The release of “Goya’s Ghosts” this weekend sets a cinematic spotlight on Spain. In the culinary world, Spain has been riding a popularity tidal wave for the past decade, from the rise of chef Ferran Adrià and his experimental restaurant, El Bulli, to the equally impressive rise of tapas-style eating in New York and elsewhere in America. Dinner and a Movie checks out the city’s array of tapas joints, sprinkled with a little art history for movie buffs.

DINNER

There was a time when a restaurant couldn’t be overly faithful to its home cuisine, for fear of scaring off business. Mercat is a new restaurant that deals in a version of Barcelonese market cuisine but pulls fewer punches. Mercat is mobbed, even on a wet weeknight, when both bars and all the little wooden tables are full of stylish patrons guzzling wine and forking down tapas such as the patatas bravas ($9). That dish is on every Spanish menu in town, but only at Mercat is it covered with such a drenching of a spicy aioli, so that each fried potato has its own bath of creamy orange sauce. A mix of mushrooms ($12), heavily sautéed, are strewn with crunchy little shoestring fries and capped with a runny fried egg. The closest thing to a salad, with shredded fennel, greens, and orange segments ($14), also includes little fried pieces of sweetbreads to pile on the richness. The tip-off comes from the fact that the dish is listed in the first section of the menu, “Fregits,” a Catalan word that translates not to “starters” but to “fried.” From a station in the middle of the restaurant, cheeses and cold cuts are sliced to order: Serrano ham, cured pork loin, chorizo, and sobrassada, and so forth. Twenty-four dollars buys a combination platter of meats. Cheeses are $14 for three or $28 for seven, and include familiar manchego and ibores as well as intriguing offerings such as máo (aka mahon), a buttery Minorcan hard cheese with a rich tang. Diners can order their own porron of Pinord rosé or white for $15. (45 Bond St., between Bowery and Lafayette Street)

— Paul Adams (reviewed June 27)

The Sun also selects:

La Nacional — This under-thesidewalk restaurant is situated within the Spanish National Club of New York: In one room sits a bar and laminated tables at which weathered ex-pats sit in peace, watching soccer and drinking coffee. Another room is home to wooden tables, lower lighting, and a full menu of hot and cold tapas. The gambas al plancha (fried shrimp) are delicately oily and redolent of fresh garlic. (239 W. 14th St., between Seventh and Eighth avenues, 212-243-9308)

Boqueria — One of the more trendy tapas spots in Manhattan, Boqueria serves highly traditional dishes, such as pan con tomate (garlic-rubbed bread spread with tomatoes), and highly creative tapas, such as the ajo blanco, a chilled almond soup with Muscat grapes and wild sorrel. (53 W. 19th St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, 212-255-4160)

Tintol — This Portuguese and Spanish restaurant, a haven in the culinary black hole of Times Square, is owned by Jose Mereilles, best known for his partnership with the French restaurant Les Halles. The morcela (blood sausage) is solid and juicy, not crumbly like other lackluster types, and the stuffed calamari is filled with mincemeat for an unusual textural combination. (155 W. 46th St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues, 354-3838)

MOVIE

Milos Forman, best known for such films as “Amadeus,” takes another crack at historical topics with his film “Goya’s Ghosts” (2007). Told from the perspective of the painter Francisco Goya (played by Stellan Skarsgård), the film follows the struggle of the painter’s muse, Ines (Natalie Portman), who comes under fire from church authorities for heresy and becomes subject to the punishments of the Spanish Inquisition. Her father appeals to a priest whose portrait Goya is currently painting, Brother Lorenzo (Javier Bardem). The priest himself falls in love with the muse, and risks his life to save hers. (Friday, 6:45, 9:15, and 11:45 p.m., Angelika Film Center, 18 W. Houston St. at Mercer Street, 212-995-2000, $10.75 general, $7 students and seniors)