Jaleo

Jose Andres is the foremost name in Spanish cuisine in the United States, and Jaleo is his flagship restaurant. The ambassador to Spanish fare introduced small plates-based tapas dining to the United States. He has restaurants in Maryland, D.C., Miami, Beverly Hills and Las Vegas. Jaleo restaurant in Las Vegas is in the stylish Cosmopolitan.

Jaleo has an open kitchen with bar seating for 10 the ultra luxe é by Jose Andres diners. The paella is prepared over an open fire in a hula hoop sized pan, and it's served with much celebration. Service was excellent, providing great options for vegetarians. It capably handles special dining requests, and the cuisine offers a fair number of meatless options.

Dishes are crafted from carefully selected ingredients. Classic dishes were full of fresh flavor.

The cheeses were also excellent. The Pasamontes Farmhouse Manchego crumbled finely, and it paired well with the apples in muscatel. The Rey Silo Blanco picked up a hint of paprika, and it added complexity to the fantastic almonds and fig jam.

The gazpacho is as good an example of the cold soup as you will ever try. It is a bracing, clean, fresh and satisfying take on the vegetables that define the summer.

The battered Malaga style eggplant was soft and slightly vegetal with a hint of sweetness. It was a little greasy, but the eggplant was good enough to overcome the minor deficiencies.

The wine list is well paired to the menu. While it isn't as top heavy as some of its competition in Vegas, there are a number of regional Spanish wines that are reasonably priced to mix and match along with an armada of tapas.

Barcelona - Dine Originals Week

The lunch special for Dine Originals at Barcelona this week gives diners a great opportunity to sample something from one of Columbus' top restaurants for a roll of quarters. A small sandwich, choice of side dishes, bread with olive oil and drink is cheaper than the esteemed half-priced tapas Mondays.

I've previously raved about Barcelona's Dine Originals dinner and an a la carte dinner. Barcelona doesn't feature a fully vegetarian menu, but they always offer delicious choices to vegetarian diners.

All of the sides for Dine Originals week are vegetarian. They include patatas bravas, a pasta salad, samafaina (a stewed eggplant and zucchini dish in the ratatouille family), tomato garlic soup and Spanish potato salad. The patatas bravas are a Spanish classic that is always well executed by Paul Yow's kitchen.

The pasta salad (called ensalada de fideau) is bow tie pasta tossed with olive oil, shallots and piquillo peppers. The peppers give the dish a nice sweet and spicy taste that along with subtle shallot notes gets delivered through the olive oil.

The vegetarian bocadillo, a Spanish sandwich served in crusty bread, is stuffed with grilled portobello mushrooms, peppers and spinach. The top of the sandwich is slathered in a thick layer of flavorful romesco sauce, a Catalan condiment made with almonds, olive oil, garlic and red bell peppers. It gives savory, garlic-driven support to the earthy, smokey 'shrooms.

The lunch special also comes with a choice of non-alcoholic drink. While it might take shelling out a few extra bucks for dessert in order to eat until stuffed, the $10 special is a great introduction to how much fun Spanish food (and particularly Spanish food from Barcelona) can be.

Barcelona Lunch

Barrio

I have finally returned from the Gulf Coast (or more correctly, I returned a few days ago and I finally ran out of places to blog about), and now I am back to the task at hand: vegetarian dining in and around Ohio. Next on the block: Barrio.

Barrio is the next step in the 317-year plan to rebuild Downtown Columbus. Someday, my children's children's children's children's children's children's children's children's children's children will be able to enjoy the fruits of this rebuilding effort. For now, I get to enjoy the new ballpark and Barrio.

Barrio is a modern tapas place with a Pan-Latin focus as opposed to being an eatery that takes a classic Spanish approach to small plates. Menu choices come from Europe and South, Meso- and North American nations (as well as a few stops elsewhere on the globe).

The interior is small and modern. The walls are black and metallic with pieces of dark wood throughout. Service is capable if unexceptional. The place has opened recently, so perhaps they need a chance to iron out some kinks.

The offerings at Barrio fit into one of two categories: modern takes on old classics, or flashy fixings rooted in Latin tradition. Some of the traditional offerings with a new spin include the Spanish cheese plate and the avocado salad. Some of the new items rooted in tradition include vegetable ceviche, fennel and grapefruit salad, and caramelized provolone cheese.

