Lively Spanish restaurants with great ambience and food are hard to come by in Manhattan where mixing cocktails, food, and fun is equally important so I’m happy to see that Marcha Cocina has opened it’s second outpost on the trendy lower east side at 111 Avenue C.

The restaurant has 38 seats and is focused on moderately priced meals with sharing in mind. The tapas menu is quite good and priced from $7 to $12 a plate. Our favorites were the very tasty baby chorizo, a savory spanish sausage sautéed in garlic, white whine and olive oil and the the Patatas Bravas, crispy potatoes topped with brava aioli.

The restaurant is known for their variety of flatbreads called “Cocas”. They offer wild mushroom, chorizo, and skirt steak ($13) which happened to be our favorites and are actually pretty substantial and very filling.

If your party is still hungry the entrees not to be missed are the Paella Con Langosta ($28), served with lobster, saffron valencia rice, shrimp, clams, mussels, and tomato escabeche and the Churasco (Skirt Steak)($24) served with demi, fondu, roasted potato and chimichuri sauce.

The cocktail menu is extensive and the waitstaff was very knowledgeable about mixing drinks to our liking. They even recommended a special hard to find Brugal rum, which quickly became a favorite.

Marcha Cocina is open 7 days a week from 3pm until 11pm Sunday through Thursday and until midnight on Saturday nights. They are launching a new brunch menu shortly so stay tuned!

For more info visit www.marchanyc.com