AfterTaste (by Sherry)

Alta
64 West 10th Street (Bet. 5th and 6th Avenues)
(212) 505-7777

So what if they use Philadelphia Cream Cheese in one of their most well known dishes? Who said you can’t have crepes and empanadas in the same meal? What’s the harm in getting a little butternut squash foam on your Catalonian flatbread?

Yes, this is what I mean by the identity disorder mentioned above. Alta is a little all over the place, but the bottomline is that it all works.

The space itself is also a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Down a few steps on an unassuming West Village street, the restaurant’s entrance almost blends into the brownstones to the left and right of it. The only tip offs to the place’s existence are a group huddled outside, waiting for a table and the name “Alta” printed artistically (meaning not clearly) in dark red on the door. Once you walk in, a long bar stretches down an equally long and narrow room. At the far end of the room, taking a right up two or three steps leads you into the main dining room. Oh yeah, did I mention the full staircase that then takes you up to the kitchen, women’s bathroom, and the terrace wrapping around the perimeter of the main dining area where there are also many tables? Confused? Dizzy? Yeah, so was I.

Despite all the labyrinthine twists and turns of the place, the overall atmosphere is warm, sexily dim, but not dark, boisterously festive, but not obnoxiously loud. A great place where you could meet girlfriends for sangria and nibbles or where you could bring a date you wanted to seduce without scaring him/her off.

In my case, I was meeting my fab friend and ex-coworker, Danielle. I had been dying to try Alta ever since another colleague of mine had raved about it and when I suggested it to Danielle, she gleefully agreed to go back, touting the, um, shall we say, restorative effects of Alta’s sangria. Indeed, the red and white sangrias were equally potent. The menu boasts of a secret ingredient, I would guess that secret ingredient is large quantities of vodka.

My red sangria and Danielle’s white in the background…lethal stuff

Altogether we had seven dishes and one dessert. We would’ve been fine with just five and no dessert. As it was, we were in a particularly giddy and gluttonous mood (maybe it’s that holiday spirit) so we overindulged, but at least that meant we got to try more dishes.

The first set we ordered were the pulled pork empanadas, the grilled chorizo wrapped shrimp, and the fried goat cheese balls with lavender honey.

The goat cheese was crunchy, gooey perfection. The puddles of lavender honey underneath it in were a perfect accompaniment to the potentially heavy fried cheese. I didn’t exactly taste lavender, but the honey was milder and less…fruity than honey normally seems to me.

The pulled pork in the empanadas was very tender. I was afraid they’d take the whole multiple personality disorder thing too far and include barbeque sauce inside the flaky, crisp pastry, but they did not, thank god. Instead they were served with a vibrant, refreshing garlicky chimichurri.

I was curious to know how you wrap sausages around little shrimp. It turns out they cook the chorizo, then cut it into thin slices, wrap them around the shrimp and then grill the whole shebang. The shrimp were juicy, the chorizo salty, and the whole dish minimalist and tasty.

Danielle and I had much more to catch up on so we ordered a second (and last) round. This time we ordered another plate of empanadas (give us a break, the dish only came with two spring roll sized ones!), Catalonian flatbread with ricotta cheese and mushrooms, Alta’s famous “Philadelphia Truffle Surprise,” and the lamb meatballs with the butternut squash foam.

The Catalonian flatbread had been baked with plenty of parmigiano cheese, as its edges were crunchy and salty with that familiar parmigiano sharpness. The sauteed mushrooms added some nicely chewy texture to the creamy, bubbly ricotta and the crunchy flatbread.

Catalonian flatbread with Danielle’s lovely little hands in the corner

Philadelphia Truffle Surprise - Don’t be afraid, although I was

Then we come to the “Philadelphia Truffle Surprise.” Quite the ominous name indeed (I tend to shy away from any dish with the word “surprise” in it). I was afraid cream cheese would have something to do with it and it does, but let me tell you, it simple works. The dish consists of phyllo dough wrapped in a bundle with a large lump of cream cheese and Truffle oil inside. The little packages are unbelievably flaky, creamy, Truffle-y, and a little sweet; in a word, amazing. Hands down, Danielle’s and my favorite dish of the evening.

The one big flop was the lamb meatballs, the meat seriously lacked in flavor and seasoning so that the only thing you tasted was the squash sauce that came with it. The sauce was very sweet and spiced with cloves and cinnamon with no real savory element. Each bite of the dark brown, fluffy meatball tasted exactly like gingerbread. We were in the holiday spirit, but we didn’t sign up for $7 lumps of gingerbread.

For dessert we had the brown butter crepes with caramelized bananas. The crepes were fluffy and light, but the bananas weren’t as sweet as I had hoped. The apple sauce it sat in was then too sour for how bland the bananas were. Overall, the dessert was tasty, but nothing to write home about.

As for the service, the waitress asked us to leave because they needed the table for another party. I was taken aback when she asked us to leave, as this has never happened to me before. Affronted, I wanted to comment until I looked at my watch and saw we had sat there for…three hours. Whoops. Well, they shouldn’t have such good food to linger over then if they’re so damn afraid of turning tables over and honoring reservations. Hmph.

• Philadelphia Truffle Surprise - $5

• Lamb Meatballs - $7

• Grilled Chorizo Wrapped Gulf Shrimp - $9

• Coca (Catalonian Flatbread) - $10.50

• Fried Goat Cheese - $7.50

• Pulled Pork Empanadas - $8.50 x 2 = $17

• Brown Butter Crepes - $8

• White/Red Sangria - $10 x 2 = $20

• Total (excluding tax and tip) = $84