Restaurant Week is upon us! It's your semiannual shot at climbing into the City's swankest restaurants through the backdoor--you best hurry to make those reservations before your time runs out next Friday. Surveying the offerings, Bwog freelancer Bari Weiss takes us to Bolo, the Spanish sensation run by that guy you may have seen on TV.

I must admit, I don't get Bobby Flay's appeal. As an avid Iron Chef America enthusiast, Flay always struck me as awkward in front of the camera, at times even coming off as irritated. For his fans, this is precisely Flay's allure; his awkwardness is charming, his irritation is edgy, his furrowed brow evidence of the ingenious recipes marinating in his head.

But what most of us know of Flay is just branding. And though image seems increasingly important in the world of food, chefs still earn their reputations with what comes out of the kitchen. Flay may not have been able to woo me with any of his four shows on the Food Network—but could he win me over with the recipes that have won him high praise? I set off for Bolo (23 East 22^nd Street), a participant in this year's Restaurant Week, to try some of the food that earned the joint a rare three stars from the New York Times.

Bolo calls itself contemporary Spanish cuisine and gets its name not from the tie or the hat, but from its two partners: Bobby Flay ("Bo") and Laurence Kretchmer ("Lo"). Unlike similarly priced bistros, it doesn't take itself too seriously. Excellent service creates a warm atmosphere, even as the Picasso-esque wallpaper feels a bit dizzying (perhaps "eclectic" and "fun" in interior design-speak, but strikingly similar to the mass-produced collage paper swathing your neighborhood Starbucks).