Here’s a New Orleans culinary conundrum: In a city with such rich and important Spanish history, architecture and art, why aren’t there more Spanish restaurants? We have a bounty of riches when it comes to French, Creole, Vietnamese, Italian and Japanese eateries, and one of our most lauded fine dining spots is Senegalese. So why are we not swimming in the delights of the Iberian peninsula? That’s a question Chef Adolfo Garcia Jr. sought to answer with the opening of Dolfy’s on Freret Street, which celebrates traditional Basque cuisine. “It just kind of blows me away how little Spanish representation you see in food here,” he said. “You go to the French Quarter, and it’s all Spanish architecture. New Orleans deserves a top-tier Spanish restaurant, and I want to give Spanish cuisine the amount of respect that French restaurants and Creole restaurants get in the city. I just knew it was time we had a Spanish restaurant that we can be proud of.”
If Garcia’s name sounds familiar, it’s likely because you might recognize his father, Chef Adolfo Garcia Sr., who helmed the beloved local restaurant Rio Mar. However, it’s clear that the younger Garcia isn’t just following in the family footsteps, but coming into his own as a professional with his own sense of style, creativity and technique. His first spot, Chi Chi’s Chicken and Beer, opened further down Freret in 2024 and has been delighting local diners with its savory takes on Korean fried chicken. Its kitchen continues to deliver one of the best chicken sandwiches in the city. But Garcia Jr.’s true goal, after moving back to New Orleans following his culinary training and years working in kitchens as far afield as Paris, New York and Panama, was to open an eatery celebrating the kind of food and dining experience found in the Basque region of Spain. Then, after Ancora sadly closed up shop and its space became available, the young chef knew it was the ideal location for Dolfy’s. “It was the perfect space, with the wood fired oven here,” he said. “I didn’t think I was going to have a Stefano Ferrara oven from Naples, which is one of the best ovens in the world. So I knew I had to center the restaurant around that oven.”
For those uninitiated to the joys of Basque food, you’ll find that there are some distinct differences from more familiar southern Spanish fare. Don’t expect a wagon wheel-sized bowl of paella. Instead, Dolphy’s offers pintxos, numerous small dishes intended for snaking and sharing, preferably over a cool cocktail or a juicy Rioja. “Not to say that I would ever never do a paella,” admits Garcia Jr., “but I like to focus more on Basque cuisine. We make a dish called Arroz Meloso, which is eaten pretty much throughout. Spain, but more in northern Spain. It’s mellow rice, so it’s a little soupy, almost like risotto or like congee, and it’s more of a regional dish that I like to highlight. But here we do it with Louisiana crawfish tails, Gulf shrimp, and mussels. It’s absolutely incredible.”
Should you head over to Dolfy’s, the experience is best enjoyed with a group of friends and a willingness to share numerous plates both small and large. Fortunately, there are plenty of winners on the menu to sample. The smaller pintxos include fried olives with cider mornay, spicy mussels with chorizo and smoked paprika, potato chips with delicately shaved jamon ibérico, and earthy, wood fired button mushrooms with garlic, chorizo and lemon, which is a pure umami bomb. According to the chef, “That’s actually a really famous pintxo from Spain. We went to this one bar that did that specifically, and we were blown away. It’s just such a great snack.” But the real show-stopper of these is the “matrimonio,” which features a marriage of olive oil-marinated Calabrian brown anchovies and boquerones, brightened by pickled ajillo peppers and served atop sourdough toast. If you’re the type of gastronome who favors tinned fish, this is definitely a marriage you’ll approve of.
Further down the menu come the slightly larger appetizers, like charred leeks with romesco, a delicate crudo of hamachi spiked with horseradish, and fried calamari with green peppercorn aioli and salsa bizkaina. You’ll also find a simple dish of bread and butter, in this case the lovingly house-baked sourdough that incorporates the very same bread starter Garcia adopted from Ancora, giving Dolfy’s a respectful continuity to the space. Served with a piquant espelette butter, its simple joy is difficult to deny. Another knock-out app, which tends to come and go on the menu, is the luscious oxtail croquettas with horseradish cream, which is rich, crunchy, and thoroughly gratifying. And don’t miss the grilled carrots with sunflower granola, white beans and crumbly goat cheese, an inventive dish so good, it might make you rethink your opinion of carrots.
