The
reason Mrs. A and I visited Las Vegas in 2013 was to dine at the tiny
restaurant é by José
Andrés. The two dinners we had at Chef Jose’s other
restaurant, Jaleo Las Vegas, were a
prelude.
It all
started when I read about é in a New York Times Oct 29th 2012
article. é was
described as “a restaurant within a restaurant”, “discreetly and disorientingly
tucked away at the end of a corridor leading off the main dining room of Jaleo”, behind a closed door in a room with
just eight seats along a counter facing the “stage” where a team of chefs put
together two “shows” of twenty-something courses twice an evening, five nights
a week. I went to the é by José Andrés website for additional
information. But the austere page displayed
only four things - a large logo of the restaurant, an email address in small
font for reservation, and links to The Cosmopolitan Hotel, where é is located, and the
Chef’s restaurant group, respectively. Following
either link eventually led me to the webpage of Jaleo Las Vegas that had a brief mention that é “offers a clever and creative tasting menu of more
than a dozen Spanish avant-garde dishes” to be “enjoyed by few but envied by
many”. Its mysteriousness and
exclusivity intrigued us; we wanted that dining experience. Posts on é by some food bloggers raised our enthusiasm to
the level that we decided to travel to Vegas.
With some help from a good friend we secured our reservations quickly.
* * *
After
all eight diners had checked in at Jaleo,
our waiter Brain led us into a room at the end of the bar. We took our seats at the counter. The sous chef introduced his team of three
other chefs and two waiters, gave us a brief intro, and started the ‘show’. He demonstrated how to drink cava from a porron, the watering-can-looking Spanish
glass wine pitcher with a long sprout. He
brought the sprout very close to his mouth and tilted the porron forward to
point the beak to his teeth until the cava flowed out into his mouth. He pulled the porron away from his face to
continue the drinking. To stop, he brought
the porron back down until the beak
was close to his mouth and quickly tilted the sprout up. After his demo, the couples who opted for
wine pairing were given their porrons. Everyone
drank successfully without spilling.
The
chefs began to plate the food one course at a time. Four workers served each course to the eight diners
simultaneously. The sous chef then gave
a description of the course, and immediately moved on to plate the next
course. This went on continuously. Many courses
required complicated and delicate plating but some took little work, so
sometimes we had two courses in front of us.
* * *
Our dinner consisted of 25 courses – 1 aperitif, 11 tapas
eaten with fingers or spoon, 6 with knife and fork, and 7 desserts (*denotes
my favorite dishes).
Rebujito
Truffle cotton
candy
Idiazabal “macaroon”
“Oreo”
Golden bravas
Apple “Brazo de
Gitano” *
Nitro almond cup
Barquillo
Mejillones in
escabeche *
“Merienda”
Crispy chicken
skin in escabeche *
Cava Sangria
Artichoke “puree”
with vanilla
Lobster with
citrus and jasmine *
“Fabes” con jamon *
“Kokotxas” al
Pil-Pil *
Whole lobe of foie
gras baked in salt
Secreto of Iberico
pork with squid
Torta pascualete
with cotton candy
Flan *
Pan con chocolate *
“Arroz con leche”
Cocoa paper with
dried strawberry
25 second bizcocho
Chocolates
* * *
The meal started with an aperitif. Our version of rebujito was a mix of sherry
and orange blossom water that had been cooled with liquid nitrogen, and topped
with espuma. I had yet to develop an
appreciation for sherry, but I drank mine and most of Mrs. A’s with the first
few bites.
Next came something we saw at Jaleo the night
before. The local food critic who sat
behind us was served some off menu items – a large plate of cotton candy and
another plate of Oreo cookies. We
checked with our waiter and he said, “Oh, you will get them tomorrow night at é”.
And we sure did. There, sitting
on a replica of Chef Jose’ hand, was a small white cloud of truffle cotton candy sprinkled
with gold flakes. The combination of strong
truffle aroma and a savory/sweet flavor was interesting. Served along the sweet cotton candy was an Idiazabal
“macaroon” in a folded paper cup sitting on a translucent Lucite
cube. The airy macaroon was crunchy; the
filling was Idiazabal, a Basque sheep
milk cheese.
 |
Idiazabal “macaroon”
(left) and Truffle cotton candy (on the hand)
|
Jose Andres’ version of “Oreo” was filled with a truffle
cheese cream.
 |
| “Oreo” |
Golden bravas consisted of three
pieces of thin potato chips.
 |
| Golden bravas |
Apple “Brazo de Gitano” -- Brazo de Gitano, meaning Gypsy’s arm, is
the Spanish name for a rolled sponge cake.
In our case, it was a cylindrical freeze dried apple meringue filled with
an espuma of blue cheese. The meringue
was incredibly light. It could break
easily, so it was to be eaten carefully.
The cream tasted distinctively of blue cheese but the flavor was very delicate. You don’t have to be a blue cheese lover to
enjoy it.
 |
| Apple “Brazo
de Gitano” |
Nitro almond cup was a small cup
filled with Marcona almond puree and caviar, presented on top of a few cooled large
black pebbles in a bowl. As the cup was
made with almond puree in liquid nitrogen, it must be eaten quickly. I broke mine.
Barquillo - A delicate and beautifully
decorated wafer tube filled with truffle and anchovy espuma.
Mejillones in escabeche -- The small
raw mussel ceviche in a marinade were incredibly fresh and scrumptious.
