With prices rising everywhere these days, it’s refreshing to see even one business bucking the trend. The Spanish-Latin-Caribbean restaurant Tasca (reviewed here) has announced implementation of a “To the Nines Happy Hour” on Mondays through Fridays beginning Feb. 17. Between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., all wines and cocktails will be marked down to $9 from, in some cases, as high as $20. Selected tapas from the restaurant’s food menu (think calamar croquettes in a roasted garlic foam) will also be offered at the discounted price. Tasca, 505 Columbus Avenue (bet. 84th and 85th Sts.), 212-362-2211.
El Quijote Rides Again
Speaking of Spanish food, El Quijote, the cavernous restaurant that for many years held court in the Chelsea Hotel, has risen from the dead. The restaurant, which opened in 1930, was pushing 90 in 2018 when renovations to the hotel forced its closure. Now it is back, though its new seating chart, which has space for 65, is less than a third the capacity of its original. The menu has also undergone a refocusing and will now be more reflective of northern Spain though in a gesture to nostalgia, classics such as the paella have been preserved. El Quijote, 226 W 23rd St, New York.
Vodka by the Numbers
At the end of the film “Gone with the Wind,” a memorable scene occurs in which Rhett Butler, constantly nagged by Scarlet O’Hara over the weight he is gaining from drinking multiple mint juleps, retorts, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” Something like that. Anyway, If you do give a damn about the calories you ingest from alcohol Frankly Vodka, a relatively new brand, has your number. Kristen Risk, co-founder of the brand, explains that though nutritional information isn’t a requirement of the industry, the company felt a moral obligation to tell users exactly what they are putting into their bodies. Kudos to Frankly.
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