Tapas at Tia Pol in Chelsea, NYC, NY

image of Tia Pol in Chelsea, NYC, NY

What I love about tapas is the concept: small plates perfect to have with a drink (or two) or to share with others, as well as how comforting some of these dishes can be. So, we went to open table to try to find a tapas place and noticed Tia Pol, conveniently located next to the High Line, where we took a walk to digest...
highline in NYC, NY

image of highline in NYC, NY

image of highline in NYC, NY

Tia Pol was opened by Heather Belz and Mani Dawes in July 2004, to celebrate the Spanish cuisine that the owners experienced few years before, when living or traveling to Spain. The name itself comes from a cat Mani Dawes befriended back then. 
image of Tia Pol in Chelsea, NYC, NY

This is an exiguous place, a hole in the wall, that feels warm and unpretentious, more like your neighborhood joint.

image of dining room at Tia Pol in Chelsea, NYC, NY

In the back is a larger room that is either used when there is an overflow of customers in the main part of the restaurant or for private parties.
image of dining room at Tia Pol in Chelsea, NYC, NY

Besides tapas, the menu offers different large plates for lunch, brunch and dinner. But we were there for tapas. They have a nice choice, mainly with either meat or fish. So if you do not eat any, your choice will be limited, a pattern pretty common in such place.
image of dining room at Tia Pol in Chelsea, NYC, NY

We started off with a cheese platter:
image of cheeses at Tia Pol in Chelsea, NYC, NY

It was composed of manchego cheese:

image of manchego cheese at Tia Pol in Chelsea, NYC, NY

A goat cheese:
image of goat cheese at Tia Pol in Chelsea, NYC, NY

The last one, I missed the name...
image of cheese at Tia Pol in Chelsea, NYC, NY

They were served with some walnut and raisin bread.
image of bread at Tia Pol in Chelsea, NYC, NY

Then we got the croquetas de jamón or ham croquettes:
image of croquetas de jamón or ham croquettes at Tia Pol in Chelsea, NYC, NY

We had the choice to order the small or larger serving. We chose the smaller one.
image of croquetas de jamón or ham croquettes at Tia Pol in Chelsea, NYC, NY

This was delicious: the outside was crispy and not greasy and the inside soft with a nice smokiness and saltiness from the ham.

Then, we ordered the tortilla española or Spanish omelet.
image of tortilla española or Spanish omelet at Tia Pol in Chelsea, NYC, NY

It was very good and I did not even need the mayonnaise with it as it was tasty and moist. 

The next dish was huevos rellenos al pimentón de la vera or deviled eggs with smoked paprika.
image of deviled eggs at Tia Pol in Chelsea, NYC, NY

Slightly spicy, I truly appreciated the fact that the taste of mayonnaise was not too pronounced.

After that was the crema de hígado de pollo or chicken liver mousse:
image of chicken liver mousse at Tia Pol in Chelsea, NYC, NY

As Jodi does not like chicken liver, I ordered the smaller portion. Served on a toasted bread, it was drizzled with some sort of sauce made with Pedro Ximénez, a white Spanish wine grape, that added a nice sweetness to the dish. I really liked this dish. 

The last tapas was the pinchos mourns or lamb skewers:
image of lamb skewers at Tia Pol in Chelsea, NYC, NY

The smaller portion included two skewers made of cubed lamb cooked with moorish spices (mix of several spices such as cumin, coriander, paprika, cayenne pepper...). That was a succulent dish, the lamb being perfectly cooked and the spices giving a very flavorful taste to it. I regretted at this point not having ordered the larger portion!

Of course, we could not leave without dessert to accompany my espresso and Jodi's tea...
image of espresso at Tia Pol in Chelsea, NYC, NY

And we picked the churros:
image of churros at Tia Pol in Chelsea, NYC, NY

Churros are Spanish fried-dough pastries, sometimes referred as Spanish doughnuts. This is a very addictive dessert or snack (like any fried stuff, no?). They were served with some melted chocolate. I think that they disappeared from the table in couple of minutes...I definitely recommend them.

We had a fantastic lunch at Tia Pol: the food was very good and prices reasonable. I really like the fact that, for some dishes, they propose smaller portions, allowing us to try multiple dishes. If you are looking for a tapas place, I highly recommend this one.

Enjoy (I did)!

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Restaurant Information

* Restaurant Name
Tia Pol
* Overall
★★★☆☆
* Neighborhood / Cuisine
Chelsea / Spanish
* Street Address
205 10th Ave., New York, NY 10011
* Phone
(212) 675-8805