Jaleo

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

Spanish Cuisine, Seriously Done

On the Las Vegas Strip at the Cosmopolitan, Jaleo is José Andrés' love letter to Spain. The menu reads like a tour of the Iberian Peninsula — from the Basque Country to Extremadura, from Catalonia to La Mancha — rendered in the precise, playful style that has made Andrés one of the most influential figures in Spanish cuisine outside of Spain itself.

The Wine Spectator Award of Excellence signals what regulars already know: this is not a place that treats wine as an afterthought. The list is built to complement a menu that moves between the traditional and the inventive with equal confidence.

The Menu

Jaleo's approach to Spanish food is rooted in the tapa format — small plates designed for sharing, grazing, and returning to. A meal might open with Pan de cristal con tomate, toasted slices of Barcelona-imported bread brushed with fresh tomato, or the now-iconic Aceitunas 'Ferran Adrià' — Gordal olives stuffed with piquillo pepper, anchovies and orange zest, a nod to the modernist tradition that shaped a generation of Spanish cooking.

The charcuterie selection is a serious affair. Cinco Jotas Jamón Ibérico de bellota, cured 48 months from acorn-fed black-footed Ibérico pigs, anchors an embutidos section that also includes lomo, chorizo and salchichón, all Ibérico. José's taco — hand-sliced Jamón Ibérico de bellota with caviar on toasted nori — is the kitchen's most theatrical bite.

Cheese lovers will find regional Spanish selections ranging from a raw-milk Manchego Pasamontes to the Rey Silo Mamá Marisa, a sharp Cabrales-style cheese from Asturias named for Andrés' grandmother and served with green apples, membrillo and toasted cristal bread.

Larger plates bring whole-grilled Spanish sea bass (Lubina a la Donostiarra) with Basque-style dressing, and the Secreto Ibérico de bellota — a rarely seen skirt cut from acorn-fed Ibérico pigs, served with mojo verde and toasted tomato bread. The Costillas de cordero, grilled Merino lamb with rosemary sauce and olive oil potato purée, is available by the full or half order.

What to Expect

The room is lively and social, built for the kind of long, wine-fueled Spanish dinner that stretches across many small plates rather than arriving in three tidy courses. Tichi's Gazpacho — named, it seems, for someone close to the kitchen — is the classic chilled Spanish soup done without compromise. Patatas bravas with spicy tomato sauce and alioli hold their own alongside more elaborate preparations.

Jaleo Las Vegas delivers a genuine Spanish dining experience in a city that rarely lacks for spectacle but often lacks for substance.