It is a pleasure to be joining the foodie celebration’s third annual Moco Eats Week! It will last from May 14-20, 2023. Chef Rodrigues joined Fox 5 DC, Good Day DC, this morning! Click now to watch chef George’s segment & hear all about what El Mercat has going on!

It’s a family affair at this shout-out to Mercat de la Boqueria, the must-see maze of food stalls and eateries in Barcelona. In the kitchen is Georges Rodrigues, late of Boqueria in Washington. At the bar is his brother-in-law, Wendel Alves. Like the design? Credit for the red shutters framing painted alleyways and the handsome wall of wine goes to the chef’s wife, Wanessa Alves.

If you’ve been grazing on small plates for a while, there’s probably little on the menu you haven’t seen. Tortilla Espanola? Fried calamari? The gang’s all here, along with luscious cod croquettes and chorizo and green salsa on toasted bread — the best open-face sandwich for miles. There’s a single main dish, paella, albeit in four guises. The most dramatic pan is the most delicious: bomba rice, stained black with squid ink and decorated with grilled calamari and sunny aioli. To spoon is to swoon.

El Mercat Bar De Tapas, located in Rockville Town Square, is one of the newest eateries on a block populated with franchise restaurants.

It opened late January, 2022 and has emerged to be a popular place for people both young and old. The restaurant has street parking and a parking garage free for the first two hours.

El Mercat serves traditional Spanish cuisine such as paella, tapas, and churros, in addition to its selection of classic Spanish wines. Food items on the menu range from $5 for appetizers such as aceitunas —made from mixed olives, arbequina, gordal and aragon— to $38 for larger entrees such as seafood paella.

I hesitate to start with a yield sign, but don’t stuff yourself on croquettes at the area’s newest Spanish restaurant. You might also consider going easy on the squid ink paella, despite the appeal of the crunchy-sticky grains of rice that lead to scrape-scraping of the bottom of the pan.

Blame the cheesecake and the churros at El Mercat Bar de Tapas in Rockville Town Center. The last course is among the best reasons to befriend the debut restaurant of Brazilian native George Rodrigues, whose food you might have eaten in Washington at the Penn Quarter branch of Boqueria and before that, the Latin-inspired Tico on 14th Street NW.

El Mercat Bar de Tapas, a restaurant specializing in Spanish tapas, has opened at 101 Gibbs St. in Rockville Town Square.

The restaurant is serving guests who purchased tickets to a “Friends and Family” dinner Friday and Saturday. Regular dinner service is set to start on Monday, co-owner Wanessa Alves told Bethesda Beat.

Rockville’s dining scene gets a major boost this weekend with the arrival of El Mercat Bar De Tapas, a polished paella place from a D.C. chef with superb Spanish cooking skills.

Rockville Town Center’s anticipated El Mercat Bar De Tapas comes from George Rodrigues, the former chef de cuisine at revered tapas chain Boqueria in Penn Quarter. His breakout project up I-270 makes use of a modern space that housed short-lived Cajun and Puerto Rican restaurant Gumbo Ya Ya (101 Gibbs Street, Rockville, Maryland).

The outgoing chef de cuisine at Penn Quarter’s tapas bar Boqueria will showcase his polished Spanish cooking skills at his first solo project opening in Rockville Town Square this winter.

George Rodrigues hopes to debut El Mercat Bar De Tapas in mid-December in the 2,000-square-foot space that housed short-lived Cajun and Puerto Rican restaurant Gumbo Ya Ya (101 Gibbs Street, Rockville, Maryland). Rodrigues was part of Boqueria Penn Quarter’s opening team in 2019 and learned how to perfect his paella under its Barcelona-born executive chef Marc Vidal, whose group oversees a pair of locations in D.C., four in NYC, and one in Chicago.

Chef George Rodrigues will be opening his first solo restaurant in Rockville Town Center this Winter. Located in the space formerly home to Gumbo Ya, El Mercat Bar and Tapas will aim to capture the essence of Spanish cultural diversity through simple and delicious food. Guests can get excited to enjoy seasonal, shareable, and house-made dishes that will take them through a vibrant Spanish culinary journey. Guests can also get excited to enjoy El Mercat Bar de Tapas's wine list, that will consist of only Spanish wines. Menu options will include vegetarian, carne, and seafood options for guests to enjoy.

A Rockville chef is opening his first solo restaurant in the Town Square this winter after working for several years as the chef of cuisine for Boqueria, a tapas restaurant in Washington, D.C.

George Rodrigues' El Mercat Bar de Tapas will serve up brunch, lunch and dinner with the purpose of taking diners on a 'vibrant Spanish culinary journey,' according to the restaurant's opening announcement. The eatery will serve shareable dishes, seasonal food and house-made recipes. It will be at 101 Gibbs St Unit C in Rockville. 

Rodrigues says flavors will range from Catalan to Galicia, there will be four different paellas, and some of the classics will include escalivada, papas bravas, calamares, pulpo con patatas, and pollo rostizado.

George Rodrigues, a veteran chef whose resume includes working with celebrity chefs Jose Garces and Michael Schlow, and who also appeared on Food Network’s “Beat Bobby Flay” and won, is opening his own restaurant at Rockville Town Center this winter.

El Mercat Bar de Tapas will focus on Spanish cultural diversity, with shareable, seasonal, house made dishes.

Rodrigues said his vision is to “allow guests to savor different dishes that take them through a vibrant Spanish culinary journey with the most exciting flavors of true tapas fare.”

A Rockville chef is opening his first solo restaurant in the Town Square this winter after working for several years as the chef of cuisine for Boqueria, a tapas restaurant in Washington, D.C.

George Rodrigues' El Mercat Bar de Tapas will serve up brunch, lunch and dinner with the purpose of taking diners on a 'vibrant Spanish culinary journey,' according to the restaurant's opening announcement. The eatery will serve shareable dishes, seasonal food and house-made recipes. It will be at 101 Gibbs St Unit C in Rockville.

Rodrigues says flavors will range from Catalan to Galicia, there will be four different paellas, and some of the classics will include escalivada, papas bravas, calamares, pulpo con patatas, and pollo rostizado.

A Brazilian couple is trying to capture the essence of a Spanish tapas bar with El Mercat Bar de Tapas opening this winter in Rockville. The inspiration behind the name is two-fold. The bustling atmosphere at the famed Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria in Barcelona entranced Chef George Rodrigues and Wanessa Alves when they visited. And Rodrigues’ big break in the restaurant industry came when he landed a job at Mercat a la Planxa in Chicago under Jose Garces.

El Mercat Bar De Tapas will be taking over the spot that was most recently home to Gumbo Ya Ya at 101 Gibbs Street Unit C in Rockville Town Square.