My DW's Grand Adventure at Jaleo!

thebigman65

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 31, 2010
A large part of our trips to Disney involves food (who's doesnt!). We love most of the restaurants on Property and have tried quite a few of them. My DW however, is not a very adventurous eater. She is a good old fashioned meat and potatoes girl! I however, will try anything once and enjoy a variety of cuisines. This sometimes makes for a very divided opinion on where are are going to eat at WDW.

This past trip, I really wanted to try Jose Andreas' new restaurant, Jaleo. My DW however was not as enthused with this choice but went along because she knew I really wanted to try it. Yup....shes a keeper!

So we arrived for our 6pm reservation just a few minutes early and we were seated right away. It was a 2 person table, and was in a nice spot. The ambience of the restaurant is rather modern, but definitely has a flair. The atmosphere is a little loud for our taste, but it's manageable and did not take away from our enjoyment of the space and the meal.

We were greeted immediately by a very nice young man named Rafael. He was very friendly and as we got to know him, he told us that in order to work there, he had to do 6 full months of training. He had to learn about all the dishes (and there are many!) and try all of them as well. This told us that Jose's commitment to this restaurant is very real! He then went on to explain the menu, including the 2 tasting menu's....1, is a very traditional Tapas tasting menu called the Jaleo Tasting Menu, and 2, is the Jose's Way tasting menu, which is his interpretations and his flair on each dish. Anyway, he was a great server, very knowledgeable and attentive. We left him a nice tip, and I stopped at the front desk to on the way out to express how good Rafael had been, and that we enjoyed our time with him!

So after we sat down and got settled, we were looking through the menu, and as I always do at these types of places, I started to look for items my DW's would at least try. The next thing I know, she looks at me and says "you know what? I am tired of always worrying about what I am gonna have. Let's go for it!" I said "go for what?" and she said "lets just get the Jose's Way Tasting menu!" Needless to say I was blown away with her courage and readiness to try something she knew nothing about. It didn't take 2 seconds for me to say "SURE" and call Rafael over right away! In that moment, I was so proud of my wife and at the same time excited for the experience!

So this tasting menu is approx 16 to 18 courses (we lost count). It comes in waves of dishes, so the first dishes that arrived were:

From left to right - The cones were 2 different tastes. The first was a salmon tartar with Trout roe on top. This is put in a crispy pastry cone. OMG these were sooooo gooood! Above that was a similar crispy pastry cone, but this time it had goat cheese and tomato puree. This was also very good, but not as good as the Salmon! Next to that is a little Molecular Gastronomy. It was olive oil "pearls" with stuffed olives. The stuffed olives had pepper and Anchovies in them. DW skipped these as she does not like olives. I had them and they were awesome! the olive oil "pearls" are a little different, but very good. In front of the olives were Endive leaves stuffed with Orange, Almonds, and goat cheese. These were to die for! to the right of the olives was crispy pieces of bread with Tomato sauce and cured ham. I think he said it was 36 month ham. Either way it was very very good! The last item was watermelon with Strawberry and I think, lime juice. This was the palette cleanser.

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Our next dishes were: Chicken Croquettes, Deep fried balls of deliciousness! WE loved these! Next to that is Bacon Wrapped dates, breaded and deep fried with mustard sauce. These were very good, but somewhat of a weird texture. For me and DW they were just OK. Next was the Baby Squid Calamari with Squid ink Aioli. These were very good. Fresh and crispy.

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Then came: (apologies for the half eaten dishes....we got excited and forgot!) On the left is a potato salad with Picello pepper, Tuna, Carrots and Peas, with Mayo and Bread Sticks. Was very good. Next to that is Catalan Bean Salad, basically chopped tomatoes, Onion and Olive oil with 2 types of beans and chopped black olives. This was very good, but a little strong on the onion.

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Next Course: Wilted Spinach Salad with Raisins, apples, Pine nuts and a pine nut puree on the bottom. This was interesting and tasted very good. It was just a little salty for me (which is saying something) but overall it was quite good!

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Next Course: Head on Shrimp with Olive Oil and Garlic, done in the wood fired oven. This was very tasty and they give you some bread to sop up the tasty olive oil. Nice and fresh and a great taste!

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Next Course: Squid ink Pasta Paella. Overall I did not really enjoy this dish. The squid ink was quite pronounced. I wouldn't say it tasted like anything, but seemed to numb the taste buds and had a lingering effect. Not something I would order again.

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Next Course: Lamb Chop! with a Demi Glace, and Olive Oil. These were honestly some of the best lamb chops we have ever had. Simple, but very very good!

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Next Course: This was to me a Cheese Course. It was a house made "Cracker" with Rosemary, Fig Jam, and Semi-Sweet Goats mile Cheese grated on top. This was very good and a nice transition to Dessert!

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Next Up - Dessert!: First we have a chocolate Mousse rolled in chocolate Crumbs, with a scooped of Ice Cream and a savory cracker on top. And yes....that is olive oil on the plate. Believe it or not, this was very very good and we did not taste the olive oil at all!

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Finally: As our last course, this was Pink Grapefruit wedges in honey, top with pink grapefruit granita and a scoop of .....get ready for it.....Olive Oil ice cream! When Rafael described the dish, we were a little apprehensive, but this was soooo goood.....the olive oil ice cream was great and you could not taste the olive oil, it was more like a lingering nice taste left on the tongue. This was so good I almost wanted to lick the bowl!

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Of course we had to have some Sangria to go along with our meal, and that was also very very good.

Overall our experience was the best one of the week and the best overall experience at a restaurant in WDW for a while. We highly recommend Jaleo to anyone who wants to take a little culinary adventure. You will not be disappointed.

Not only if Chef Andreas a great humanitarian, but he is a great chef and the attention to detail in his restaurant is second to none!

Thank you all for reading!
 
Thank you so much for sharing! Kudos to your DW on "going for it"!!! DH and I can't wait to try this in a few weeks. Everything looks delicious!!
 
That looks fantastic! I was there in August and really loved the olives and had the best brussel sprouts ever! Maybe next time I might have to try the tasting menu!
 


What an amazing meal. So glad to hear your wife went out on a limb and you all truly enjoyed yourselves. We have Jaleo's here in DC so we don't plan on doing the Orlando one, but I'm so glad to see others are experiencing the amazingness that is Jose Andres.
 

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