As if Boqueria Soho wasn’t good enough news for tapas lovers, Time Out reveals that Alex Raij is opening a new place, bravely named Txkito (pronounced “chee-kee-to”) and perched "just a croqueta’s throw" from her former spots, Tía Pol and El Quinto Pino: “The 34-seat restaurant takes its name from the Euskera term for a short pour of wine — here you’ll be mining an all-Basque list along with shareable plates like bacalao pil pil, a cod dish sauced with its own emulsified liquids. Raij also plans to offer zurracopte, a cinnamon-spiked wine cocktail in short supply at most of NYC’s sangriacentric Spanish eateries.” If you question Raij’s sanity for opening up near two other tapas bars (at 240 Ninth Avenue between 24th and 25th Street), remember that she’ll inevitably catch the spillover from Tía Pol, and of course, tapas bars are always best when clustered into a barchipelago.

Breaking: Alex Raij to open Txkito [TONY]