South Boston’s New Spanish Restaurant Is Gorgeous

Dalia. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

At Dalia, Broadway Restaurant Group’s new South Boston Spanish restaurant, even the calamari is a surprise. It’s cut lengthwise and cooked over charcoal, standing in for noodles in a sauce built from ibérico pork and sobrassada—a Spanish riff on Sichuan dan dan. There’s also a churro, but it’s stuffed with crabmeat and topped with caviar. And the paella? It has a dedicated three-person team. This, to put it mildly, is far from a neighborhood restaurant that’s playing it safe.

A spread of food and drinks at Dalia, including chips with jamón ibérico and caviar; paella; and red sangria. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

The design, too, is daring and grandiose, courtesy of South Boston-based firm Assembly Design Studio, which also collaborated on Dalia’s immersive Italian siblings Prima, Capri, and more. From the massive, plant-filled skylight to the tasseled lamps to the cozy fireside tables under dog-themed paintings, this looks like nothing else in Boston. It’s a challenge to nail both the style and the substance, but BRG seems ready to take on that challenge, thanks in part to an impressive kitchen suite in full view.

Right by the front windows at Dalia, a comfortable seating area by a fireplace will accommodate diners waiting for tables. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Between the sun-drenched front dining room and the moody, sexier space in the back, the custom-built kitchen is stacked with equipment by Barcelona-based Josper, including four Basque-style grills and a wood-fired broiler. From sure-to-be-coveted counter seats along the edges of the kitchen, or from virtually anywhere in the two dining rooms, customers will be able to watch the team prepare everything from fresh breads like pan de cristal to brightly flavored crudo to big pans of paella, the latter perfected by that three-person team.

Dalia’s Valencia paella, with shellfish, chorizo, and chicken. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Dalia’s razor clam crudo. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

“What’s really fun about Spanish cuisine is that it’s [often] wood-fired cooking,” says culinary director and partner Nick Dixon. “And the Spanish culinary scene is constantly evolving. It’s one of the top cuisines in the world. We like to have eclectic, creative menus, so we took the idea of wood-fired, Spanish-influenced food and put a spin on it.” Case in point: a mountain of Spanish potato chips with jamón ibérico and (optional, but encouraged) caviar, or those aforementioned churros and dan dan not-noodles. While the menu isn’t traditional, the team is sourcing many ingredients from Spain, including sherry and ibérico pork (a jamón cart will feature staff slicing ham tableside). In a perfect blend of near and far, the restaurant’s olive oil of choice is produced in Spain by a company based in South Boston, Titin.

The bar in Dalia’s back dining room. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

The best way to get a feel for Dalia’s culinary philosophy, says Dixon, is to start with a crudo, such as the bluefin tuna with blood orange, black olive, and kumquat, before moving into the tapas. “We’re a very tapas-focused restaurant,” he notes. The guisantes à la brasa, charred snap peas, are “very fresh and bright,” cooked in a bed of charcoal, tossed with orange and sherry, and garnished with Marcona almonds and burnt-orange chimichurri. That calamares “dan dan” is also a must-try, he says, and a good example of Dalia’s out-of-the-box take on Spanish. Try a robata dish, too—that’s Japanese-style charcoal-grilling—such as the thinly sliced wagyu rib cap with sherry ponzu.

/ Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Then, choose your own adventure: Several types of bomba-rice-based paella beckon, including the shellfish-loaded Valencia style. “The paella, for us, is like the pasta in an Italian restaurant,” Dixon says. Or try some of the larger, made-to-share entrees, such as whole suckling pig or whole local fish. Either way, save room for dessert, such as the gâteau Basque, a cookie-meets-pie situation with blackberry preserves.

Dalia’s Amapola cocktail (strawberry mezcal, Aperol, white vermut, lemon) with mejilones à la brasa (PEI mussels, cockles, and salsa verde). / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

“Even with the beverage program, we’re trying to incorporate Spanish ingredients,” says Dixon, “and we wanted to have drinks that are crushable but thoughtful, that will make you feel like you’re on vacation.” The Amapola—strawberry mezcal with Aperol, white vermut, and lemon—is summertime in a glass. There’s red sangria, too, not to mention a passionfruit-and-coconut margarita. On the wine side, the options are mostly Spanish. “Everything from delicious, affordable wines by the glass to baller reds,” says Dixon, noting that Spanish wines are particularly affordable. “An $80 bottle of Spanish wine could drink like a $120 bottle of wine [from somewhere else]” he says—which, in this economy, feels like reason enough to visit.

Dalia’s txistorra “hot dogs” with chorizo, peppers, and onions. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

The thread of Spanish sourcing continues in everything from Dalia’s ingredients to the décor and accoutrements. “Both Erica [Diskin, cofounder of Assembly Design Studio] and I wanted to honor Spain as much as possible in the space,” Dixon says. Plates were handmade by Cerámicas Ortiz in the south of Spain; lamps were custom-made in Valencia; intricate floor tiles come from Spain, too. Broadway Restaurant Group and Assembly Design Studio have collaborated on projects for well over a decade, “and everything I ever do [in the future], Assembly will be involved in,” Dixon says.

The front dining room at Dalia features a large skylight full of living plants. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

The bar in Dalia’s front dining room. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

“Nick and I have each been living and working in Southie for a long time,” says Assembly cofounder Erica Diskin, “so the perspective with this place was, ‘What does the neighborhood need?’” Adds Dixon: “I’ve been cooking [in this neighborhood] for 14 years,” starting next door at sibling spot Lincoln. “What do people who are 14 years older want now? They want something where they can have a date night and feel transported.”

Dalia’s gambas al ajillo, featuring Argentinian red shrimp. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

From the starting point of the central kitchen, the existing skylight, and the idea that the space should feel lived-in, Assembly worked to design a restaurant equal parts homey and worthy of special occasions. “[I wanted to create] my fantasy home that I’d want to sit in and live in,” says Diskin, “because when you go to a neighborhood restaurant, it’s like your third space. We want it to feel like you’re moving through rooms of a house,” from a cozy area at the very front—with a fireplace, furniture that invites lounging, and walls covered in paintings of dogs (and one cat)—to the plant-filled front dining room and bar, to the “more formal” backroom for “fancier dinners and sexy date nights.” Fancier, but timeless; Diskin uses layers—paint, plaster, fabrics, textures, reclaimed wood—to evoke the feel that this has been someone’s dining room for ages.

Dalia’s back dining room and bar, with a view of the open kitchen. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Given the long-term relationship between Broadway Restaurant Group and Assembly Design Studio, it feels like the teams up the ante with each new restaurant, working on a grander scale each time. Sure, Dalia is poised for an easy social-media win with its countless photogenic nooks and details, but there’s a lot more at play here. The design and the culinary philosophy play off each other to create what we can only predict will be an important South Boston destination for years to come—or, at the very least, a rockin’ paella party.

Dalia’s churro with crab and caviar. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

Dalia opens for dinner on April 2, with plans for brunch and cafe service at a later date. Also still to come: a downstairs lounge with its own personality; stay tuned. 429 W. Broadway, South Boston, daliaboston.com.

Dalia. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal