A believer in saving the best for last whenever possible, my final Restaurant Week meal was a Friday dinner at Ibiza.
The 90-seat restaurant was absolutely packed, having apparently done 140 covers for lunch alone.
Even the bar area was uproariously busy.
This is how it went for New Haven’s elite participating restaurants, but if one walked the streets during the event, as I did, lesser participating restaurants appeared less busy, and not surprisingly, many non-participating restaurants were utterly deserted.
The Ibiza welcoming crew
was grace under pressure. Hosting the former leader of an important American ally didn’t seem to stress anyone out, either. Here you see partner and general manager, Juan Carlos Gonzáles, pitching in and opening a bottle of wine for a neighboring table.
My dining companion was long-time friend Martha Simpson, an accomplished librarian, reference author and mother of four children who grew up with ours.
Our seasoned waiter was Mario Montes,
who never failed to anticipate our every need. Ibiza’s service was impeccable, with well-timed plate and silverware changes, table crumbings, wine and water pourings, napkin refoldings, and bread and olive oil restockings. And Ibiza’s superior Spanish olive oil takes to good bread like, well, restaurant critics take to such pampering.
Ibiza’s Restaurant Week popularity stems not only from being one of Connecticut’s premier restaurants but from knowing how to treat the customers that the event generates. The dishes it put on its Restaurant Week menu were among its best. Its portion sizes were not reduced one iota. My pictures speak for themselves.
We tried every item that Ibiza offered on its Restaurant Week menu. The first was its traditional caldo Gallego, a perfect cold weather soup stocked with potato, white beans, broccoli rabe, chicken, smoked bacon and chorizo.
The second was its lomo de cerdo, three toasts topped with tender grilled pork tenderloin, Tetilla cheese, piquillo pepper and Spanish paprika arranged around a nice mesclun salad.
The third was its lovely ensalada de temporada, a perfect mix of Boston lettuce, endive leaves and other greens with tomato and red onion in a mustard-honey vinaigrette.
If only more restaurants realized that simpler salads are usually better.
Ibiza really outdid itself with its entrée selection. A beautiful piece of grilled Atlantic salmon in a pistachio vinaigrette was served with potato confit and sautéed spinach. I overheard so many people raving about this dish. When people ask me where to find Connecticut’s best seafood, I say not in our seafood restaurants but in our best restaurants.
Providing a vegetarian alternative without conceding anything to flavor or pleasure was a pumpkin risotto with roasted pumpkin seeds and shaved Parmesan.
But I was blown away by the fact that Ibiza included on its Restaurant Week menu its baby back ribs marinated with herbs and honey. These incredible ribs come with smoked bacon puréed potato wrapped in Savoy cabbage and a barbecue sauce aïoli to die for.
Except for special offerings like oxtail, suckling pig and paella, this is my favorite Ibiza dish. As I have said, Ibiza held nothing back.
Ibiza’s Restaurant Week desserts were also terrific. We loved Ibiza’s caramel custard flan with housemade lemon peel ice cream.
Nor could we resist its bread pudding in strawberry sauce with vanilla ice cream.
For the rare individual not tempted by the flan or the bread pudding, there was also an assortment of housemade ice creams. For this incredible menu, let Ibiza’s extraordinary chef, Manolo Romero, take a bow.
What we saw in Ibiza was a restaurant doing everything right for New Haven Restaurant Week—a restaurant pulling out all of the stops. This is a formula for putting smiles like these on everyone’s faces.
Ibiza, 39 High Street, New Haven, 203-865-1933