Ita was a small place named for the nickname of the Chef Mariela Fernández’s grandmother. nickname.  The seasonally based menu was a la carte with a couple specials to offer.  Her husband, William ran the front of house and also has sommelier training in addition to a Master’s degree in economics. Mariela previously was a chemical engineer but studied at the Basque Culinary Center, as did William.  This restaurant was their dream since arriving in Madrid in 2014.  The space combined natural stone, copper, painted wood and green terrazzo to make an inviting and cozy atmosphere.  The front room held the counter and its seats and the second room was small tables.  Jazz music was in the background and both hosts spoke good English and were super friendly.  They are the only staff but you never felt unattended.  I wish I had a place like this near my house, I would go all the time.  It’s not fancy food but it was very tasty with nice sized portions and they were happy to serve things one at a time so we could split everything.  It gets a solid thumbs up.

Set-up

Food

An amuse bouche was some toasts with a spread of black olives and sundried tomatoes.  The very crunchy toasts were good with the tasty spread.

The bread service was only 1€ and well worth it.  A thick slice of crusty dense sourdough bread that was perfect for finishing off the dishes.

Green lentils, sweet potato, kale and coconut milk was a bowl of delicious comfort.  The lentils were well seasoned and cooked nicely with a light coconut flavor.  This was perfect winter food and great with the bread.   They nicely split the order into two bowls so we didn’t have to pass back and forth.

A chicken pie with endive was a daily special.  The excellent flakey crust was filled with a chicken picadilla-like filling.  Moist shreds of chicken combined with sweet raisins gave it a lightly sweet component that was wonderful when eaten with a bit of the bitter endive, which was lightly dressed with olive oil.  A fabulous plate.

Ita’s roast beef with carrots, parsnip and salad turned out to be slices of rare beef with a light sauce and onions.  On the plate were perfectly cooked carrots and parsnips which went great with the beef.  Some dressed radicchio was the salad and again it blended well with the other ingredients.  The beef was amazingly tender as was the well cooked onion.  Another fine plate.

Rosemary and orange peel creme caramel was what we chose for dessert.  It was a good sized portion of very smooth cool custard in a fabulous caramel sauce.  The orange flavor from the custard permeated the caramel for a nice effect but the rosemary flavor was dominant over the orange.  It was wonderful.

We ended with a coffee that came with some delicious almond cookies.  These were buttery crisp bits filled with sliced almonds.  A great way to end this fabulous meal.