Last month I went on a girls trip to Las Vegas. What do you do when you are in Vegas? Eat amazing food of course! That's exactly what we did when we visited Jaleo by chef extraordinaire Jose Andres.
This swanky Las Vegas restaurant is located in The Cosmopolitan hotel. I love the dim lighting and red décor.
The menu consists of authentic Spanish tapas and Paellas and they also have a pretty nice wine and cocktail menu. Our waiter was very helpful and explained the concept of Spanish tapas suggesting we order at least 2 per person to share amongst each other. I absolutely love this type of dining since I enjoy sharing and trying a variety of small plates.
We started off ordering the Jamon Iberico Fermin and the San Simón con garapiñado de frutos secos. The Jamon Iberico is dry-cured ham from the infamous black footed Iberico pigs of spain. They are infamous because they are freakin' delicious!
Check out this eye candy and the charcutier slicing it up, salty, cured, yumminess, get in my belly! The San Simon is a smoked cow's milk cheese paired with a homemade nut brittle. The brittle paired deliciously with this smoky, semi-firm cheese.
Next we ordered the Pan de cristal con tomate per our waiters suggestion. I know what you are thinking, sliced bread spread with crushed tomato, meh. Umm, wrong, this stuff is ah-mazing! It's crunchy toasted bread brushed with fresh tomato and sea salt. This was like no other bread I have had. Seriously.
Next out came our Cono's, we tried one of each. Cono de La Serena y límon, Cono de escalivada y anchoa, Cono salmón crudo con huevas de salmon. These were each 2 bite sizes of heaven. La Serena cheese, lemon pith purée, almond dust cone, cone of fire-roasted eggplant, peppers and onions with anchovy butter, salmon tartare and salmon roe cone. I had a small nibble of the Serena cheese and fire-roasted eggplant cones but my favorite was the salmon tartare, the saltiness of the salmon roe made the tartare even better, it was just what I needed.
Bring on the fried food! Buñuelos de bacalao and Chistorra envuelta en patata frita. Salt codfish deep-fried with honey alioli and slightly spicy chorizo wrapped in crispy potato. Yes please!
Gambas al ajillo or shrimp sautéed with garlic and other good stuff. The crunchy bread roll was the perfect accompaniment to soak up all the wonderful garlic-y sauce.
Finally we come to the end, which is unfortunate because I would have loved to try one of Jaleo's desserts. Mini pepito de ibérico, these are sliders made with that infamous black footed pig again and Iberico bacon. The picture says it all...
The next time you find yourself in Las Vegas make sure you don't leave without eating at Jaleo, your tummy will thank you. Don't be a fool like me and skip the dessert, remember what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. How unfortunate...
Jaleo By Jose Andres
3708 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, NV
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