Arts & Entertainment
Jaleo turns 20
Spanish tapas restaurant has renovated décor, creative offerings
Jaleo, newly renovated, features a bounty of exquisite tapas. (Photo courtesy of Jaleo)
A couple of weeks ago my mother was passing through Washington on a night when I was planning on prepping for a column. My mother knows me as the picky child who refused to try anything new and wiped peas off noodles in her pasta carbonara before eating it.
So, I thought having a meal with her son who tries all sorts of new foods and writes about them could be fun. That is when I remembered that Jaleo (480 7th Street NW) had been renovated semi-recently and was celebrating its 20th year in D.C. I texted my mother with the suggestion, letting here know it was a Spanish tapas-style restaurant, and when she responded with, “Oh, sounds good,” I made the reservation.
Jaleo is a Spanish word that means revelry and fun and you feel this festive spirit the moment you step into this redesigned space, from the foosball dining tables to the murals on the wall. The restaurant is full of bold colors and sleek furnishings and the artwork clearly embodies the meaning of the work jaleo. This playful space was truly pleasurable to dine in.
For drinks we decided on the sangria de cava, which is a whole bowl of sangria mixed tableside. The sangria was sweet, fresh and an excellent pairing for the food that followed. Our first course would be a selection of cheeses and an assortment of cured iberico meats. The manchego, one of my favorites, was tangy and served with compressed apples in muscatel and the cana de cabra was a luscious goat cheese served with a delectable fig jam. The iberico meats were fresh delicate slices of meat from the legendary acorn-fed black-footed iberico pigs of Spain. It was a great way to start the meal.
As we finished our first course we decided on a few other items to order, including the “setas al ajillo con la serena,” which are sautéed seasonal mushrooms in a cheese potato puree and a plate of seared piquillo peppers stuffed with goat cheese. Both dishes were brilliant but the perfectly prepared mushrooms in the rich, fluffy potato puree were a favorite. Then the dates wrapped in bacon arrived; this was a superb rich and sweet combination. Another item in this course, which did not want to be overshadowed by the bacon wrapped date, was the chorizo wrapped in crispy potato, which was scrumptious.
The seafood portion of the menu was up next. I made sure we ordered the “Gambas al Ajillo,” described as the “very, very famous tapa of shrimp sautéed in garlic.” We also ordered the seared scallop and the jumbo lump crabmeat salad. While the shrimp may have been the “famous tapa,” and it was enjoyed, it was not the winning item in our opinion.
That was a tie between the other two tapas: the scallop with pine nuts and Pedro Ximenez, each amazing. They were cooked perfectly, smooth and tender with a hint of sweetness and they melted in your mouth. The cold lump crabmeat salad with cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes in a brandy sauce was crisp and refreshing. We tried a few other dishes on the menu including the brussel sprout special. My mother discovered she liked them, though I still think they look and taste like alien eyeballs. Each dish that arrived at the table was very good, some were extraordinary and many more piqued our interest, so another visit may soon be in order.
With the savory portion of the night behind us, we tried a couple items off the dessert menu. With our waiter’s assistance we decided on two desserts: the Manzanas “Carlota” al PX and the Gin and Tonic sorbet, Jose Andres favorite cocktail made into a dessert. The apples Charlotte was a delicious option, however at least in the opinion of the four of us at the table, gin and tonic should remain a drink not a dessert.
When all was said and done, Jose Andres and his head chef at Jaleo D.C. Paul Yeck deliver an excellent dining experience in an energetic atmosphere. All our courses were luscious, the company was entertaining and my mother appreciated her meal. So, whether you are dining with mom or friends, Jaleo is a worthwhile flavor adventure and the food is just part of the fun.
