Zeru

Zeru is an upscale Spanish restaurant that can do the simple things—like pata negra and parmesan croquettes, or tuna and anchovy open-faced montaditos. If the entire menu was as good as those two dishes, we’d tell you to go here. But Zeru’s more ambitious menu items really fall short. They have an entire section dedicated to socarrats, rice dishes meant to emulate the crispy bits of the paella on the bottom of the pan. And yet there isn’t a crispy bite to be found in the entire dish. Sardines cooked in a Josper grill also leave you fairly disappointed (and wondering why you just paid nearly $20 for two sardines). Zeru’s menu is trying a bit too hard to be unorthodox. And so is the huge dining room, which sort of looks like it was decorated by the Joker going through a Banksy phase, with classic paintings that have been scribbled over with dripping graffiti.