Profile

Owner Chris Bianchi named Islero after the 1000-pound bull that killed the matador Manolete in 1947. But the name’s about the only traditionally Spanish thing about this sleek space, which boasts a dance music-spinning DJ, fruity yet potent cocktails, and an expert menu of Latin-inspired dishes. A co-owner of nearby Crave Ceviche, Bianchi enlivens the club-cum-restaurant model with flair: chatty waitstaff sport ruffled red shirts and white Carrera marble tables backed by leather banquettes frame the honey-hued room. The food is equally inventive: a quivering mound of pork belly is dotted with apples and pomegranate; the arroz cremoso, black rice enveloped in winter truffles and goat cheese, arrives thick as pudding, with aromatic traces of curd and earth; and fat plantain rounds are drizzled in sea-salted caramel. — AnneLise Sorensen

Pork belly, $12; Arroz cremoso, $7; sweet and salty plantains, $6.