Team DC, the umbrella organization for LGBTQ-friendly sports teams and leagues in the D.C. area, held its annual Night of Champions Awards Gala on Saturday, April 20 at the Hilton National Mall. The organization gave out scholarships to area LGBTQ student athletes as well as awards to the Different Drummers, Kelly Laczko of Duplex Diner, Stacy Smith of the Edmund Burke School, Bryan Frank of Triout, JC Adams of DCG Basketball and the DC Gay Flag Football League.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
The 2024 National Cannabis Festival was held at the Fields at RFK Stadium on April 19-20.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Covering the @NatlCannaFest at RFK Stadium for @WashBlade . Stop by the LGBTQ+ booth and pick up a paper if you are here. pic.twitter.com/is7hnsaPns
— Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) April 20, 2024
Theater
‘Amm(i)gone’ explores family, queerness, and faith
A ‘fully autobiographical’ work from out artist Adil Mansoor
‘Amm(i)gone’
Thorough May 12
Woolly Mammoth Theatre
641 D St., N.W.
$60-$70
Woollymammoth.net
“Fully and utterly autobiographical.” That’s how Adil Mansoor describes “Amm(i)gone,” his one-man work currently playing at Woolly Mammoth Theatre.
Both created and performed by out artist Mansoor, it’s his story about inviting his Pakistani mother to translate Sophocles’s Greek tragedy “Antigone” into Urdu. Throughout the journey, there’s an exploration of family, queerness, and faith,as well as references to teachings from the Quran, and audio conversations with his Muslim mother.
Mansoor, 38, grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and is now based in Pittsburgh where he’s a busy theater maker. He’s also the founding member of Pittsburgh’s Hatch Arts Collective and the former artistic director of Dreams of Hope, an LGBTQ youth arts organization.
WASHINGTON BLADE: What spurred you to create “Amm(i)gone”?
ADIL MANSOOR: I was reading a translation of “Antigone” a few years back and found myself emotionally overwhelmed. A Theban princess buries her brother knowing it will cost her, her own life. It’s about a person for whom all aspirations are in the afterlife. And what does that do to the living when all of your hopes and dreams have to be reserved for the afterlife?
I found grant funding to pay my mom to do the translation. I wanted to engage in learning. I wanted to share theater but especially this ancient tragedy. My mother appreciated the characters were struggling between loving one another and their beliefs.
BLADE: Are you more director than actor?
MANSOOR: I’m primarily a director with an MFA in directing from Carnegie Mellon. I wrote, directed, and performed in this show, and had been working on it for four years. I’ve done different versions including Zoom. Woolly’s is a new production with the same team who’ve been involved since the beginning.
I love solo performance. I’ve produced and now teach solo performance and believe in its power. And I definitely lean toward “performance” and I haven’t “acted” since I was in college. I feel good on stage. I was a tour guide and do a lot of public speaking. I enjoy the attention.
BLADE: Describe your mom.
MANSOOR: My mom is a wonderfully devout Muslim, single mother, social worker who discovered my queerness on Google. And she prays for me.
She and I are similar, the way we look at things, the way we laugh. But different too. And those are among the questions I ask in this show. Our relationship is both beautiful and complicated.
BLADE: So, you weren’t exactly hiding your sexuality?
MANSOOR: In my mid-20s, I took time to talk with friends about our being queer with relation to our careers. My sexuality is essential to the work. As the artistic director at Dreams of Hope, part of the work was to model what it means to be public. If I’m in a room with queer and trans teenagers, part of what I’m doing is modeling queer adulthood. The way they see me in the world is part of what I’m putting out there. And I want that to be expansive and full.
So much of my work involves fundraising and being a face in schools. Being out is about making safe space for queer young folks.
BLADE: Have you encountered much Islamophobia?
MANSOOR: When 9/11 happened, I was a sophomore in high school, so yes. I faced a lot then and now. I’ve been egged on the street in the last four months. I see it in the classroom. It shows up in all sorts of ways.
BLADE: What prompted you to lead your creative life in Pittsburgh?
MANSOOR: I’ve been here for 14 years. I breathe with ease in Pittsburgh. The hills and the valleys and the rust of the city do something to me. It’s beautiful, it’ affordable, and there is support for local artists. There’s a lot of opportunity.
Still, the plan was to move to New York in September of 2020 but that was cancelled. Then the pandemic showed me that I could live in Pittsburgh and still have a nationally viable career.
BLADE: What are you trying to achieve with “Amm(i)gone”?
MANSOOR: What I’m sharing in the show is so very specific but I hear people from other backgrounds say I totally see my mom in that. My partner is Catholic and we share so much in relation to this.
I hope the work is embracing the fullness of queerness and how means so many things. And I hope the show makes audiences want to call their parents or squeeze their partners.
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‘Amm(i)gone’ explores family, queerness, and faith
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