THE VIBE
El Rey Coffee Bar and Luncheonette on Stanton Street is a tiny place. There are two tall tables that fit four backless stools each (and you will bump backs with the person behind you), a few more stools by a narrow counter in the window up front, and three more seats at what I guess you'd now call the Chef's Counter in back. Really, nothing about the set-up here invites lingering, much less suggests tucking in to a full, sit-down dinner.
And yet, every time I've gone into El Rey for a coffee and a treat, I always wind up staying far longer than expected, chatting with the convivial baristas, and with Chef Gerado Gonzalez himself if he's still around, which usually seems to be the case. There's not really a kitchen here at El Rey, more just a counter that's possibly even smaller than the one you have at home—a toaster oven seems to do all the last-minute warming and charring—at which Gonzalez and crew plate fully-prepped ingredients.
What El Rey lacks in physical comfort, the people working here more than make up for with their warmth and the obvious love they put into the venture. Plus there's that Sade shrine on the back wall sending out good vibes.
THE BITES
Which brings me to El Rey's dinner service, which just launched last night and plays out the above dynamic to the hilt. First and most important, you should know that the food here is terrific, a short but appealing menu of veggie-heavy small dishes, from which everything I tried was a winner. The Vegan Chicharrones Locos, for example, were like awesome hippie nachos, with some sort of airy, crunchy-fried plant standing in for chips (Gonzalez told me these are pretty common in Mexico), and cashew crema, some genuinely hot hot sauce, and a fruity chamoy drizzle all providing a tasty, necessary messiness.
Also really good was the Octopus Salad (though you have to like your cephalopod unadorned and still tasting of ocean), which was served on top of pureed black beans with squid ink (for extra blackness and ocean), a generous scattering of both chewy whole hominy and crunchy kernels, and then some capers and pickles other acidic delights.
My favorite dish may have been Charred Radicchio, set atop a generous slather of ricotta and sprinkled with hazelnuts and mint leaves.
THE VERDICT
The food is great (I also had bites of my table-neighbors' Kale Salad and Patas Bravas, and would recommend either of these dishes as well), so you've got to wonder how they're going to deal with potential crowds. This is not a bang-bang sort of operation! At least not yet. There's lots of personal attention and chit-chat, some immediately forgivable front-of-house fumblings, with no overt effort to turn tables. All of which is definitely pleasant and homey, except maybe if you're the one standing by the door waiting for me to leave.
Last night I was the first customer, 5:30 on the dot, so got a stool right away, but by the time I left an hour later there were several people waiting by the window for seats, with others not bothering to hang around, heading back out into the freezingness for any number of other nearby options. However, El Rey is a Nicholas Morgenstern joint, and he's done okay with dealing with mobs at his namesake ice cream parlor on Rivington, and at GG's up on 5th Street, so I imagine they'll figure it out.
El Rey Coffee Bar and Luncheonette (and Dinnerette?) is located on Stanton Street between Ludlow and Orchard; the "evening service" runs from 5:30 to 10:30 (212-260-3950, elreynyc.com).
