Today is a big anniversary

Jaleo, my first restaurant, turns 30!

Hello my friends!

I am excited this morning to share that today marks a very, very important anniversary in my life…Jaleo, my first restaurant, is turning 30 years old today!

Here’s a little history for you…back in 1993, there were plans to open a Spanish restaurant in downtown Washington DC from my friends and future partners Rob Wilder, who also owned the amazing Austin Grill, and Roberto Alvarez, who ran Café Atlantico (before I was the chef there!). But many of you might not know that I was actually not the executive chef…that was Ann Cashion, one of the best chefs who ever worked in DC—you may know her from her old restaurant in Adams Morgan Cashion’s Eat Place, her Jonny’s Half Shell restaurants, or her new spot Los Campañeros. Well, the story goes that she was looking to hire a Spanish chef to run this new Spanish restaurant and she went on a national search for someone. Somehow she found me—I was working at the time in La Jolla, outside of San Diego, and had just been cooking at a very famous Spanish restaurant in New York called Eldorado Petit (I was also working at the crazy Quilted Giraffe…some people called it the Studio 54 of restaurants back then!). Ann brought me to DC for an interview, and I guess I passed because I moved to DC very soon afterwards!

Jaleo has always been my home, the place where I can be both Spanish and American, sharing the best of the country where I grew up with my new adopted home. It’s where we’ve had the opportunity to share tapas with the people of DC (and now at Jaleos in Chicago, Las Vegas, Orlando, and Dubai!), to serve my wife Tichi’s recipe for gazpacho (which I hope you’ve made before) and my mother’s croquetas, and to carve the first legal jamón in America.

It’s the place where we commemorated the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, which was signed by Bill Clinton in 1996, when Jaleo made the first legal food donation to DC Central Kitchen…I got to see up close the amazing impact of policy in action.

This is what Jaleo used to look like…that light on the wall is where our bull named Matepehu is today!

We were one of the first restaurants to serve real paella in America, and our location in Las Vegas was the first to do the absolutely authentic Paella Valenciana over wood fire…good enough to convince the Valencians! We’ve always been obsessed with paella, and I’m proud that we’ve been able to bring some of my best chef friends from Spain to help us out at our annual Paella Festival and other festivals…chefs like Rafael Vidal, María Jose San Román, Quim Marqués (and Quim Márquez!), Carles Abellan…these incredible chefs have helped to bring the true identity of Spanish food to the people of America.

And we are always thinking about our ingredients…almost everything we serve, apart from local fruits and vegetables, come from Spain. Extra-virgin olive oil, cheeses from all around the country, both cured and fresh ibérico meat, true paella rice, saffron…even our crispy pan de cristal, the base of pan con tomate, we bring in from a bakery in Spain and bake in the restaurant every day…!

Over the years we have had some amazing, incredible people on our team…some of them have been with us on our journey almost the entire time! Today as we remember the 30 years, I’m proud to tell you about two of them: Elmer, who has worked at Jaleo for 29 years (he started 3 months after we opened!) and Maria, who has been here for 29 years as well (and worked at Café Atlántico as well). They are both from El Salvador and both moved to the US in the mid-1980s…and actually, Maria was just recognized by the Salvadoran embassy for her years of service to the restaurant industry!

Elmer and Maria, almost 60 years of experience at Jaleo between them!

Maria told me how no one knew anything about Spanish food before Jaleo, “The early guests, no one understood Spanish food, but today, yes of course. No one understood tapas. The people used to be surprised at the small dishes, and José would explain tapas at the table…that was the magic.” And the dishes we love today…gambas al ajillo, patatas bravas, croquetas…they’ve been around since day one, the very favorites.

When I asked her about how it felt to see Jaleo today, as compared to the early days when we were the only restaurant on 7th Street, Maria told me, “I’m so proud. For me, 29 years, I’ve been coming into this restaurant, and we see it full every day. For me…mucho orgullo.” So proud.

Before he started at Jaleo, Elmer had never had Spanish food before. “But after a little while, I loved it…that’s why I’m still here! I love everything on the menu, everything. Except escalivada. No escalivada.” No escalivada…?! Come on, Elmer!

These guys, as well as team members like Secundino (who also has 28 years of service) and Ramon (who has been with us for 16 years and is the head chef of all the Jaleos!) and many, many others…they care so much about Jaleo, they are truly my family outside of my family.

Elmer, Maria, and head chef Ramon (who has been around for 16 years!)

So…I’d love to hear YOUR memories of Jaleo! Or if you’ve never been, tell me about the first time you tasted tapas, or about a food memory in Spain. I can’t wait to hear your stories!