Practically every restaurant and bar along the gentrified Lower East Side strip of Ludlow Street between Houston and Delancey has its doors flung wide open, its music blaring, and its customers milling out onto the sidewalk, perhaps looking for more space – if not a place to smoke. And then there’s Suba, moored at the end of this strip, dark and mysterious, latched up as tight as a submarine – only the water is on the inside.

Indeed, while the Four Seasons may have its stately Pool Room, Suba’s main dining room is a pool, with a platform cantilevered above it. A gently moving body of water laps close enough underfoot to pre-soak your laundry if you happen to carelessly drape a jacket over your chair too close to the edge. But none of this is news to Ludlow hipsters because Suba opened nearly three years ago. Suba’s newfound buzz derives from its new executive chef, Alex Urena, who took over the kitchen a few weeks ago.

Mr. Urena’s Latin heritage and culinary background, including years spent honing his craft at Spain’s renowned restaurants El Bulli and Martin Berazategui, inspire his new menu with the gastronomic sensibilities and traditional ingredient palette of Spain’s varied and exciting culinary regions. Mr. Urena learned butchering from his father, who was Charlie Palmer’s hatchet man at the River Cafe, and he spent seven years working side-by-side with David Bouley, who taught him the intricacies of French culinary techniques, while years spent with Spanish culinary legend Ferran Adria inspired him to be innovative. All of which adds up to a Spain-inspired menu at Suba that’s a welcome departure from the city’s ubiquitous Nuevo Latino fare.

The menu, in Spanish with English subtitles, features a five-course, $55 tasting menu available Sunday through Thursday, with accompanying wine pairings offered at “reserva” ($35) and “gran reserva” ($55) levels. And the wine here is a serious collection of Spain’s best and brightest producers, with prices that suit every budget.

Starters, all $10, are recast classics from all over Spain. And of course there’s a plate of crudo at the very top of the list. The tres crudos the night I dined there were an exemplary threesome of yellowfin tuna with classic lemon and olive oil, salmon splashed with a bitter orange reduction, and translucent scallops daubed with a fabulous horseradish cream. Pulpo a la Gallega, citrus and paprika marinated octopus floating on a raft of potato confit with oven dried tomatoes, was drizzled with pimiento de padron, which is both a variety of chile and a recipe for it that’s mostly sweet with a hint of heat in the background. The shredded beef flank steak classic ropa vieja was brilliantly upgraded to braised short ribs and made into a tarta with duck confit and velvety foie gras on brioche toast. Even the tapas-bar staples of Serrano ham, goat cheese, and quince paste were elevated to dainty new heights when stacked into a delicate napoleon stabilized with black pepper tuiles.

Entrees are uniformly priced at $24. Poached cod came cloaked in a gorgeous crust of chicharron (pork rind) and panko crumbs (coarse bread crumbs often used in Japanese cooking) that lent a salty snap to the delicious fragrant white fish. It was served with a tasty stew of baby carrots, pearl onions, and haricot verts dressed in a Basque salsa verde. A Catalan paella made with shrimp, littleneck clams, mussels, and chorizo had the look and texture of risotto. The saffron-stained, chubby short grain rice was perfectly al dente and wafted aromas of paprika, roasted red peppers, and oven-dried tomatoes. “Dos Texturas de Pato” was a study in the two textures of duck by way of a gorgeously browned breast and crisp confit, complemented by seared shiitakes and a white peach coulis with cinnamon sauce. The most luxurious of the lot, however, was the tender grilled hanger steak with foie gras flan, smoked bacon, and a savory onion marmalade.

Two cheese plates, both $12 and featuring three cheeses, were described in detail on the menu but not by the waiter when presented, leaving us wondering, having surrendered the menus, which cheese was which. They were certainly fresh and tasty, but remain a mystery to this day.

Desserts, all $8, are listed on the menu with wine pairings, making for a built-in nightcap. A flan-flavored crema Catalana souffle was cloudlike and delicious, served with lemon ice cream and fennel marinated orange segments. Chocolate-filled bunuelos – brutally translated as sugar-coated puffs of fried dough – were as sinfully good as they sound, served with a coconut sorbet. My favorite, however, was the warm chocolate bread pudding with honey-caramelized pine-nut ice cream and a chocolate tuile.