Dining Guide

MAD

Neon lights, bold colors, and fantastical chandeliers mark this new venture—has the dignified BCN crew gone lost it? Well, there’s a method to their madness. Expect the same well-trained (though more casual) servers, innovative food artfully plated, and Spanish flair for tapas, paella, and major steaks. We stuck with the modestly priced tapas. Oddly soggy, oily grilled shishitos proved the only downer. Fabulous indeed were the brioche con trufas, port-steamed little puffs of bread with truffle aioli and a shaved truffle crown, and the empanadillas de cochinillo, empanadas stuffed with suckling pig, potato, and onion with a mango-apricot chutney. But the MAD Tomato stole our hearts: an impossibly red, shiny gelatin “tomato” filled with Parmesan mousse and pesto and resting on pumpernickel crumbs!