Dining Out: El Prado

By Carol Brock

el Prado

9-5 26 Queens Boulevard Rego Park
Phone: (718) 896-6945
Fax: (718) 380-2271

The same but not the same. El Prado (named after the famed museum in Madrid) stands where Cafe Valois once stood on Queens Boulevard in Rego Park. Then it was Spanish/ Continental. Now, with new ownership, it's Spanish cuisine and tapas with a few French favorites retaining a section within the menu.

The look of El Prado is similar to its predecessor: intimate, with its walls painted mocca and bedecked with paintings and mirrors on the one side. The other wall features dark polished stones, from floor to ceiling. The lengthy bar area off the entrance is divided by a wooden, fence-like partition, allowing for seating on the other side. I like this area's row of twinkling lights draped from above. I hope it's permanent. It's now officially a tapas bar serving shrimp, cheese, clams, octopus and such.

A votive candle rests on the tables at El Prado which are each also draped with white linen tablecloths. Straight away, I must compliment the service. At the close of the twentieth century, elegant, professional service, is too rare a find. In fact, it's practically non existent. At El Prado, for starters, they 'll wipe your table between courses and pour freshly-made coffee from a just-for-two pot, later (but not too much later) inquiring, “May I offer you a second cup?” You feel nurtured. And the background music fits, too. No, it's not flamenco, but rather light classical. There was an El Prado in Bayside 10 years ago but the only connection is that the chef at the new El Prado is a cousin of the former owner.

Perhaps the appetizer list put me in a Gaelic mode. There was grilled Spanish sausage, shrimp ajilo, shrimp garlic in a brown sauce, seafood soup or gazpacho. Then there is also the escargot, served in individual, ceramic “thimbles” providing diners wtih an escargot clamp and oyster fork to remove the tasty meat, which is simply dripping with garlic butter. Then, far superior to the shell in which it lived, you can drop a tidbit of bread to sop up more of the butter which boasts a mature, robust garlic flavor. Today's garlic is too often non-descript.

Frogs legs provencale was the main course. It, too, had a subtle garlic flavor, steeped in buttery seasoned crumbs. It is served with fresh broccoli and overlapping slices of potato dusted with paprika. All was well in the world tonight.

My dining companion chose an Iberian dish. The grilled Spanish sausage was incredibly good; so meaty and flavorful. Thinly sliced and heaped high on a small, oval white dish, it seemed an excellent way to go.

A salad goes with the entree: it's sliced tomatoes and onions served in the house dressing (Creamy and very good, it was, too.) There were also carrots and stringless celery sticks with tiny, firm, ripe olives and crisp toasted rounds.

On the menu, along with the traditional paella valenciana and paella marinera, there are three mariscada served in green sauce (creole, ajillo, and diablo) as well as six shrimp selections. Also pay heed to the veal plancha, skirt steak churrsasco, filet mignon prado, saffron steak and chicken madrilena.

My dining companion ordered the mariscada diablo – a spicy seafood stew brimming with half a lobster, shrimp, mussels, clams and scallops. It was especially wonderful served with terrific pilaf and unusually plump rice kernels, beautifully seasoned.

Desserts are international. There is Spanish caramel custard, Italian tartufo (two scoops of ice cream – a vanilla top, a chocolate bottom layer), and French peach melba. We can also vouch for the chocolate mousse cake and assorted sorbets on offer. I'd like to close with yet another compliment. Even rarer than professional service is a restaurant where Monday's meals taste as if they were prepared by the head chef. There are a comfortable number of people in the dining room at the bar. The wait staff is seasoned, rather than sporting the newest recruits. El Prado, you have it all.