Restaurant review, El Mio Cid: The Sardines of Bushwick.

Although modern tapas bars have achieved wildfire popularity—inspiring all sorts of other pricey small-plate places—old-guard Spanish restaurants are largely a thing of the past. Many of Gotham's best examples originated in the wake of the Spanish Civil War and provided a dark, romantic dining experience for couples who tucked into broad paelleras of seafood-studded rice, greenish pools of garlic shrimp, and chorizos dramatically set aflame in brandy, served by waiters in starched waistcoats and red cummerbunds. Though a few places remain open in Manhattan and still limp along, gone are the days when James Baldwin famously dined at El Faro, and Greenwich Village, Chelsea, and midtown were thronged with Iberian establishments.

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