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PHOTO BY LAURA CHASE DE FORMIGNY Piña borracha—compressed pineapple with rum, lime and mint—is on the dessert menu at the recently opened Spanish Diner in Bethesda. For our review, turn the page.

Overall Rating: B

SPANISH DINER

7271 Woodmont Ave., Bethesda; 301-284-3700; spanishdiner.com

A pressed breakfast sandwich filled with ham, Manchego cheese, sliced avocado and a fried egg

OVER EASY DOES IT

Celebrity chef and philanthropist José Andrés turns his Bethesda location of Jaleo into Spanish Diner

BY DAVID HAGEDORN | PHOTOS BY LAURA CHASE DE FORMIGNY

ON MY FIRST VISIT to Spanish Diner, a concept from chef José Andrés that replaced the Bethesda location of his tapas restaurant Jaleo in May, it’s 95 degrees outside. I order a pitcher of sangria made with rosé wine, gin, vermouth, orange slices and watermelon and bookend my meal, heavy on grandmastyle stews and various iterations of fried eggs served with fried potatoes, with two refreshing, uncomplicated dishes. To start, gazpacho, the classic Spanish chilled soup of pureed tomatoes, green peppers and cucumbers thickened with bread and topped with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of tiny crouton cubes, and, for dessert, piña borracha—pineapple chunks “drunk” with flavor from having been vacuum-sealed with rum, lime juice and mint. The fruit arrives on a platter of crushed ice, arranged decoratively on the rind of a quartered pineapple.

Andrés has a lot on his plate. The Bethesda resident travels the globe to areas in crisis for World Central Kitchen, the food relief organization he and his wife, Patricia, started in 2010, but also continues to expand his restaurant empire through his parent company, ThinkFoodGroup, whose portfolio includes 28 restaurants nationwide.

At the onset of the pandemic in mid-March 2020, Andrés closed all of his D.C.-area restaurants (except for takeout), turning some of them into temporary community kitchens. The D.C. and Crystal City locations of Jaleo reopened in Phase Two, but Jaleo Bethesda went into “hibernation” in May 2020

FAVORITE DISHES: Rosé sangria; gazpacho; avocado salad with mojo verde; bikini mixto (grilled ham and cheese sandwich); breakfast ham, egg, cheese and avocado sandwich; Casa Lucio-style fried egg plate with fried potatoes with ham, sausage and blood sausage; chicken, pork and duck foie grasstuffed canelones with cheese sauce; compressed pineapple with rum, lime and mint.

PRICES: Appetizers: $6 to $19; Sandwiches: $11 to $14; Two-egg platters: $12 to $21; “Grandma’s” dishes: $12 to $20; Desserts: $8.

LIBATIONS: Andrés’ company, ThinkFoodGroup, has a team of beverage experts who travel the world for ideas and resources, so it’s no surprise that the beverages at Spanish Diner are superlative. You’ll find colorful sangrias by the glass/half pitcher/ full pitcher (about $10/$30/$52); bountiful gin and tonics ($15); craft cocktails (a Cuba Libre is $12); four draft and three bottled Spanish beers; ciders; sherries; espresso drinks; and non-alcoholic beverages. An all-Spanish wine list includes four sparklers, 12 whites, two rosés and 17 reds. Bottles cost $40 to $80; glasses go for $10 to $15.

SERVICE: Attentive, knowledgeable, pleasant.

Left: Daniel Lugo, head chef at Spanish Diner

Right: Chicken, pork and duck foie gras-stuffed canelones with cheese sauce

and never reopened. “COVID made me rethink,” Andrés says. “The lease was ending. We were doing OK, but not great. Spanish Diner [which debuted in New York City’s Hudson Yards in 2019] is successful in New York. It’s a good concept that can grow.”

The decor at Spanish Diner in Bethesda is like Andrés: lively, colorful and kinetic. A wavy drop ceiling in neon yellow covers one section of the dining room; a neon orange wall accents another. Keith Haring-esque window decals depicting pintxos (bar snacks) as cartoon animals and curved banquettes upholstered with multicolored geometric fabric add to the whimsy. A foosball table in the middle of the room is a Jaleo holdover. The 108seat restaurant also has a patio with 48 seats.

