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Lovers of Spanish and Portuguese food invariably turn to Newark's Ironbound area when they want to indulge themselves.
The choice of restaurants there is large, prices are more than reasonable and the food makes up in quantity for what
it sometimes lacks in quality.
But once outside Newark, Spanish and Portugese restaurants are hard to find. They exist, but are far removed from one
another and are often more expensive than their counterparts in Newark.
This makes it all the more reason to celebrate a new Spanish restaurant in Piscataway that has many of the same
characteristics as those in Newark.
The Spain Inn, ...is owned by Emanuel Kouroupas, a Greek, and two Spanish brothers, Louis and
Pepe Rodriguez. The Rodriguez brothers were formerly employed at Don Pepe's in Newark, and they seem to have brought to
Piscataway many of the dishes served in Newark.
The menu lists fairly standard selections that are rather well prepared; however, I wish that a few of the more unusual
Spanish dishes were available.
The wine list is very small, primarily Spanish and Italian, and the lone French wine was unavailable each time we asked for it.
Sangria, on the other hand, comes in red or white and is a perfectly acceptable accompaniment to some of the hearty dishes that
would probably destroy a more delicate wine.
The garlic shrimp here are addictive. Offered as an appetizer that would easily serve two, they are lightly sauteed in oil with
crisp nubbins of browned garlic curls. Grilled shrimp also were excellent. In this dish, the shrimp were larger and served with
the shells on. They were sauteed with red pepper and so they had a "bite."
Clams in green sauce and mussels in green sauce were equally good. However, the sauce lacked a lot of the parsley that gives it
its name, but the flavor of the garlicky sauce mingling with the shellfish juices was extraordinary.
Chorizo, the spicy Spanish sausage, was sliced into disks and sauteed - one time perfectly and the other a little too much.
Clams casino were chopped, rather than left whole but they were delicious nonetheless.
Asparagus with vinagrette were the canned white variety, and the stuffed mushrooms were tiny and tasty, but overcookded.
As a result, I couldn't tell what they were stuffed with.
A decent gazpacho, crunchy with chopped raw vegetables, and a hearty vegetable soup were both sampled.
Recommended main courses include a good paella Valenciana, the rice heady with saffron and the dish filled with a variety of
shellfish, chicken and Spanish sausage.
The shellfish stew called mariscada - it is served with either a green sauce or a red sauce with wine - was equally good, as were
the shrimps with hot sauce. The last named dish actually wasn't very spicy, but had a very good tomato based sauce, and there must
have been one and a half pounds of shrimp, along with chopped onions and peppers, in the big metal casserole the dish was served in.
Steamed lobster was very good, and reasonable...Salmon broiled with lemon and butter was lightly cooked, as requested, and filet
mignon with a wine, brandy and mushroom sauce was also cooked as requested.
However, there was nothing mignon about the cut. In many other restaurants, it would have been called chateaubriand and only served
for two people.
A decent flan that is made on the premises is offered for dessert, but most of the other desserts are brought in. However, both the regular
and chocolate cheesecake are worth ordering, but I wish they would make some of the wonderful desserts found in Spain.
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