Jaleo, River North Tapas

We took a long weekend staying in a downtown hotel, and made reservations for Jaleo.
There are reports from the DC outlet but other than an opening announcement, no reports of the Chicago outlet. I'm always happy to support future Nobel prizewinner Jose Andres, and I was not disappointed by this choice.

The "Tour of Spain" for $45/person is not the most adventurous items on the menu, but every single item was just about perfect at what it is. It's definitely a good deal compared to ordering a la carte -- and even better than what is listed in the online menu -- you get three of the Para Empazar and two Postres instead of two and one.

Drinks were a tempranillo, and the Yzaguirre Blanco Reserva Vermut. The latter looked like a glass of water with ice and a lemon twist -- I've never seen Vermut/vermouth that clear. It also was really outstanding, better than the Vermut I'd had in Madrid and Barcelona, with an almond or vanilla scent. A nice accompaniment to the food.

Para Empazar
The manchego and jamon serrano were very good, but no surprise. The Coca Papayo was fun: a wholemeal cracker with grated cheese and membrillo (quince paste) was a nice balance of sweet and salty.

Sopas y Ensaladas
On a cold day, I was hoping for a soup that wasn't cold, but no, gazpacho was the only soup listed. So we went with the endive and bean salads. The endive is a perfect bite: sweet (orange), salty (goat cheese), sour (roasted garlic vinaigrette), bitter (endive) and umami. The server said it's her favorite item on the menu. The bean salad is surrounded by beautiful crushed tomatoes, beans perfect texture (could have used more olives), and an excuse to eat a whole lot of really good olive oil. Only complaint here is that the bread supplied is little picos (breadsticks), which don't sop up the dressing at all.

Friuturas y Verduras
I almost argued against the patatas bravas which is always fun, but hey, it's just fried potatoes. But this was the best rendition I've ever had. Usually there's a tomato-based sauce or aioli, or a tomato-y aioli... here it was a pimenton-based sauce and blobs of aioli which khluk together into a perfectly seasoned goo for the potatoes. I've had crispier patatas bravas, but never tastier.
The seared piquillo peppers were also intensified by more pimenton-based sauce, with a crumbly boat cheese. Bigger than the usual pickled piquillos, this was a very nice dish.

Carne y Mas
The gambas were not on our menu -- we ended up with two sausages (butifarra and chorizo) as SueF is a fan of neither finfish nor cauliflower. The chorizo was on-end squat cylinders in a very buttery potato puree, the butifarra (which I've always thought is just good bratwurst) on a bed of beans that are mashed a bit and crisped up -- something I'm going to see if I can replicate.

Postres
We had the Pan con Chocolate, which is a thin toast over good-sized spheres of chocolate ganache (the menu says custard, but it was very dense and rich) and brioche ice cream (a little hard-frozen); and Flan, a very good rendition, accompanied by a couple supremes of orange and whipped cream.

Service was excellent, mask use and vax check were scrupulous, a bright, fun space... highly recommended.

Jaleo
http://www.jaleo.com
500 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 820-7771
Opens 5:30 PM; closed Sun/Mon

Haven't heard much about Jaleo lately but I thought some recent highs were worth comment, including the diaphanous-crisp pan de cristal with tomato and the Adria "olives" which popped just like the El Bulli originals.

Early reports on the paella had been one thin layer of bomba rice with lots of socarrat (to the point folks were complaining it was burnt, though that's how I like it personally), so they seem to have upped the portioning at the cost of some loss of texture. The saffron flavor was rich but I thought the proteins were a bit overdone and the rice past al dente, though still good.

The albondigas could have been small versions of the meatballs and roasted potatoes from Freddy's, really tasty but nothing notably Iberian on the palate. The weaker links were the bacon-wrapped dates (here in a fried croqueta style, good flavor but tiny portion and not served hot enough) and the gazpacho, which had too much of a smooth (even canned) aspect and some musty garnishes. I may be grading harshly there since I had a fantastic bowl at the (Boka Group) Art Institute cafe last week in the garden courtyard tasting just like the end of summer.

Santander wrote:the gazpacho, which had too much of a smooth (even canned) aspect and some musty garnishes

His, or IIRC it's actually his wife's recipe is pretty good but it's heavily blended and strained of seeds. Pretty good on a weekend afternoon at home but I'd be reluctant to pay for it because it ends up looking like a smoothie with no apparent value on the plate.

Jaleo is closing on January 25th = per a Facebook post by John Borras.

Dave148 wrote:Jaleo is closing on January 25th = per a Facebook post by John Borras.

That's a shame, it's a fun place with good eats.