For a single, beautiful moment at La Nacional in Chelsea, you could convince yourself that you’re in Spain—in some small-town plaza, surrounded by blue mosaic-tiled tables, fresh seafood, Spanish meats and cheeses, and some European tourists smoking cigarettes while sitting in black-and-white wicker chairs. Before you switch your brain to vacation mode and ask to bum one, a truck honking its way down 14th street reminds you that this isn't the Valencian countryside, but just the Spanish Benevolent Society. The cultural institution, founded in 1868, is one of the last vestiges of the area’s historic Little Spain, and a massive yellow and red flag on the building still waves people into the basement restaurant. Far as you are from the Mediterranean, the possibility that a 2pm snack and a glass of wine will accidentally turn into dinner, leaving you buzzed on tinto with a bellyful of tapas and paella, is dangerously close. But is that actually dangerous? Or just a good excuse to take a sick day on Monday? Focus mostly on the seafood—especially the various different shrimp dishes. If you’re with at least three people, the paella mariscos is an excellent way to soak up the $9 glasses of wine.