«Boqueria» NYC Best Secret

Marc’s first experience in the kitchen was at his family’s restaurant in Barcelona where his grandmother was the Chef. He would often go there after school to spend time with his family and to help in the kitchen. That experience influenced Marc to enroll in the Escola de Restauracio I Hostelatge de Barcelona at age 16. After graduation Chef Vidal worked with some of the leading chefs of the world including Chef Carles Gaig at the Michelin Starred Can Gaig, Chef Ferran Adria at the famed El Bulli and Chef Alain Passard at the three Michelin star restaurant L’Arpege in Paris.

In 2010 Marc joined the Boqueria team as Executive Chef where he contributes his wealth of experience, culinary talent and passion for the cuisine of his homeland to help the restaurants maintain and enhance their reputation among the best Spanish restaurants in New York, Washington DC and Hong Kong.

Marc teams up with Yann de Rochefort, a former marketing executive with Allied Domecq and L’Oreal, that created Boqueria to replicate the dynamic and convivial casual dining scene that Barcelona’s tapas bars are justly famous for. Yann’s passion for Spanish cuisine, and the ambiance of tapas bars and “cervezerias”, stems from having spent every summer of his youth in Spain, and having since studied and lived in both Barcelona and Madrid. He frequently travels to Spain to stay in touch with the latest culinary tendencies.

Boqueria restaurants were inspired by the best tapas bars in Barcelona. Bars such as Xampanyet, Vinya del Senor, Ciudad Condal and others where one can go at any time of night for a beer, glass of wine, and perhaps the best fast food known to man are institutions in a city known for its devotion to epicurean delights.

At Barcelona’s famous Boqueria market, stalls such as Pinotxo, Quim de la Boqueria and Kiosko Universal take the concept up a notch and serve the best of the market everyday to an eager mix of chefs, shoppers and tourists. Boqueria restaurants offer New Yorkers the chance to dine as they would at these bars without ever leaving town.

Their chefs offer a wide variety of «market fresh» specials offering a typically Spanish take on the best of the week’s market, in addition to our everyday menu of perennial favorites such as «Datiles con Beicon», «Patatas Bravas», and other tapas. Whether at our NYC locations (Flatiron, Soho, Upper East Side) their location in the Dupont Circle neighborhood in Washington, DC or in Hong Kong, the staff is ready to transport you to Barcelona 7 day a week.

And yes they do so. My favorite : the paella. If you are lucky – most times you will be-, the Boqueria paella is one of the best paellas you will ever tasted. Same beautifully done paella as being in Valencia, with the «crosta» (brown rice tied at the bottom of the paella) too.

Boqueria is proud to be a member of the Green Restaurant Association with a Two Star Green Certification at each restaurant.