jaleo

jaleo
7271 woodmont avenue
bethesda, md (see website for locations in dc and arlington, va)
(301) 913 0003
www.jaleo.com

type of cuisine: tapas/bar
culinary excellence: 9
vegan friendliness: 7
*recommended*

i was a bit concerned about dinner plans in bethesda since the 'frew crew i was traveling with were not keen on driving over to rockville to dine at the vegetable garden or yuan fu. i also wasn't sure how i felt about risking taking coworkers to a mediocre vegetarian restaurant, since i have never been to either of those places. so julie made a reservation at raku, a well-reputed japanese restaurant right near our hotel. unfortunately, the restaurant had no record of her reservation, so rather than wait 45 minutes for a table, we ventured over to jaleo, a tapas bar across the street. to our good fortune, it turned out to be a fantastic meal.

at first their menu doesn't seem to have a whole lot of vegan options, but they are extremely accommodating. absolutely anything on the "verduras" menu could be made to order, with any non-vegan sauces or cheeses either left out or on the side. this made for happy dining in a crowd of one vegan (moi), one vegetarian, one kosher person and two open-minded omnis.

julie took the liberty of ordering for everyone, making sure to check that all of the dishes were suitable for a vegan. she wound up ordering about 12 out of the 16 or so verduras tapas and a paella arroz mediterraneo - made with porcini mushrooms, mixed vegetables, green and black olives and thyme.

we sipped sangria as our waiter brought out 1 or 2 tapas at a time. the only ones that weren't outrageously amazing were the red beet salad (the beets were good, it's just that the coldness of the salad didn't complement the warmth of all the other tapas), the tuscarora farm mushrooms (these were ok, but didn't pack as much flavor as most of the other veggies we got) and there was one green dish with snow and snap peas that i can't find the name of on their online menu that i did not care for. standouts included the sauteed spinach with pine nuts, raisins and apples (perfection), the roasted red peppers, eggplant and sweet onions (sumptuously savory), the fried baby artichokes (does food get any better than this?), the mushroom risotto (rich and luscious) and the sauteed cauliflower with dates (an unexpected but delicious combination). the endives with oranges and almonds (goat cheese on the side) were creative and refreshing, the grilled asparagus was tasty, but i didn't think the romesco sauce added anything to them, the chickpea stew was reasonably good, with a somewhat indian flavor, the wrinkled baby potatoes were totally yummy, but i would have preferred a pesto to the "mojo verde" dipping sauce.

after all of this plentiful deliciousness, our ginormous paella arrived. without much room left in any of our tummies, we pushed forward and ate of this culinary masterpiece. it was extraordinary. immensely flavorful rice, cooked in a porcini mushroom broth with a glorious array of vegetables, olives and spices. i had to take the leftovers with me because it would have been a sin to let food that delectable go to waste.

i highly recommend jaleo to bethesda vegans. next time i'm in town i'll venture over to rockville to try the veg establishments, but honestly i can't imagine they are anywhere near this good.