Tintol
When a new restaurant opens in the theater district, that actually gets some good reviews, we jump. I have said it before and I will say it again, why is it in an area that is loaded with people looking for a meal, that the food is mediocre at best. Is the water different in Times Square?
Tintol is a new Portuguese/Spanish tapas restaurant on West 46th between 6th and 7th. Small place, modern and simple in design. Black wooden tables and chairs, nothing too fancy. The menu is also simple. Lots of wines by the glass and a variety of tapas to choose from. If you don’t like to share, this would not be the place for you.
We ordered a bunch of tapas. Boquerones, sardines marinated in olive oil. We ate these by the pound when we were in Portugal, so we were excited to see them on the menu. They were a tad on the salty side and the marinate was OK not great. We also had the chorizo. It is fun how they serve it. Small clay dish with a wire holder set inside that the long piece of chorizo sits on. The waiter pours grappa in the dish and lights it on fire. Then you cook your chorizo as burnt as you like. The chorizo is already cooked but you get to warm it and crisp it up. It is amazing how long grappa burns. The chorizo was not as hard as a I like but did have a nice kick. We also ordered the charcutterie platter which is a selection of Spanish meats. Not very interesting and full of fat and tough. Very disappointing. The cheese plate which we thought would be a good accompaniment wasn’t that interesting either. 4 small pieces of random cheeses and a small teaspoon of a fruit jelly. This was served alongside with a basket of a baguette type white bread that had been cut up. The bread wasn’t even that good. They also served a softer bread for dipping that was loaded with green olives which was a big more interesting and tasty. The other 2 tapas we had was a pork marinated in Madeira and grilled octopus. 5 pieces of extremely fatty pork, way too fatty, that was hard to taste since the majority of it was fat, served over a sweet mashed potato concoction. Not very appetizing. Also, the octopus had not been braised long enough before they grilled it. No taste, not a very good consistency either.
All and all, a huge disappointment. I was so looking forward to finding a different place to eat in that area. Tintol is not it. I won’t be returning. I have said it before, I hope that I don’t have to continue to say it, the only 2 restaurants worth eating in that area are Esca and Blue Fin. I’m waiting for another…