It was the spring of 2013, and I had the grand idea to try and visit a slew of Spanish tapas bars on a warm and sunny Saturday in New York. I had my notebook filled with the destinations our day would take us to, including the order that we were going to visit them.
It started out well enough, as we went to the Soho Boqueria for brunch and had sangria and little toasts with fried quail eggs on top. We started to make our way across the city following that, and that's where the afternoon started to unravel. Every place we went to was closed, either permanently or or at least until 5 PM, until we finally made our way to the Lower West Side and went to the oldest tapas bar (at the time) in the city, El Faro. (Sadly, it has since closed.)
Ultimately, after an ill-advised detour at The Gaslight in Chelsea we were in the city late enough to actually go to El Quinto Pino once it opened at 5. The food we had there was excellent (especially the fried pig ears and the uni panini) but it was a rude awakening that better plannning was needed, period.
I like to think that this was the moment that has led me to Maps of Fun.
