yaokui: La Fonda Del Sol

Address: Met Life Building, 44th Street and Vanderbilt Avenue, New York

http://www.patinagroup.com

Phone: 212-867-6767

Frank Bruni gave La Fonda Del Sol better rating than Txikito (2 stars vs 1 star) when the two restaurants were reviewed at the same time this past April. But after checking out La Fonda Del Sol last Monday, we have to say, Frank Bruni, we respectfully disagree!

The Pa Amb Tomàquet at La Fonda itself was enough to tell us that the restaurant's interpretation of Spanish/Catalan food just doesn't work. Pa Amb Tomàquet is a traditional Catalan comfort food prepared by simply rubbing tomatoes against the bread followed by sprinkles of olive oil and salt. La fonda's version of Pa Amb Tomàquet was a just piece of toast covered with chopped tomatoes, looked and tasted more like a bruchetta to us. The Salt Cod Croquetas and the rest of the dishes we ordered were also more about packaging than substance, and they were thoroughly disappointing. To us, the worse thing about La Fonda, aside from being too commercialized, was its waitress' lack of knowledge on Spanish food/tapas outside of what was listed on the menu. There's no way La Fonda Del Sol is better than Txikito!