“Merienda” – Merienda is any kind of
late afternoon snack that Spanish eat around 6 pm to bridge between lunch and
dinner. Our merienda was a small thick cheese “pancake”.
 |
| “Merienda” |
Crispy chicken skin in escabeche was
Mrs. A’s favorite of the night.
The perfectly
flat leaf-shaped chicken skin was paper thin, very crispy and tasty.
It held a piece of chicken oyster that was
covered with “air” (Chef Jose prefers the term “air” to “foam”).
 |
| Crispy chicken
skin in escabeche |
Cava Sangria was fun.
It popped in the mouth and turned into a gush
of fluid.
The taste?
I’d rather drink a glass of cava.
 |
| Cava Sangria |
Artichoke “puree” with vanilla – The
puree was shaped into artichoke “hearts”.
Very cute!
 |
| Artichoke “puree”
with vanill |
Lobster with citrus and jasmine was
perfectly cooked. It was served with a
rich sauce (not pictured) of lobster tomalley, head and shell. Delicious!
 |
| Lobster with
citrus and jasmine |
“Fabes” con jamon was a refined version
of ham and beans. Puree of fabes beans was reshaped as three large
white beans, served with Spanish ham, in a small amount of broth.
“Kokotxas” al Pil-Pil -- Kokotxas is cod’s throat, the highly
prized meat under the fish’s mouth. The flavor
of the fish reminded me of bacalao. The texture was gelatinous and meaty at the
same time; a wonderful sensation. The
sauces were a lot fancier than the traditional Basque “al Pil-Pil” of olive oil and garlic. The dish was absolutely delightful!
 |
| “Kokotxas” al
Pil-Pil |
Our sous chef presented a whole lobe of foie gras baked in
salt to us and returned it to the kitchen to be sliced. The barely cooked liver was very different
from the seared foie gras I ate at a different restaurant just three hours
earlier. The texture was nice; it was
not greasy at all. The flavor was mild,
and surprisingly tasted very under salted.
 |
| Foie gras
baked in salt |
Secreto of Iberico pork with squid
was the Chef Jose’s version of surf-and-turf.
I loved Iberico pork and I loved squid.
However, I did not enjoy this dish.
One piece of pork was tender, but the other piece was a bit tough. They probably came from different part of the
pig. Unlike those we had at Jaleo the
other night, the squid was on the tough side too.
 |
| Secreto of
Iberico pork with squid |
Torta Pascualete with cotton candy
was the cheese course that transitioned us from savory to sweet dishes. Torta
Pascualete is a raw Merino sheep milk cheese with a nearly liquid
texture. The aromatics on the plate were
not just for the look; they helped to bring out the flavor of the cheese as the
milk for the cheese came from sheep that grazed on grass, wild flower and herbs.
 |
| Torta
pascualete with cotton candy |
The four tiny pieces of flan «were
a tease. They were so good that you wished
for more. The regular sized flan at Jaleo would be much more satisfying, but
I suppose the small portion size here was probably right as it was one of seven
dessert courses.
 |
| Flan |
Pan con chocolate « was
chocolate and cream on the side of a bowl with olive oil at the bottom. It was eaten after mixing everything together. Surprisingly the fair amount of olive oil was
what made this a success. Instead of
being oily, the thick mixture was fragrant, smooth and rich in flavor.
 |
| Pan con
chocolate with olive oil at the bottom of the bowl |
 |
| close up
of chocolate and cream |
Rice pudding, “arroz con leche”, was served in an
ice cream cone. The interesting thing
about it was the unexpected sharp contrast from the tart lemon flavor at the
bottom of the cone.
 |
| “Arroz con
leche” |
The crumbled sheet of cocoa paper with dried strawberry
had a striking look. The paper was
translucent and crunchy. It took no
effort to break off pieces to eat. The
sweetness of the paper was balanced by the tart freeze-dried strawberries.
 |
| Cocoa paper
with dried strawberry |
The last desserts were the 25 second bizcocho, a chocolate
sponge cake cooked in microwave for 25 seconds and thus the name. The cake was very easy to eat with fingers (there
was no fork provided). On the same slate
plate were three pieces of chocolates.
 |
25 second
bizcocho (left) and 3 Chocolates
|
* * *
We did not want to drink too many different wines, so we went
for a glass of white before a glass of red instead of the pairing. Our waiter Brian picked the wines for
us. The bianco were a Gran Vina Sol,
Torres, Parallada 2010 (penedes) from the Mediterranean coast, and a Pedralonga, Albarino 2010 (rias Baixas)
from the Atlantic coast. The tinto were Mencos Crianz, Conde de Hervias, Tempranillo 2008 (Rioja) from the
Northern Regions, and a Pesquera. We were happy with his picks. Our friends, Arufa and M, ate at e two weeks
after we did. They claimed that the wine
pairing (cava, a number of sherries, a beer, white and red wines) “should be
mandatory” as it truly enhanced the meal.
* * *
We were
not disappointed that the chefs at é did
not do any conventional cooking in the room; everything was cooked, or made, in
the Jaleo kitchen. Watching the chef team plating our food was
entertaining. No wonder Chef Jose’s uses
the word “show” for the dinner at é. All in all, we enjoyed our “show”. Some dishes we liked very much, some we did
not, many were fun. The pace was just
right. The 25 courses took only two
hours, yet we did not feel hurried. The
service of the é team was impeccable. Obviously Chef Jose does not operate é as a profit center but as a forum to
demonstrate his avant-garde Spanish cuisine.
To that, I salute.
