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420 7th St. NW
(202) 628-7949
Hours of Operation and Prices
Open: Sun-M 11:30-10 pm, T-Th 11:30-11:30, F-Sat 11:30-midnight
Lunch Entrees: $7.50-$10
Dinner Entrees: $10.50-$15
Other Information
• All major credit cards
• Reservations recommended
• Dress: casual
• Valet parking (fee) at dinner
• Nearest Metro stations: Archives-Navy Memorial, Gallery Place-Chinatown
• Entertainment: Flamenco dancers W evenings
• Handicapped Accessible
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Has Jaleo slipped a notch? Could be. Its paella was soupy and chewy when I last tried it. But the waiter treated us as if this were our own private restaurant, and who would come here for anything but tapas, anyway? The tapas list is long and the prices are reasonable. How much can you complain about these complicated tidbits when most cost less than $5 and two could serve as lunch?
I'll never try enough Jaleo tapas to render comprehensive judgment, particularly since I can't resist ordering some repeatedly. Pinchitos are a row of tiny, succulent, grilled chorizos on a bed of mashed potatoes enriched with olive oil and garlic. Potatoes are a sub-specialty: fried potatoes slathered with spicy tomato sauce and the garlic mayonnaise called alioli, cold potato salad, room-temperature Spanish omelet with onions and potatoes. Alioli also shows up on fried calamari and on bay scallops. Chicken is not to be missed when it's grilled and topped with green olives and capers. Jaleo offers choices of cold and hot sausages, an array of Spanish cheeses, salads luxurious with beef or crab and bacon or refreshingly simple with endive, apples, almonds and cheese. Even so, I could suggest improvements; the mushroom tart is heavy and dry, though its hazelnut crust is utterly refined.
The attraction here is variety. You can order traditional favorites (shrimp with garlic) or recent inventions (duck with fresh plums);
light dishes (tomato-cucumber salad with avocado) or heavy (lamb chop on garlic). Or you can sit in the shadow of painted flamenco dancers while you sip sangria, listen to flamenco music and slowly work your way through a plate of olives and manchego cheese.
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