The marinated olives were excellent. There were Gaeta olives, Cerignola olives and a tiny black olive that I was unable to name. The olives were marinated in spaces ranging from fennel to paprika to cayenne pepper, and bathed in a stream of olive oil offset with parmesan cheese and Marcona almonds. While the flavors were great, the small black olives with pits were tedious to eat. I might recommend to the kitchen something with a little more olive and a little less pit for the next selection.

The vegetable ceviche was absolutely divine. It was served in a three portion dish with popcorn, jicama, hearts of palm, onion, carrots, squash and plantains in an ahi cream sauce. The flavor was citrusy and fresh. At first, I didn't understand the popcorn. Then I tasted it with the spicy citrus cream sauce and I was converted.

The caramelized provolone cheese in tomato and olive oil with grill bread was reminiscent of saganaki, although the flavors were more Italian than Hellenic or Iberian. The seasoned cheese is scooped up by crunchy pieces of bread.

The papas fritas were very tasty. They are pretty much exactly what the menu says they are: garlic and herbed French fried potatoes with a sherry vinegar aioli. They are a great comfort food. They portion of aioli is small, and I might have preferred the fries with a little more spice on them, but all in all, they are a satisfying choice.

The quinoa salad in romesco sauce is a great preparation of this wonderful vegetable. Although many are unfamiliar with this South American staple, the grain-like Quinoa has been a part of the South American diet for more than 6,000 years. Barrio's preparation of quinoa is made with micro greens, almonds and romesco sauce, a classic topping prepared with olive oil, tomatoes, garlic and hot peppers. The synthesis of the earthy, spicy and sweet flavors makes this dish shine.

Whenever I am in a tapas place, I would much rather order a bunch of small plates than a starter and a main course. However, for those diners more rooted in tradition, there is also a mixed vegetable entree on the menu.

The beverage lists are fun and reflect the modern sensibilities of the restaurant. Although small, the beer selections are very nice. There are some very nice wines on the list, although Barrio has some time to go before it will be in the pantheon of Columbus' best wine destinations. The rum punch cocktail was far better than the margarita.

Initially, I was worried that Barrio would be poaching business away from Barcelona. However, after trying both, I'll have to say that there is definitely a distiction between the approach of the two places. Hopefully Columbus and its appetite for different styles of tapas is enough to keep both places as fat and happy as the clientele.

Barrio

Barcelona for Restaurant Week

I have written a few times in the past about the merits of my favorite neighborhood restaurant Barcelona. They keep up the good work with a nine-course vegetarian degustation for Restaurant Week that features a wide range of tapas that should please a wide range of palettes.

Barcelona offers their everyday selection of cocktails, tapas and entrees during Restaurant Week. The nine-course tapas degustation is served in three waves with an accompanying glass of house-made red sangria that is soft and pleasant (unlike the majority of punchbowl cocktails passed off as sangria by restaurants).

The restaurant has a great atmosphere which includes a great patio that opens when the weather warms up. The service is attentive and friendly.

The first three courses were a tomato mozzarella salad, almond gazpacho and smoked chickpea hummus. The cheese and oil in the salad were divine. The tomatoes tasted pleasant but looked a little rough around the edges. This was, however, about the only complaint I could register about the tapas, so I'll get it out there first before I start heaping praise on the rest of the meal.

The almond gazpacho was absolutely amazing. The terminology "gazpacho" applies to this soup mostly because it is cold, and it also probably describes some of the vegetables in the soup. However, the almond gazpacho contained no whole veggies. Instead, the soup starts with a garlicky outburst that is roped in by a rich, nutty undercurrent that grows on you with every spoonful. I adored this soup, although I would challenge people with an iron stomach to try and eat an entire bowl of this because it is inordinately rich. Thanks goes out to the degustation portions.

The smoked chickpea hummus adds an extra flavor element to Barcelona's delicious hummus. The smokey flavor adds a deeper finish to an almost perfect dip. It is an intense flavor that lingers long after being swallowed.

The second round of tapas included a cous cous dish, deep fried artichoke hearts and sauteed mushrooms. The mushrooms were shitakes cooked until they were tender enough to fall apart in your mouth. This dish was the first that functioned completely as a side dish.

