Casa Maians

Sure, Barceloneta might be a well-known beach, but once you step away from the main drag along the boardwalk, it’s also one of the city’s most historic downtown neighborhoods. This makes it a suitable home for Casa Maians, a new restaurant that makes authentic Catalan food for a mainly Barcelonian crowd.

Locals come for the freshly caught seafood, hearty rice dishes overflowing with pork shoulder, seasonal mushrooms, and Padrón peppers, or black squid-ink rice with cuttlefish and artichokes—and that feeling of going over to a friend’s place for a quick bite and chat. The restaurant is only open during lunch (plus Friday and Saturday dinner), there are ten tables, and the entire show is run by the two owners who seem to know most of their guests personally.