When Brazilian-reared chef George Rodrigues finalized the deal to open a restaurant in Rockville in 2022, Spain had nothing to do with his plans. His goal was to share his twin passions of tacos and ceviche with Maryland diners. But the landlord had other ideas. “They were like, ‘We don’t think there’s a good fit. We have a few other Latin restaurants in the area. What else do you got?’” he recalls.
In his back pocket, Rodrigues had a long history with Spanish cuisine. Even when he was studying civil engineering in Brazil, he spent his free time reading about iconic chefs like Ferran Adrià. Once he made the move to follow his heart into the kitchen, he cut his teeth in the United States at Mercat a la Planxa in Chicago, a restaurant from celebrity chef Jose Garces. More recently, Rodrigues worked at Boqueria in DC.
His first Spanish restaurant, El Mercat Bar de Tapas, was a hit. But when Rodrigues decided to open a second spot in Arlington, he wasn’t sure it would be another El Mercat. He told his mentor, “‘I feel like I want to do something different,’” he says.
She counseled him that the safest move would be to repeat his success. But the triumph in Maryland hasn’t yet carried over to Arlington’s Westpost at National Landing.
Plan on Paella
That’s not to say there aren’t dishes for which I’d happily return. Chief among those are the paellas. Served in flat pans intended to be shared by either two or four people, the toothsome rice is expertly crisped on the bottom, producing the socarrat for which the dish is famous.
The montaña version is packed with flavor. On top of the crispy rice, two halves of a chicken breast crackle as soon as a diner’s teeth make contact, despite their covering in salsa verde. That sauce lends the whole dish an herbaceous sparkle. Sunken into the rice are stubby Barcelona-style chorizos. They lack the heat of many other varieties of the spiced sausage but are still a fun textural interruption.
Rodrigues plans to change the menu twice a year. I’ll be sad to see the paella de pato confitado go. Flavored with cranberries, pumpkin, and warm spices, the pan of rice is finished with slices of duck breast and a meltingly adipose duck leg confit. Those are just two of the six paella options, which also include a vegetarian version and the negra, black with squid ink and topped with calamari.
The only problem with the paellas is the same issue that mars many of the dishes at El Mercat: too much aioli.
Aioli isn’t listed on the menu in the description of every dish, but I quickly learned that it was best to avoid the ones for which it is. Chief among those is the patatas bravas. The crispy potatoes are one of my barometers of quality when visiting a Spanish restaurant. These would be perfectly agreeable, were they not covered in garlicky aioli that overwhelmed the tomato sauce that also flavored the dish.
Menu Winners
However, one of my favorite tapas included saffron aioli. The coliflor con azafrán is a bowl containing browned bites of cauliflower that are indeed bathed in the stuff but also dotted with bursting golden raisins and a snowfall of finely grated, nutty Manchego. With a little less aioli, it is an asset, not a liability — a creamy touch that complements the oily cauliflower.
But the best of the many vegetable-forward dishes at El Mercat contains no aioli at all. The boniato con yogur, sweet potatoes in salsa verde and a spicy yogurt sauce, owes something to Spain’s Moorish neighbors. The crunchy corners of the tubers play splendidly with the cool yogurt and fresh mint and dill, a dish that speaks of summer even in the cold months.
Among desserts, the star is the churros rellenos. Though crisped slightly drier than ideal, there’s no calling the sweets arid. That’s because they’re filled with a choice of dulce de leche, Nutella, or a mix thereof. I chose the last of these and was rewarded with the milky caramel notes of the former and the chocolate-hazelnut punch of the latter.
With improved service and a little more finesse in the kitchen, this new El Mercat could still be a winner.
And there’s a part of me that’s eager to see what else Rodrigues has in his bag of tricks. He’s from the north of Brazil, near the Amazon, and says he’d love to share the little-seen dishes of his home region with DMV diners. Hopefully before long, he’ll be providing me with those and the paellas that will bring me back to El Mercat.
El Mercat Bar de Tapas
Rating: ★★1/2
See This: Walk past the cart filled with a leg of jamón ibérico de bellota and the open kitchen and grab a seat at the bar, backed by appropriately saffron-hued walls.
Eat This: oniato con yogur, paella montaña, churros rellenos
Tapas: $8–$34
Paellas & Entrées: $16–$48
Dessert: $8–$10
Open daily for dinner with brunch served Saturday and Sunday.
1301 S. Joyce St., Arlington
Feature image by Michael Butcher
