El Quinto Pino

Stopped in the other night at the new teensy tapas bar in W. Chelsea called (quite appropriately)El Quinto Pino (it's the off-shoot of Tia Pol, but even smaller). 1/2 of the space is taken up by the bar which has about 15 stools, and the rest is a small counter (big enough to just rest a plate or glass) along the perimeter of the wall that requires standing. Luckily we were there early enough to get seats, but sadly the stools were as hard as a rock (so hard I was still feeling it the effects the next day!). Anyway, as with Tia Pol, you're not there to be comfortable. El Quinto Pino offers about 12 different tapas dishes. We tried a bunch - the best of which was the fried salt cod - light, airy and delicatly fried. The olives were just standard green olives in oil (zzzzzzzzz), the garlic shrimp were nicely done, although the shrimps were TINY and so was the portion (as are all the portions there). Both of the cheeses we tried were both good, but were slivers (one was the special of the night but I liked the one on the menu better personally - it had more of a bite). I tried 2 different wines - one medium bodied red and one a bit fuller (I can't remember the types- they were not standard issue Tempernillo), both were good, especially at $8/glass. I'd say this place is a good stop pre-gallery hopping in Chelsea. I just wouldn't recommend staying too long though since it's a bit hard on the wallet and the bum!