweet coconut flan ($4) rules desserts.

The staff, too, is just getting the hang of things. One night, a server with two plates and no one to give them to blurted out, "I'm so confused!" Another night, the waitress gave our drinks to the table next door and tried to serve us another's dinner. But they're a good-natured lot.

top