ñ (EN-yay)

By Steve Peralta

Normally, I don't spend $50 on a Wednesday night cab ride in New York unless it's somewhere important, but a friend insisted that I make the trek from the Upper West Side to ñ (pronounced "EN-yay") in Soho because if I didn't he'd kick my ass.

"It's a tapas bar," he said, "You'll love the food and my sister is the bartender. She'll hook you up."

I knew nothing about the tapas before, but after ñ I use the term regularly.

Tapas are an early afternoon custom in Spain where customers order three or four plates of hot or cold, vegetable or seafood appetizers to share. Together with a sherry (or two… or three) the combined plates can serve as a prelude to the main course, but in Manhattan time is precious so usually not.

N is small, intimate and refreshingly unpretentious unless you are pretentious. The staff seems to have a short fuse for the pretentious as witnessed in a short, but hilarious exchange between one of the bartenders and a Dallas socialite.

Visitors are greeted with a long and narrow space with just enough room to squeeze by each of the two bars that face the same direction on either end. A front window booth, a few tall bistro tables, some Spanish-style decor, and a friendly staff welcome everyone from starving artists to famous actors (Michael Myers, a.k.a. Austin Powers, and a young woman shared the front booth that night).

For Soho, ñ is pretty cheap. Expect to pay between $4 and $6 for beers and slightly more for a common wine or sherry. An exclusive drink can run your tab up exponentially, but the food is good and the sangria better.

N, 33 Crosby Street, SoHo, (212) 219-8856; cash only; 5 P.M. to 2 A.M. Sundays through Thursdays; 5 p.m. to 4 A.M. Fridays and Saturdays; not wheelchair accessible.

NeoAztlan editor and founder Steve Peralta is a native of Colorado and graduate of the University of Colorado at Denver. He has been creating content for Web, print and radio for nearly 15 years. Past projects include work with the former Sony Interactive, several Internet boom content providers, and Capitol Underground pirate radio, among others. Peralta can be reached at speralta@neoaztlan.com.

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