Jaleo

Description:

• In theater season, Jaleo's dining room fills and empties each evening according to the performance schedule of the Shakespeare Theater next door. Lunchtime always draws a crowd from nearby office buildings and the Hill. This restaurant and executive chef/partner José Andrés may be credited with initiating the tapas craze in Washington, where it remains popular 16 years after Jaleo debuted. Though the menu offers a handful of entrees (available only after 5pm), you really want to consider those tapas -- 60 at last count, but more are always being added. These include a very simple but not-to-be-missed grilled bread layered with a paste of fresh tomatoes and topped with anchovies; date and bacon fritters; torta es pagnola (a layered omelet); savory warm goat cheese served with toast points; a skewer of grilled chorizo sausage atop garlic mashed potatoes; a delicious mushroom tart served with roasted red-pepper sauce; and gazpacho. Paella is among the few heartier entrees (it feeds two to four). Spanish wines, sangrias, and sherries are available by the glass. Finish with a rum-and-butter-soaked apple charlotte in bread pastry or a plate of Spanish cheeses. The casual-chic interior focuses on a large mural of a flamenco dancer inspired by John Singer Sargent's painting Jaleo.

  Jaleo has two suburban locations, at 7271 Woodmont Ave., Bethesda, Maryland (tel. 301/913-0003), and 2250-A Crystal Drive, Arlington, Virginia (tel. 703/413-8181).

• © Frommer's 2013

Awards:

The Washingtonian

•  Top 100 Restaurant 2008
•  Top 100 Restaurant 2009

Frommer's

•  Recommended 2009