46. Jaleo

Here’s the thing about tapas: I hate it. I think it is usually so unsatisfying and ungodly expensive. So when I went to make dinner reservations for last night and everything in the greater DC area was booked for some reason (ahem, the effing cherry blossoms), we had to go with the downtown Jaleo. On top of my tapas aversion, I’ve always had an issue with Jaleo. Now, I’d only been to the one in Bethesda before last night, but I felt like Jaleo was a TGI Fridays version of Cafe Atlantico—okay food, zero presentation and dumbed down recipes. I wouldn’t be all that surprised if a waiter came out of the kitchen with a birthday cake on his head. But, the list has spoken so I must obey. 

One of my problems with tapas is that I tend to get really overwhelmed with the menu and feel like I have to please everyone at the table with the items I pick. Because of that I usually end up ordering things that are fried and chickeny and cheesy. But this time I came prepared with the list of Washingtonian’s favs so that I could focus when it came to ordering. As you may or may not know, I’m a fan of sausage. Had it been up to me, I would have ordered only sausage-centric plates, but we had a Lent observer in our group so our choices tended towards the non-meat variety. That ended up working great because my favorites were the Catholic friendly salted cod fritters with the honey sauce, the wrinkled potatoes and the shrimp with garlic and peppers. Us heathens weren’t as pleased with our choices—the chicken croquettes (a little like deep-fried cheese dip and not in a good way) and the potato wrapped chorizo (I thought they would have worked better as dog treats). We also ordered dessert since, uh…it was on the menu. The Apple Charlotte was pretty good, the fruit had been cooked a little too long but the pastry was nice. The Chocolate and Hazelnut Cake was obviously pulled right out of the freezer but once it came up to room temp it had good flavor. 

Truth be told, this last trip to Jaleo hasn’t really changed my opinion of it. I still think it is a pretty dumbed down menu that assumes you don’t know what you are ordering. Once the food comes out, it all has sort of the same flavor—like everything was cooked in the same pan. I will give them credit though, on a Friday night it is a fun atmosphere. However, I don’t quite understand the hype. We had reservations, but when the group behind us asked for a table for two the hostess told them it would be an hour and forty-five minute wait. They were still standing by the door when we left two hours later. Maybe it’s part of Jaleo’s plan, to liquor you up and starve you to death. Food always tastes better when you’re about to faint.