Marbella:
The Best In
Spanish Cuisine
Marbella: 220-33 Northern Blvd.,
Bayside. 423-0100
Cuisine: Spanish
Hours: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday
through Thursday. 11 a.m. to 12 a.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. on
Sunday
Credit Cards: All major
Parking: Hotel lot, neighborhood
parking
When I first walked into Marbella
Restaurant a warm Spanish accent greeted me at the door. There was a matador fighting off
a raging bull on one wall and colorful tapestries from Spain covering the others.
Fausto Abreu, my waiter, was a courteous
man who held my seat out and always wore a smile. He sat my guest and I at a table with
fresh carnations under a giant iron chandelier.
Abreu brought a basket of warm Portuguese
bread and a dish of carrot sticks, celery, green Spanish olives, and black California
olives.
Servando Cid, the owner, along with his
brother Delfin Cid, of this Bayside restaurant introduced himself and the specials. The
entrees which range from $4.75 to $7.95 were grilled squid, fried calamari, Spanish ham
with manchego cheese and from the main menu included mussels in a whiskey sauce, fried
bananas, and crabmeat and shrimps salpicon. The main dishes included seabass with clams,
shrimp, and asparagus in a green sauce, chicken and shrimp in garlic sauce, and ossobucco
(lambshank). The price of the seafood dishes run from clams and mussels in green sauce for
$14.95 to lobster tails in a white garlic cream sauce for $25.95. Italian meals range from
$11.95 to $15.95, and especialidades de Espana such as a Spanish Omelet run from $13.95 to
$27.00.
My guest and I opted for the Spanish ham
with manchego, the chicken shrimp in garlic sauce and a veal dish with a mushroom sauce.
The Spanish ham was thinly sliced and laid
out with the cheese and plump grapes. The cheese tasted like provolone and there was a
faint spice to the ham. Both were imported from Spain and bought from a store in Jackson
Heights.
Next we both enjoyed a thick, creamy
lobster bisque with generous amounts of lobster($4.50). Marbella has a good selection of
soups and salads to pick from.
The main dish looked superb and our
compliments go out to the Master Chef Esteban Barroso who has worked for Marbella’s
for three years. Not only did it look like a work of art but each dish tasted like a
masterpiece.
The chicken and veal were both lathered
with thin sauces. A yellow Spanish rice, carrots, and broccoli accompanied a perfect meal.
There was no room for desert when we were
finished but it looked so appealing that my guest and I shared the Flan ($3.75). This
Spanish caramel custard was sweet and covered with a sauce flavored with anisette.
— Isadora Murphy |
