The Taste of Power
Gazpacho garnished with tomato and cucumber. Image: Amy Loeffler
José Andrés is a conquistador of sorts. He has not only successfully cultivated a restaurant empire in the Washington, D.C. area—Jaleo, Café Atlantico, Zaytinya, Oyamel and minibar—he’s put a brick and mortar outpost across the country in Los Angeles to conquer the palates of angelinos as well. All of these restaurants are extraordinary monuments to a prolific culinary career, but the fact that he has managed to recently invade the Garden Café at the National Gallery of Art is both a culinary and cultural achievement.
The current menu concept at the café is all José Andrés, and if you’ve been to Jaleo, you’ll likely be familiar with the café fare at the museum. The menu is not merely an homage to Spain, but a clever demonstration of micro-branding to boot.
The café’s menu runs in conjunction with the exhibit “The Art of Power : Royal Armor and Portraits from Imperial Spain” currently on display. The exhibit itself is visually stunning as ceramic horses and mannequins model the full regalia of decorative armor (sorry no photos of the armor, photography is not allowed in the exhibit). It’s also as intellectually satisfying as a well researched documentary (Yes. I’m a dork. Sue me.) In many cases, paintings, such as one of King Charles wearing a suit known as the Mühlberg Armor (a suit he wore when he defeated German upstarts seeking to break away from the Holy Roman Empire) are accompanied by the ACTUAL 400-year-old suit of armor, which gives an extra level of verisimilitude to the visitor’s experience. (On a side note, it never ceases to amaze me how SMALL people were 400 years ago, and also how in tarnation could you ever walk around in these contraptions.)
Flan: it's the chef's mother's recipe. Image: Amy Loeffler
As far as the menu is concerned, you’ll find classics like Gazpacho al estilo de Algeciras (Gazpacho Algeciras style) and also more esoteric items that José adapted from Phillip II’s chef’s cookbook in the 1600s, like Empanada de Pollos Ensapados (Chicken and bacon empanada with caramelized onions, raisins, and lemon). The dish sandwiches tender chicken and golden raisins, caramelized onions and lemon betwixt a flaky pastry. It feels like an Old World dish to me since it satisfies the savory and sweet tastebuds in one fell swoop, a flavor combination I am guessing that would be popular in an era without a lot of refined sugar. And speaking of sugar, dessert (at least the day I was there) is a simple affair at the buffet. There are other dessert items but the day I went flan was in full effect. I confess I am usually much more immature about sweets and could drown in a bowl of brownie batter, but I ate every last bit of this expectedly creamy, light and unobtrusive postre.
Eating my way through the assortment of cheeses and cured meats (embutidos)
I found myself grabbing seconds of one flavor combination in particular: the Picón with quince paste (and look how it handily makes a nice alliteration!) Picón is a blue cheese, but it is much harder than better known blues like Roquefort. The creaminess in Roquefort means the tang of blue cheese is a little fleeting, not so with the Picon. (I recently had some Roquefort and I have to say I need to amend this statement. Roquefort is actually both pungent and creamy, and like a dairy form of nepalm in your mouth. Roquefort is a jolt, whereas the denseness of Picón was really more like a nice drawn out massage, and it contrasted well with the sweetness of the quince paste). I almost thought of that as my dessert in spite of inhaling the flan at the end of the meal.
Lastly, though it was very tasty, the Pisto Manchego reminded me of the rataouille we make at home (little wonder since the ingredients listed on the menu are peppers, eggplant and tomato).
The Garden Cafe at the National Gallery of Art. Image: Amy Loeffler
Dishes that piqued my interest but that did not have a chance to try were the Ajo Blanco con Camarones, Uvas, y Almendras (Cold Almond and Garlic Soup with Shrimp) and the a la carte item the party of one diagonal from me ordered, the olives, which looked like green and black gemstones artfully arranged in a bowl.
Perhaps José Andrés has succeeded where the original conquistadores left off. Indeed he has conquered the New World but instead of wielding a sword, he’s used culinary craft to infiltrate our institutions, and imaginations.
–Amy