There are, of course, larger plates at Dolfy’s, though these, too, are meant for sharing. From the dry aging case, you’ll find a bone-in, black angus ribeye with blistered peppers and mushroom conserva, as well as a dry-aged yellowfin tuna served with saffron beurre blanc and mojo verde, both of which should pique your attention. However, one conspicuous standout is the massive grilled, acorn-fed ibérico pluma. If you’ve only experienced ibérico pork cured and shaved as jamon, you’ll be more than pleased to experience a larger cut from the shoulder of those same pampered pigs. Served medium rare like a traditional steak, it’s both a crowd pleaser and a jaw-dropper of a dish. “We don’t treat pork here the way we treat our beef, where beef is so prized. And in Spain, obviously, pork is a really big deal. So we’re starting to import pork from Spain and serving it, and I think it’s opened up people’s minds, which makes me really happy to see, and it makes me feel like we’re having some sort of impact,” the chef said.
As for how his vision for Dolfy’s is playing out, Chef Garcia appears both pleased and humble. “We couldn’t be happier,” he said.” We’ve gotten a lot of great feedback from the neighborhood, and we have such a diverse demographic, from young Tulane kids to 30 year olds, professionals, the older Uptown crowd that comes at five o’clock…I’m like, ‘Man, this is so cool.’ I never thought we were going to reach all these people.”
About the Chef
A New Orleans native, Chef Adolfo Garcia Jr. grew up learning to cook with his father, Adolfo Garcia Sr., spending his formative years as a teen in the kitchen at Rio Mar, where the younger Garcia developed a passion for the culinary arts. After working with local chefs Michael Stoltzflus at Coquette and Aaron Burgau at Patois, Garcia attended culinary school at the CIA in New York. He developed his talents under the tutelage of David Chang at Momofuku Ma Peche. A spot in the kitchen at the Michelin-starred restaurant NoMad came next, and following that, the young chef worked with Chef Jose Carlos in Panama as well at the lauded Paris restaurant Frenchie. Like many New Orleanians before him, Garcia eventually felt the pull to bring his talents and passion back to his hometown. Garcia opened Chi Chi’s Chicken and Beer on Freret in 2024, and earlier this year finally realized his dream spot, the Basque eatery Dolfy’s, just up the street.
Baru Bistro & Tapas
Baru might not serve traditional Spanish fare from the Iberian peninsula, but “tapas” is right there in the name, and we enjoy snacking and sipping, so it’s always been a fun choice for those dining on Magazine Street. Chef Edgar Caro’s romantic, lively spot is a great place for inventive tapas like patatas bravas with smoked tomato butter, jamon croquettas, or arepas stuffed with orange pork, pickled onions and cotija cheese. And it’s also nice knowing that the rest of the menu ranges from lighter bites to more substantial plates, making it a great choice whether you’re in the mood for cocktails and ceviche, or a more robust dinner featuring a whole fried gulf fish and coconut rice. Either way, get the cornmeal crusted oysters with aioli verde and thank us in the morning.
Costera
When most of us think of Spanish cuisine, we picture massive platters of seafood paella, tasty tapas, delicately shaved jamon, and of course a bottle of Tempranillo to wash it down. And this is exactly what you’ll find at Costera, which serves up Spanish favorites that never fail to satisfy.
The menu boasts everything from steamed mussels with chorizo, fennel and garlic to boquerones on griddled sourdough, and an absolutely killer steak tartare. Make sure to pack an appetite, as Costera is the kind of place we love that never leaves you feeling peckish; the garlic stuffed porchetta, crispy duck pasta and 24oz. boneless ribeye will see promptly to that. And don’t forget the paella, in this case a version for two or more diners ready to tackle a heaping helping of Spanish rice stewed with shrimp, mussels, calamari, clams, crawfish and chorizo. Bring friends, because this kind of dinner deserves to be shared.
