jaleo

great (wine) experience. several friends and i met at this location a couple of weeks ago and had a wonderful time there. having previously lived in dc, i had already been to the capitol-area location and more or less knew what to expect. first of all, the space will surprise you if you're used to their other locations. what it lacked in whitewashed charm, it more than made up for in modern grandeur. the highlight of our evening was the oenophilic passion of their beverage director, jill zimorski. for transparency's sake, i should admit that jill and i worked together about a decade ago at a great, now-defunct, french restaurant in charlottesville, so i expected her highly-informed approach to our wine service. jill steered us to multiple bottles of perfectly-pairing and unique wines - and gave usgreatinsight into why these were such interesting bottles. the food and table service were much more than adequate as well. if / when i am back in this part of northern va, i will certainly make it a point to return.

april 12, 2015 evan #dctravelblogger , crystal city , jaleo leave a comment jaleo crystal city   [this is post #004 towards #100daysoffoodblogging , our goal to do 100 posts in 100 days as part of the 100 day project .] if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to attend a blogger meet-up, i’ve got the dirty secrets right here in this very post. yup. it’s like general hospital up in this crazy blogger world. betrayal, murder, paternity tests… okay, aside from maybe stealing someone’s sangria, there wasn’t any soap opera drama.  and kinda hard for there to be any secrets when everything is tweeted or instagramed the second it happens. such is life for a blogger. anyway, jessica at the dining traveler was kind enough to set up a brunch at jaleo crystal city  for dc/va/md-based bloggers. most of the attendees have travel blogs, but a few of us food bloggers snuck in and there were even a few fashion-focused folks as well. it was agreatmix and i’m happy to have made some new friends in the local blogging community. i’ll get to jaleo’s phenomenal food in a second, but it goes without saying that the people are what made the event successful. for fear of leaving someone out, i’m not going to attempt to list everyone, so check out the hashtag #dctravelblogger on twitter or instagram to find the folks who partook in the fun. it wasgreatto share stories of gumbo, dc traffic, blog traffic, dc weather, cocktails, food,

let me just say, if i ever make a significant 10 year marker, i hope i can throw a party like jaleo . this past wednesday was jaleo’s 10 year anniversary in crystal city, and boy, did people show up to enjoy the food,drinks, and atmosphere. jaleo invited guests to take a journey through andrés’ native spain with an evening packed with authentic tapas, demonstrations, and a live band band playing somegreatspanish music. (also, there was a live performance from flamenco dancer emily mazzotti. while i tried to pick up some moves, she took away the show!) the restaurant was transformed into 4 distinct stations, valencia, barcelona, sevilla, santander, and cadiz – each showcasing their unique flavors and specialties. five dollars from each ticket sold for the anniversary party benefited world central kitchen  - andrés’ non-profit (inspired by his work with dc central kitchen ) that helps developing countries in crisis build kitchens to feed the hungry with local ingredients. i spotted jos

this is agreatplace to go in the group because everybody gets to try different things.greatfood and you can sit outside. try the croquet as de pollo aka chicken or spinach with pine nuts and raisens

food was truly stellar and service was spot on.greatdate place, given food generally should be picked together and talked about. definately would go back.

recommend!. pretty big fan of this place. definitely hard to find something that doesn't appease your palate with such an extensive menu. my husband and i went there while in town for our anniversary. this place was packed as it was a saturday night. we were seated at an ok table... now, we're both in the restaurant industry and know the irritants that come along with it... changing tables being one. we saw one little corner table, secluded to the side and after already being greeted and waited on, we asked if we could change. totally accomadating, nice, and incredibably service friendly. food wasgreatand service wonderful. with the busyiness of it all, we were a little worried but it was awesome.

the good: patatas bravas, lamb, tortilla españa, flan, chorizo, service, atmosphere the not so good: paella was disappointingly salty, hanger steak was tough everything was very authentic to spanish cuisine. the bacon wrapped dates were just alright. overall, agreatmeal with a few disappointments.

recently, some friends and i went to jaleo in bethesda for happy hour (or jaleo hour--yes, it really is called that). featuring red wine sangria for $4 a glass and small plates for also $4, jaleo is agreatplace to relax and enjoy the early evening. whil