La Ibiza

Its restaurant week in New Haven, meaning that restaurants are offering special menus for cheap prices. Sounds good huh? That's what Avi and I thought when we saw a commercial for it on TV...we immediately turned off our program and whipped out our laptops to check out the website. After checking out all of the available menus we decided on La Ibiza which was described as "creative Spanish". What really swayed us was Mark Bittman's review in which he described La Ibiza was some of the best Spanish food he has had in the States. Here is what we had and what we thought of it.

The Atmosphere:
- You could tell it was a classy place from the table settings and the fact that they filled your water glass obsessively throughout the meal
- The waiters mumbled a bit and didn't make us feel special (although this could be the fact that we were college students!)
- The restaurant could use a bit more ambiance, it felt very sterile and antisepticish. That said, they could have been attempting the minimalist aesthetic and in that case they did pretty well.

Appetizers:

Raviolis de Cordero - braised baby lamb crispy raviolis, cauliflower foamy emulsion, black olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and a scallion vinaigrette

" The meat was very tender and cooked well" Avi

"I think it is less like ravioli and more like a sophisticated spring roll...they need to work on naming things" Xiaoxi

"I thought the dish was perfect. Simple enough for all of the flavors to sing, but presented in such a way that you felt very special for getting to eat it" Sarah

"The olives made the dish; the tanginess helped out so much" Avi

Vieras - Grilled sea scallops, corn flour cake, passion fruit-mango vinaigrette

"I was not a fan of the dish in terms of its texture, but the salsa was good. The scallops on top of the corn cake made the dish too mushy - two mushy things stacked o top of each other. That said, the salsa made it really good." Julia

" The polenta was good on its own; creamy, but firm enough to hold together" Avi

Entrees:

Costilla - Baby back ribs marinated with herbs and honey, smoked bacon potato puree, barbecue sauce aioli.

" They were yummy" Julia

"I really loved the sauce. There was something in that sauce that really made it" Xiaoxi

"The aioli was overpowering" Xiaoxi and Julia. To counter, I loved the aioli and thought it balanced the dish very well.

" The bacon in the potatoes made it a pork overload" Julia

" The potatoes wrapped in cabbage were fantastic" Xiaoxi

Salmon - Grilled Atlantic salmon, potato confit, sauteed spinach and pistachio vinaigrette

"The fish was cooked very well. It had a nice crust, but it was a little too done for my personal preference. I also thought the portion was too small" Avi

"The pistachio vinaigrette was really good, but the pistachio flavor should have been more pronounced. The potatoes were nothing special" Julia

"The dish really showed off the salmon" Avi

Dessert:
Crema Catalana - Traditional Catalan custard

This dish ended up looking and tasting a lot like a creme brulee, which none of us expected. We had assumed we were getting something like a flan.

Comparing it to our prior experiences with creme brulee influenced how we interpreted the dish.

" It tasted like an overcooked creme brulee" Xiaoxi

" The texture was weird, it was thicker than creme brulee and tasted a bit whipped" Avi

Since the experience we have done some research and it turns out that a Crema Catalana is different from creme brulee. The two countries (Spain and France) debate which version came first and inspired the other. The Spanish version is cooked on a stove top and is stirred throughout its cooking time and the French version is cooked in the oven. This is what lends to the difference in texture.

Torrija - Bread pudding, cinnamon ice cream, and coffee cream

"The bread was basically, little croutons that were a bit too crispy...the dish should have been more custardy" Julia

"The cinnamon ice cream was very good and refreshing. It was kind of icy and you could really taste the cinnamon" Julia

" They shouldn't have called the cinnamon ice cream ice cream. It was really more of a sorbet" Xiaoxi

" The coffee sauce was good. The pudding got better the longer it sat in it. The only problem was that it was too literal a coffee sauce. It needed another subtle flavor to complete and balance it" Avi

Overall we gave our experience a 3.5/5. The wine pairings and the appetizers were what bumped it up that extra half point from 3. The normal menu looks very intriguing. We wonder if it would have been better when it wasn't restaurant week.