The cous cous had elements that were Spanish with Middle Eastern and Indian notes filling in the spaces. The cous cous was served cold with raisins, olives, garlic cloves and dried cherries. The spices and raisins gave the dish a Mediterranean flair, and the sweetness and garlic seemed vaguely Indian to my palate. Whatever the influence, the dish was delicious.

The fried artichoke hearts were served in the classic papas bravas fashion--with a side of ailoi. The ailoi was flavored with jalepeños, and the spices bring a great deal of panache to the dish.

The third wave of tapas included grilled asparagus, sauteed spinach and potato chips and blue cheese dip. The asparagus consisted of huge stalks grilled in olive oil and served with shaved parmesan.

The potato chips are deep fried sweet and blue potato slices with a creamy Roquefort dipping sauce. The blue cheese adds richness to the chips, and the salt creates a mouthwatering sensation. They are savory and comforting.

The sauteed spinach is cooked in olive oil with pine nuts, golden raisins and shallots. The dish had an earthy character that was brightened up by the golden raisins, and the pine nuts gave it a nice crunch.

I also got a chance to sample the Spanish cheese plate. It wasn't part of Restaurant Week, but it did provide a satisfying conclusion to the festivities. The cheeses were served alongside marcona almonds and quice paste. The cheeses were manchego (a whole-milk cheese made from sheep's milk), Cabra de Romero (a goat's milk cheese flavored with rosemary) and a soft, very ripe Spanish blue cheese that I am unable to name. The cheeses were great. I nominate the rosemary goat cheese as the grand champion of the cheese plate.

Barcelona is one of Columbus' top restaurants. Restaurant Week should give diners a great shot to sample nine different dishes for a reasonable rate.

Barcelona Restaurant Week

Barcelona half-price tapas

I've talked before about how great Barcelona is. The only thing that makes Barcelona better is half-priced tapas on Monday nights. This, coupled with the bar's happy hour cocktail specials at the beginning of the night, makes for a four star dining experience at a two star price. Vegetarian tapas include hummus, spiced olives, sweet and purple potato chips with blue cheese dip, gazpacho, peach soup and a cheese platter. Entrees are not discounted.

Maca

After hearing all the buzz about Powell's Maca (Top 10 New Restaurants in "Columbus Monthly," plus that undeniable buzz that comes from blog posts and blog posts about your establishment), I just had to swing in and check out all the hoopla.

And there is a reason why Maca is getting noticed. Carefully crafted small plates accompany fairly priced drinks in an intimate atmosphere that seems to have put Powell on the map (well, I can find it now, at any rate).

Maca is very small. I would be surprised if they can seat 30 in the dining room and bar areas. Based upon the size of the restaurant, either show up early or come on the weekends because Maca does not take reservations. You order food and drinks at the bar station, and you can eat as much or as little as you would like.

There were four vegetarian tapas on the menu. It was simple to figure out what the vegetarian items were since the chef was cooking on the line within whispering distance of the bar area.

I started with the cheese platter, which had bread made by Omega Artisan Baking in the North Market, as well as what I believe was manchego, mahon and a soft, creamy, mild blue cheese served alongside small apple slices.

The goat cheese stuffed red peppers were so good, I ordered them twice. The mild acidity of the cheese accents the seared pequillo peppers, and it is a delicious but simple delight.

The eggplant cigarettes were battered and fried. Something in the batter gave the sticks a sweet finish. If you imagine hush puppies surrounding finely cut eggplant, you'd be living in the neighborhood of taste from which these items reside.

Patatas bravas are a Spanish specialty that is a must-have at most tapas establishments, and Maca's potatoes were no exception to that rule. They were served with a chili sauce and a garlic aioli. If I'm ranking Columbus area patatas bravas, I'm still leaving Barcelona's patatas in the driver's seat, but the potatoes from Maca finished a close second (much like Tony Stewart).

The dessert, a dark chocolate mousse with olive oil and salt, was understated, savory and delicious. I was impressed that there wasn't a wine on the menu priced greater than $7 per glass. The bottle prices were also excellent, and they were also available to take home after the meal. The beer selection was small and also well priced, with Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter and a Barcelona Lager called Estrella Damm (named after an Alsatian brewer who made lager in Barcelona) available for $3.

Maca was definitely as good as advertised, and it had some great vegetarian options. Check out the pictures, and if you get there yourself, make sure to show up early.

