Jaleo by Jose Andres

For our romantic Valentines Day dinner, we went downtown to Jaleo, a Spanish tapas restaurant owned by renowned chef Jose Andres.  As soon as we saw his name we knew we had to try this place. For those who may not know who Jose Andres is, he is the one credited with bringing the whole concept of tapas or small plates to America. He is originally from Spain, owns several restaurants in DC and Las Vegas with a variety of cuisines (not just Spanish), and he was named Outstanding Chef by the James Beard Foundation in 2011 (one of the most prestigious organizations in the foodie community). So needless to say, this guy knows his stuff.

I knew we were in for a treat but little did I know what surprises were in store for the evening.  We began with bread and olive oil. The olive oil was served with a sprig of rosemary and a whole fresh garlic clove in it.  If you've never tasted a whole fresh garlic clove...be forewarned. It packs a punch.  I dipped my bread in the olive oil and really gave it quite a soaking, hoping to get a hint of the rosemary and garlic flavor.  When I put it in my mouth and began to chew and swallow, it felt like I had just eaten a really spicy pepper! That was the burn from the fresh garlic! My tongue and throat felt singed as I tried to wash it down with my sparkling water.  It didn't even phase Superking though.  Ok, good stuff but a little potent.

Then arrived our first set of small plates.  I ordered a cheese plate with Valdeon cheese, an intense flavored blue cheese made from cow's and goat's milk served with some crunchy little breadsticks and apricots.  I'm not really a fan of apricots but combined with the cheese it was awesome! The sweet fruitiness of the apricots really cuts the sharpness of the blue.  But the blue cheese by itself was just as amazing.

Superking ordered a charcuterie plate of three different types of dried Iberian ham. Each one savory and salty and porky, served with a few pieces of bread topped with a tomato brushetta.

Then here's where the night got interesting.  We were patiently waiting for our next course when another young couple had been seated next to us and had begun receiving their first offerings.  I found it odd that their dishes seemed awfully similar to the ones we were waiting for...hmmm...Then upon overhearing their conversation they began to wonder what they had ordered and what they were being served.  Lo and behold, they had been served our plates instead. The waitress promptly realized what had happened and came to apologize saying that our dishes would be out soon.  In the mean time, a manager came over and apologized again, saying both those plates would be on him!  Awesome! Free food at a nice restaurant! What service!

Then our dishes arrive...Superking got Lomo de Buey...a sliced skirt steak served with piquillo peppers.  The steak was perfectly cooked medium rare and the peppers were somewhat sweet and uniquely complimented the steak.

I was served grilled quail with rosemary sauce and honey aioli...super yumm! The quail was like eating a tiny chicken but the meat was darker and richer, almost like a duck.  And the sauces....delish! I love rosemary and the honey aioli was sweet without being overpowering. My only disappointment was that I wish there was more!

As we were still digesting our steak and quail, the manager arrives at our table again with another plate of the steak.  He says the kitchen made an extra one in the midst of the earlier confusion so he thought we should have it.  Another free dish! Awesome!

Now time for dessert! A hazelnut chocolate mousse cake with hazelnut ice cream.  Have you ever had a Ferrero Rocher? Little balls of chocolate hazelnut goodness, one of the most awesome candies ever created.  This dessert tasted just like one of these candies except way better!!! And yes I ate every bite (though I did spare a few for Superking) including scraping the plate. So rich and creamy and a little crunch from some chopped hazelnuts. Decadence on a plate!

Then to top the whole evening off, our waitress comes out with our check explaining that she also took care of our dessert! I've never been to a restaurant with that kind of service.  They went way above and beyond for a tiny easily correctable mistake.  Multiple apologies from the waitress and the manager, prompt service, and more than half our meal was on the house!  Where else are you gonna go to get amazing food and amazing service like that?  Even if the food was mediocre (which it was far from) I would go back there time and time again purely for the generous service of the staff!

Twelve Years...

