Paella por favor

My craving for paella from the last several weeks was finally fulfilled at Restaurant Spain in Silverlake (1866 Glendale Blvd., 323-667-9045).
The verdict? Unfortunately, the paella wasn't great. It's hard out here for a pimp... er, i mean paella...

We ordered the Paella de Mar, which was a seafood medley that consists of little crab legs, mussels, clams, fish, shrimp and squid. The look was right but the texture was all wrong. The rice was dry and flavorless, and nothing was particularly special about the taste of the seafood. In fact, the seafood tasted too seafoody, like someone forgot to clean the shells or something. I tasted the sea.

I hate to admit this, but the paella is better at La Paella, a joint on San Vicente close to the Beverly Center. I despise going there, however, because the entrees are expensive, and the patrons are old stuffy rich white people. Unlike La Paella, Restaurant Spain has down-to-earth service and un-pretentious customers.

Despite the grubby mini-mall exterior, the interior was cute and clean. They even sold Spanish products at their deli! Look:

I think the key is tapas. The prices are reasonable and the plates are large. We ordered Embutidos Variados, a mix of salami, prosciutto, cheese and olives. Not awesome, but delightful.


And the sangria was good too... but then again, I never met a sangria I didn't like. Cheers!