El Raval
Paella with a layer of crispy rice you scrape off the pan.1
Why go
Tapas bars are scarce in Austin, so El Raval on South Lamar gets to run the classics without competition: pan con tomate, patatas bravas, Iberian ham, gambas al ajillo.1 The Infatuation's Nicolai McCrary scored it 7.5 and says the paella is very good, with a layer of crispy rice worth scraping off the pan.1 That crust is socarrat and it is the part of a paella that tells you whether the kitchen held its nerve on the heat.1 The kitchen also runs small global detours, Peruvian leche de tigre, a Punjabi makhani sauce, a Middle Eastern harissa sofrito, which the reviewer reads as a nod to the real El Raval quarter in Barcelona rather than as fusion.1 Drinks follow the same route: a gin and tonic with Sichuan peppercorns, a vermouth and sherry cocktail under olive foam, and a long list of Spanish wines, vermouths and sherries.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the paella, and get the crispy rice off the bottom of the pan.1
- Around it: pan con tomate, patatas bravas, gambas al ajillo, Iberian ham.1
- Drink: the gin and tonic with Sichuan peppercorns, or the vermouth and sherry with olive foam.1
What locals & experts say
- The Infatuation Austin, Nicolai McCrary, 7.5 out of 10:
El Raval does the classics well, including a very good paella with a layer of crispy rice you'll want to scrape off the pan.
Recorded as a rating, never as an award.1 - Listed in two of The Infatuation's Austin guides: their standout queer-owned bars and restaurants, and their New Year's Eve dinner guide. Listings, not scored verdicts.1
Good to know
- The global detours are deliberate. The name is the diverse Barcelona neighborhood, and the reviewer writes that the leche de tigre and harissa turn up sparingly as a nod to that rather than as a fusion program. Some land better than others and he says none of it is bad.1
- Hygiene: no row for this restaurant, and a co-tenant that does have one. El Raval is Unit 150 in the same building and has no row of its own.2
Verdict
should-visit — A 7.5 from The Infatuation for a tapas bar doing the classics properly in a city that barely has any, with a paella whose socarrat the reviewer tells you to go after. The global detours, leche de tigre, makhani, harissa, are sparing and are the point of the name rather than a fusion habit. Drinks are strong: Sichuan peppercorn gin and tonic, olive-foam vermouth, and a deep Spanish list. Off the top rung because the rating says good rather than great, and because the premises carries no public inspection record.