Maca

Barcelona

I had heard nothing but good things about Barcelona before I checked it out, and I was not disappointed in any way with the German Village tapas joint. They offer a wide variety of vegetarian dishes alongside carefully crafted cocktails and exciting wines by the glass and bottle.

I think tapas are so much fun. You get to sit around a table and pass little plates around, sharing and discussing the merits of each dish.

Stories abound that tapas were developed in Spain as a snack for the ill King Alfonso the 10th to nosh on for sustenance, or that the good king wanted wine to be accompanied by food to prevent drunken revelry by the citizens. There is also a more practical tale that says that tapas were developed as a lid to keep flies out of wine glasses at the local Spanish taverns.

Although rooted in Spanish culture, tapas have been adopted by many different cultures. In Columbus, for example, places like the Burgundy Room serve tapas that have Asian and American culinary influences. Most of Barcelona's tapas are classically Spanish, but a few items have a more international flair.

My first dish fit this bill. Pictured above, the Catalan flatbread was like the Iberian take on bruschetta. It was a big piece of soft, crumbly bread grilled with olive oil and topped with caramelized onions, roasted peppers, capers and flecks of Manchego cheese. The flatbread was a sublime combination of savory notes with tangy pickled notes and the sweetness of the onions. This came after an amuse bouche pea and mushroom salad.

The spiced olives were pitted and seasoned with fennel, cumin, rosemary and chile flakes. They were tasty, with a few different varietals of green and black olives mingling together in the seasoning and the oil. The bread was served with an oil infused with tomato and herbs. It was also very tasty.

The patatas bravas are a very traditional Spanish dish. At Barcelona, the small fried potatoes are topped with a garlic aioli and a fiery tomato sauce, and the presentation was fantastic, with each of the sauces swirled on one side of the potatoes.

Again, though, there were many other tapas at Barcelona that are more internationally flavored. The soba noodle salad is a Japanese buckwheat dish with cucumbers and other greens in a lemon vinaigrette. It combines European and Asian flavors on the same plate with great success.

My final dish tasted unlike anything else I have ever eaten...and that's a very, very good thing. The chilled spiced peach soup was redolent with peaches. It has the consistency of apple sauce, and undercurrents of ginger and cinnamon. It was also an ingredient in one of the mixed drinks, which I'm upset I didn't get a chance to sample.

The service was excellent. The staff was very helpful. I was told that the chef could make a few special vegetarian additions to the menu, including a veggie paella. They made sure my delicate vegetarian sensibilities were well accounted for in the dining experience.

My favorite cocktail was the carrot cake martini, made from cream, amaretto, Goldschlager and something else I can't name. The liqueurs combined into something that tasted like creamy alcoholic vegetable dessert. I loved it. I was not as big of a fan of the white grape martini, made with white grape juice and Ciroc vodka. The featured by-the-glass tempranillo wine was excellent, showing notes of tobacco, leather and plum, all for about $8.

I didn't try dessert, but it looked good. The bar was also very lively. Barcelona has definitely earned its stripes, which include being recognized by Wine Spectator with their Award of Excellence and being ranked slightly low by Jon Cristensen in the Top 20 restaurants in Columbus. Check out my poorly lit pictures, and then definitely see for yourself.

Barcelona

La Tasca

My first night in Illinois, dinner was at La Tasca, a tapas restaurant in Arlington Heights. The dining rooms are rather large, but that made sense as the place was very busy. There was also a fairly lively bar crowd having drinks and small plates of olives, cheese and bread. The bar offers basic beer selections, a decent Spanish wine list, and a wide variety of spirits including some fantastic PX brandies. There is also 50 million variations of the martini available in many different ridiculous flavor combinations.

La Tasca offers a number of excellently prepared vegetarian selections. Tapas are typically offered in hot and cold formats. The cold (tapas frias) vary from the fire roasted tri-colored peppers peppers in an olive oil vinaigrette to the garlicky potato salad to the tomato and mozzarella salad. There is also a cheese plate with a cow, goat, sheep and blue cheese served alongside various accoutrements, in addition to the Spanish omelet that is available for gross vegetarians who eat eggs.

The hot tapas include fried potatoes in a creamy hot sauce (very good), herbed goat cheese baked in tomato basil sauce (also very good and pictured above), a grilled vegetable plate, and vegetable paella.

After eating 80 million little plates, I had no room for dessert. That being said, this is a very nice place located in the middle of downtown Arlington Heights. It's a great dinner spot.