Today Superking and I celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary.  Twelve years...in some ways it seems like a long time, like we've been together forever; and in other ways its gone by so fast it seems it was only yesterday we said "I do".  Either way its been a happy twelve years.  Not that we haven't had our ups and downs because we certainly have, as every couple does. But every day we have stood by one another and loved each other more and more than the day before.

Last night, we went out to a fancy dinner to celebrate these wonderful 12 years. This past Christmas, a family member had given us a generous gift card to a restaurant called Ruth's Chris and we decided to save it for a special occasion.  So this was it!  Ruth's Chris is an upscale steakhouse and isn't particularly unique per se, but the cuisine it offers is amazingly good.

We started off with an appetizer of Seared Ahi Tuna.  Mostly raw and perfectly sliced, the tuna was tender and flavorful and served with a ginger mustard sauce with hints of beer and horseradish.  A lovely way to start the meal with our complimentary crusty bread and creamy soft butter.

We also shared a Caesar salad, beautiful crunchy greens with bright red sliced cherry tomatoes, fresh thinly shaved parmesan cheese, and a few salty anchovies on top.  If you like fish, and you like salt, you should totally give the anchovy a try.  It really adds a nice salty touch to your salad (or even a pizza).

Now I am not a huge fan of steak.  So at most steakhouses, I usually go for a seafood option (which I love a good crab cake).  However, I'm discovering more and more that its not so much that I don't like steak. Its that I don't like steak that has been cooked badly.  Growing up, the only steak I ever had was whatever the cheapest cut of meat was and it was cooked to death to the point where it took me an hour to chew and swallow just one bite.  There was also no flavor so it had to be slathered with an entire bottle of cheap steak sauce just to make it palatable enough to choke down...Ok I'm exaggerating a bit. But not much (sorry mom, love you)...

Last night as I was looking at the menu, I was leaning towards the usual crab cakes, which I'm sure would've been awesome, but I wanted to go for something different than I normally would've chosen.  Superking encouraged me, "when in Rome..." or the steakhouse...go for the steak.  This was the first time I have ever ordered a whole steak for myself at a restaurant!!

I went for the Petite Filet with the Blue Cheese Crust topping.  Now you must know that "these aren't your ordinary steaks", as Amanda Freitag from Food Network would say. All of Ruth's Chris steaks are cooked at 1800 degrees, seasoned with a little salt and pepper, and topped with butter which melts and sizzles all the way from the kitchen to your table.  Very simple preparation which makes for the best steaks I have ever eaten. And this from someone who's not a steak fan.  

My steak was so tender  and juicy I probably could've cut it with my butter knife.  So full of savory meaty flavor! The butter added a sweetness to the meat and the generous topping of blue cheese that had been roasted on the steak added the perfect tanginess to it as well.  I love me some blue cheese! This blue was fairly mild which was nice so as not to take away from the flavor of the steak but to enhance it. And parts of the blue cheese were slightly browned and crusty adding a lovely textural element.  Superking also got a filet but instead of the petite, his was a regular size and though he didn't order the blue cheese on his, he promptly became jealous of mine and had to steal some of it to try!!

They serve the side dishes a la carte and family style so we ordered some potatoes to share.  When you look at the side dishes, they have three categories...salads, vegetables, and potatoes.  And you think, "potatoes have their own listing? How many different kinds of potatoes can you serve?"  On their menu, seven.  We chose the Lyonnaise potatoes.  They are sliced and pan-fried in butter with thinly sliced sauteed onions and other seasonings.  They were slightly crispy and salty and tasted sort of like french fries but way better!

We were so stuffed for dessert but since the restaurant knew it was our anniversary, they said a dessert would be on the house! So of course we HAD to pick something! We couldn't disappoint our wonderful waiter! :)  So we opted for the Chocolate Sin Cake.  Might as well go all out since its free, right?  This cake was so dark and dense, almost fudgey, it was easy to see why they called it Sin Cake.  It was packed full of dark chocolate and espresso flavor, topped with a shiny layer of chocolate ganache and surrounded by this beautiful deep red strawberry sauce and a fan-sliced fresh strawberry.  Absolutely gorgeous and decadent, to die for!

