Bless the Spaniards. Jaleo Bethesda is Under Rated.

People speak of Jose Andres' restaurants like Zaytinya and Minibar as what's happening and where the innovations are taking place in his realm. They may be correct, but sometimes getting back to the roots of what made the man a success is in order. It started with tapas. My father and stepmonster came to town this weekend and asked me to make us reservations somewhere in the mid-range for prices and fun. I hadn't been to Jaleo Bethesda in a few months so I went to Opentable and made a reso. It was a good move. Here's Dad with shrimp legs hanging out of his mouth...more on that in a bit.

Here's an overview of the spread we started with...

The ever-popular cheese sampler. Love the apricots too.

These are special shrimp. You suck out the heads, then eat the rest shell and all. Slightly reminiscent of soft-shell crabs.

This is pressed caviar. We were instructed by John-Paul, who is the Exec Chef here, to spoon some out and wrap it in a small piece of the very special ham we ordered...

It was some very special pig. Lovingly raised and fed nothing but acorns. The fat in this cured pork melts at body temperature. Very tasty.

We left feeling we'd definitely got our money's worth.

Everything was good and there were no disappointments. We had a nice bottle of wine and a dish that looked so good that I dug in before I took a picture, which was a suckling pig roasted, pulled, formed, and stuffed with dried fruits and crushed nuts. Wow.

After all that it was still less than $50.00/person.

The vibe that night was very up-beat and there were a lot of families with children, so don't be afraid to bring the little ones.

Note that a few of the items shown above are not on the menu, so you'll have to ask John-Paul for them. That's one of the perks of knowing the employees of the establishment. Introduce yourself to the chefs at your favorite restaurants. They'll remember you sometimes and it can be very rewarding.

Thanks for reading.

What's the food like at The White House? Read on...

Marrying up has it's perks. I was able to ride coattails into the White House Correspondant's Holiday Party this year. This was a shot I took on the way out afterwards. Nice miniature of a diningroom. Must be the west wing because I didn't see anything quite so homey in the rest of the place.

You never know who you'll meet at these kind of events. Derek Brown is an old friends who is a very successful mixologist. He specializes in hand-crafted cocktails, home-made mixers, and classic drinks. Great guy. He is co-owner of The Passenger in Penn Quarter and another place coming soon.

Here's the outside of the gingerbread version. Pretty neat.

Cheryl and me in front of the tree.

So what was the food like?

First of all, it was top-notch. It seemed like most of the folks working the party were well-paid and the chefs they had working the buffets were on the money.

The drinks (as crafted by Derek) were great. The bars all had top shelf liquor and the eggnog was definitely spiked with some Kentucky windage.

They had sushi displays, tenderloins, turkey and fixin's, a nice smoked salmon layout...

These buffets, btw, were all over the place too. It wasn't just in one room. As the line to get your picture taken with POTUS it went past several bars and food stations so no one got thirsty or tired.

All in all, a neat event.

Maybe next year you can just show up and say you were supposed to be on the list too.....