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Jamonera in pictures
Opening a new spot on the first day of Restaurant Week? "Why not?" shrugged Marcie Turney during last night's staff tasting at Jamonera (105 S. 13th St., 215-922-6061), which she and Valerie Safran will roll out this Sunday, Jan. 22.
Jamonera in pictures
Opening a new spot on the first day of Restaurant Week? "Why not?" shrugged Marcie Turney during last night's staff tasting at Jamonera (105 S. 13th St., 215-922-6061), which she and Valerie Safran will roll out this Sunday, Jan. 22. They're pretty pro, after all — the couple employs more than 100 people all told at Lolita, Barbuzzo, Grocery, Open House and Verde; what's a little super-polished Spanish wine bar between friends?
In the works since August, Jamonera is a dramatic redo of the couple's Bindi, which served mod-Indian from '08 to this past fall. The second you walk in, you're greeted by a copper-topped bar, where beverage manager Terence Lewis will hold court with wine (heavy España of course), beer and cocktails. His crown boozy jewel, though, staying true to the daily drinking habits of the vosotros set, is a list of 26 sherries, from delicate and dry finos and Manzanillas (ideal with seafood) all the way up the light-to-dark scale to brusquer pours like Oloroso and twitchy, syrupy Pedro Ximenez.
Safran and Turney want to encourage those who erroneously think of sherry as grumpy granny's parlor fodder to pair glasses with food off Jamonera's large menu, organized into tapas, meat/cheese, toasts, salads/veg, mid-size and large-size categories. (Plenty of sherry's being tossed around in the kitchen, too, for deglazing, etc.). You'll be able to eat perched on a bar stool or at a table in Jam's 40-seat dining room, lorded over by a badass 8-foot-tall mural interpretation of Carmen created by NYC artist Tory Novikova. Here's the full menu (PDF). What the staff tasted through last night, in photo order (everyone was particularly geeked on the incredibly tender pressure-cooked octo dish):
- ajo mataero: country pork liver pate, px soaked currants, carrot-meyer lemon marmelata, pistachio
- calamares negras: calamari fried in its own ink, preserved lemon alioli, caper vinegreta, garlic chips
-flamequines: jamon and ibores stuffed pork loin, clementine escabeche, smoked ham fat
- setas a la plancha; seared wild mushrooms, foie gras, amontillado, chestnut-maple buttered toast
- berbecheos y sepia: manila clams, sepia, manzanilla sherry, canteplano chorizo, migas
- fideos: maitake, royal trumpet and yellow beech mushroom vermicelli, raw turnip, turnip greens, garlic alioli
- pulpo y “ensaladilla rusa”: grilled spanish octopus, potato, baby carrots, crunchy bonito alioli, chorizo vinegreta
Unsurprisingly, folks have been blowing up the phone lines since they sent out an email blast yesterday announcing the Sunday opening, but you could always try for a RW slot — to quote Turney, why not? Ring 215-922-6061. Moving forward, Jamonera will serve from 5 to 11 Sunday to Thursday and from 5 to midnight on Friday and Saturday.
Top Photo: Courtesy of Jamonera; all others by Drew Lazor
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