Thank goodness they're not too fancy to neglect offering doggie bags!! Food like that is way to good to let go to waste no matter how full you are! We've been here for past anniversaries and as the waiter wished us, "to at least a dozen more", hopefully we'll be back at Ruth's Chris before another twelve years has gone by.

Happy 12th anniversary, my Superking! I love you to the moon and back!

Uno, Dos, Tres...Tres Leches Cake!!!

Feliz Cinco de Mayo! I'm not even really sure what Cinco de Mayo is about but I love Mexican food! And when I saw this recipe for a Tres Leches cake, I knew I had to celebrate!

Now I'm normally a peanut-butter-and-chocolate-kind-of-dessert girl but a while back Superking and I went to a Mexican restaurant called La Sandia.  Excellent food and excellent service. But thats for another post.  Anyway, when we were there I decided to venture out of my peanut-butter-chocolate box and try their Tres Leches cake that was highly recommended by our waiter.  Ok, its different, I'll give it a try. I fell in LOVE!  It was awesome! So creamy and sweet!

"Tres Leches" means "three milks" in Spanish.  Evaporated milk.  Sweetened condensed milk. And half-and-half.  Those are the three milks that give this cake its name. Most of the time when you have something at a restaurant thats that awesome and then you try to recreate it at home, it never turns out the same.  This however, did not disappoint! I was actually surprised at how good it turned out. Super delicious, creamy, milky, surprisingly light, and sweet but not too sweet with strawberries as the perfect compliment.

This recipe I found on another food blog called Caleigh's Kitchen who says she adapted the recipe from Alton Brown, a FoodNetwork Star.  There's not much difference between the two.  Either way, you'll get a lovely treat to celebrate any day!

Ingredients:
Cake:
*1 1/2 cups cake or all-purpose flour
*1 tsp baking powder
*1/2 tsp salt
*one stick unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
*1 1/8 cup sugar
*5 eggs
*1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Glaze:
*1 (12oz) can evaporated milk
*1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
*1 cup half-and-half
*1/2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla beans

Whipped Topping:
*2 cups heavy whipping cream
*1 1/8 cup sugar
*1 tsp vanilla

Directions for the cake:
Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 9x13 cake pan and lightly sprinkle with flour.  In a mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking powder and set aside.

Put your softened stick of butter in mixer and beat on medium-high until butter is fluffy.  Slow down speed to low and gradually add in sugar.  Be sure to scrape the sides of bowl.  Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and the vanilla.  Mix until combined.  Slowly add dry ingredients to the batter in 3 even batches and mix just until combined.  Pour batter into greased cake pan and spread evenly.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Remove cake from oven to a cooling rack for 30 minutes.  Poke holes in top of cake all over with a fork.  Allow cake to cool completely while preparing the glaze.

For the Glaze:
Whisk together the three milks and vanilla or vanilla beans.  Once combined, slowly pour glaze over cake. Refrigerate cake overnight.

can you believe I've never used real vanilla beans before this??

check out those vanilla bean flakes floating in the milky glaze!

now for the holes

lots of holes

now we watch the milk soak into the cake

For Topping:
Mix the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla in your stand mixer with the whisk attachment.  Whip on a low speed until stiff peaks are formed. Bump the speed up to medium and whisk until thick.  At this point you can either spread it over the cake like frosting or put the topping in a bowl to refrigerate until ready to serve cake and add a small dollop on top of each serving piece.

this is what happens when you try to use half-and-half to make whipped cream...it becomes a frothy milky mess

THIS is what whipped cream is supposed to look like!

Yay! I'm learning!

ITS SO FLUFFY!! (Despicable Me movie reference)

OH! Theres a cake thief!

Technically you're supposed to let the cake refrigerate overnight to let all the milk soak in...

but I couldn't wait.

Happy Cinco de Mayo to me!!