Spanish Restaurant on 14th Street: La Nacional Brownstone

La Nacional is closed on Mondays, opens at 4 pm Tuesday through Friday, and serves patatas bravas for $12 behind a red door at 239 West 14th Street. The Spanish restaurant occupies the ground floor of the Spanish Benevolent Society, a club founded in 1868 that bought this brownstone in 1925 and opened its dining room that June. It is the last working remnant of the stretch New Yorkers once called Little Spain, and the paella comes from a chef born in Valencia.

What makes La Nacional different is that it is still a club with a restaurant attached, not a restaurant dressed as a club. The society still runs events in its upstairs Gala Room, La Liga matches play at the bar, and the society's calendar includes tango every Thursday and a flamenco tablao one Saturday a month. On a match day, the bar fills with fans following Spanish football. The room is unpretentious, built for long meals and conversation rather than for photographs.

The tapas list is long and fairly priced for Manhattan. Gambas al ajillo cost $16, shrimp in garlic oil served hot enough to crackle. Croquetas caseras come six to an order for $12, which makes them easy to share around a table of three. Tortilla de patatas is $9, a thick wedge of potato and egg that tastes the way it does in Madrid bars. Those three plates plus a round of drinks make a satisfying early dinner on their own.

Pulpo a la plancha is one of the more substantial tapas at $24, grilled octopus that works well as a shared second course. For the luxury plate, jamón ibérico de bellota costs $28, notably less than many Manhattan restaurants charge for acorn-fed ham. Bravas at $12 round out a classic first order. If you are three people, these four dishes give a fair tour of the menu before anyone commits to rice, and the kitchen sends them out as they are ready.

Paella is the reason many diners come. The paella de marisco is listed in two sizes: a small pan at $54 that serves two, and a medium pan at $64 for three or four people. Chef Paco, the Valencian in the kitchen, cooks each pan to order, so ask for the rice when you order the first tapas. The medium pan plus four shared tapas comfortably feeds a group of four, and it is the order that best represents this kitchen.

Here is where to save money: you can skip the jamón if your group is small. At $28 it is fair, but the bravas, croquetas and tortilla together cost about the same and fill a table far more effectively. Spend the savings on the medium paella instead of the small one if you are three, since a small pan stretched across three people leaves everyone wanting more. The octopus is the single dish worth adding if anyone at the table loves seafood.

Bookings for up to eight people go through OpenTable, and that covers most visits. Groups of nine or more must email hola@lanacional.org and order from a prix fixe menu, which keeps large parties running smoothly. The high-top communal table seats nine to fourteen, a private room holds thirteen to twenty, and the upstairs Gala Room can host up to one hundred guests for events. If La Nacional is full, El Quijote at 226 West 23rd Street opens at 5 pm.

Hours shape your plan. Tuesday through Friday the doors open at 4 pm and close at 11 pm. Saturday runs from noon to 11 pm, and Sunday from noon to 9 pm, which makes La Nacional one of the few Spanish restaurants in the neighborhood serving a long weekend lunch. Thursdays are busier because of tango, and Saturday nights with a flamenco tablao fill fast. A quiet Tuesday at 6 pm is the easiest table in the house.

The regulars are part of the experience. On match days, La Liga fans gather at the bar and order rounds of croquetas between goals. On Thursday evenings, the tango night brings dancers and spectators who stay long after dinner. Weekend lunches, which start at noon, draw a slower crowd that lingers over paella. The unwritten rule is to respect the screens during a big match, because for many people at that bar, the game comes first.

The history is real and well documented. The Spanish Benevolent Society was founded in the fall of 1868 to support Spanish immigrants in New York. When Federico García Lorca arrived in 1929, the society's president greeted him, and the society says the poet spent his first night in the city here. Through the twentieth century, 14th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues was lined with Spanish shops, restaurants and boarding houses. Today, La Nacional is what remains of that neighborhood.

After eating, walk two blocks west to Chelsea Market at 75 Ninth Avenue, the former Nabisco factory where the Oreo was created, now a food hall with shops and vendors under one roof. From there, the High Line's stairs at Gansevoort and 14th Streets lead up to the elevated park, ideal for an evening stroll above the Meatpacking District. If you prefer to stay close, the brownstone blocks of West 13th Street just south are quiet and beautiful at dusk.

The red door is the easiest landmark on the block, set into an otherwise ordinary brownstone facade. The society publishes its own history on its website, from the 1868 founding to the Lorca visit, and it makes good reading before dinner. The restaurant's menu labels sizes clearly, so ordering is simple even for first-timers.

Practical notes: La Nacional is at 239 West 14th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues and is closed on Mondays. Book on OpenTable for up to eight, or email for larger groups. It suits soccer fans, couples who want a Spanish dinner without fuss, and groups who want a private room at reasonable prices. It suits less anyone looking for a polished modern tasting menu. On flamenco Saturdays, book a week ahead and arrive before the music starts.