Bulla is the go-to place for watching any World Cup game that Spain is playing. Warning: Be prepared to hear Spaniards brag about the defending champs and boast that their country is the best in the world. On a recent Saturday, the Real Madrid vs. Atletico Madrid game was a major event at Bulla, which serves a delicious brunch on weekends.
Brunch, which was launched on Easter, includes a tasting-style menu that takes classic Spanish favorites and modernizes them in multiple ways. Short Order checked out the tasting brunch that's available both Saturdays and Sundays.
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Spaniards love eggs and potatoes, and Bulla goes heavy on both, which is exactly what most brunch hunters want. The menu is divided into sections -- huevos (eggs); tapas y raciones (small plates); platos familiars y bocatas (larger plates and sandwiches), and dulce (sweet). Guests choose three items to try, unless you opt for two of the larger plate options, in which case that dish counts for two. Bottomless sangria and mimosas are available with the $27 brunch for $15 additional per person. Skip the mimosas -- you can get those just about anywhere else -- and take advantage of endless sangria in a choice of red or white.
The huevos section features four dishes. It was a difficult choice, but I ended up going for the one that had the name of the restaurant in the dish. Huevos Bulla couples homemade potato chips and potato foam with truffle oil, an organic egg, and jamón serrano. Other options include a version of a Benedict, with seared chorizo and asparagus; a "revuelto," or scramble, with oyster mushrooms, sautéed shrimp, and scallions; and a cojonudo y cojonuda -- toast topped with chorizo, morcilla (blood sausage), and a quail egg. If that sounds awesome, it's because it is -- "cojonudo" is Spaniards' slang for awesome, excellent, magnificent, brilliant, or badass.
Tip: The correct way to eat Spanish egg dishes of this type is by "rompiendo los huevos" (breaking the eggs) over all other components, allowing them to intermingle and soak in the egg's yolk.
Small plates include salmon rillettes, watermelon with bellota, and coca. Usually made using pork, Bulla's take on rillettes fuses white-wine-poached salmon with spring onion and cornichons on toast. A popular dish in Spain, melon con jamón gets an upgrade and a Miami twist by using watermelon rather than cantaloupe and adding heirloom tomatoes, truffle honey, and miti cabra, a soft, ripened goat cheese from Murcia. The 5J bellota ham is genuine jabugo ham and one of the finest in the world.
Coca has nothing to do with Coca-Cola -- it's a flatbread. Topped with quail eggs, caramelized onion, oyster mushrooms, and bacon, it's not your typical Spanish dish, but every bit is tasty.
Bistec al caballo counts for two dishes. Grilled skirt steak, more organic eggs (this time fried), and potatoes (shoestring style) are sauced up with salsa roja. Suggestion: Don't request that your meat be cooked above medium-rare at a Spanish place unless you want to be judged.
Cochinillo (suckling pig) is a favorite in Spain, so of course it's integrated into this brunch. Bulla's cochinillo hash shreds the pig meat, tosses it with breakfast potatoes and garlic confit, and finishes it off with an organic poached egg.
For a sweet ending, try French toast with vanilla-berry syrup or churros con chocolate. No translation needed there.
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