Spanish Diner’s chef de cuisine is Daniel Lugo, 30, who was Jaleo Bethesda’s chef. The Diner offers starters, soups and salads, but eggs, stews and sandwiches—the kinds of dishes Andrés grew up eating in his native Asturias in northwestern Spain—are its main focus. “When people think of Spanish food, they think of tapas, which we have, but [at Spanish Diner] we are highlighting dishes of our grandmothers or that friends make when they have you over,” Lugo says.

Like the gazpacho and pineapple, there are dishes reminiscent of Jaleo on the menu, such as croquetas (Jaleo made these fritters with chicken; the Diner’s are filled with chicken, beef, ham and chorizo); pan de cristal (a bread imported from Barcelona) topped with grated fresh tomatoes, olive oil and sea salt; and bikini mixto, a wonderfully toasty, gooey, pressed ham and Manchego cheese sandwich.

New to Bethesdans are a delightful salad of avocado cubes tossed in a verdant mojo sauce of cumin, garlic, cilantro, sherry vinegar and olive oil and specked with goat cheese, and the Diner’s version of tortilla, the classic Spanish potato omelet. Using José Andrés brand potato chips that are rehydrated (instead of raw potatoes) to prepare the dish proves an innovation better in idea than in reality. My tortilla is runny and undercooked rather than custardy, as it should be.

The star of the Spanish Diner menu is huevos rotos (broken eggs) served the same way Casa Lucio, a Madrid restaurant, has been serving them since 1974. Over-easy eggs are placed on top of a pile of pale french-fried potatoes and come with, if you choose, morcilla (blood sausage), ham, chistorra (a chorizo-like Basque sausage) or smoked salmon. Cooking the potatoes is quite the process: They are peeled, cut, steamed, cooled, fried in 300-degree oil, refrigerated and then fried at 375 degrees to order. “We don’t fry them crispy. We want them to be a little soggy so when you cut them up with the eggs and mix it all together, the potatoes absorb the yolks,” Lugo says.

There are seven other egg dishes on the menu, such as one with seared squid, caramelized onions and fried potatoes and another with a stew of eggplant, peppers and zucchini. The eggs for these items, says Lugo, are prepared as abuela (grandmother) would make them: fried sunny-side up in olive oil in a very hot pan so the edges become crisped and brown. The egg dish that wins my heart is the pressed breakfast sandwich with ham, Manchego cheese, sliced avocado and a fried egg inside, its yolk exposed through a hole removed from the top slice of toasted bread.

Left: Casa Lucio-style fried egg plate with fried potatoes and meats

Below: Rosé sangria is available by the glass, half pitcher and full pitcher.

The menu section “La Cocina de la Abuela ‘Our Grandma’s Cuisine’” features dishes to warm a soul in cool weather, among them fricando de ternera (Catalan beef and mushroom stew thickened with a paste of almonds, bread and garlic) and chicken fricasseed with caramelized onions and sherry. Canelones (pasta cylinders) stuffed with chicken, pork and duck foie gras and baked to bubbly brown goodness with Manchego cheese and nutmeg-laced bechamel sauce are a knockout. The ultrarich dish is a Spanish specialty usually served at Christmastime, but I wipe my plate clean in the middle of a summer heat wave.

Spanish Diner is fun, but I have some quibbles. I get that it’s meant to be diner food, but I wish there were more vegetables other than salad on the menu to balance the menu’s carb- and meatheavy heartiness. Another beef: a wine list with no bottles under $40.

I have no qualms with the restaurant’s desserts, though, especially the flan, made according to Andrés’ mother’s recipe. Flan can sometimes be rubbery, but Andrés’ rests on a pool of caramel and is silken and creamy, perhaps the best I’ve ever had. Rice-and-milk pudding, topped with a creme brulee-like layer of caramelized sugar, also satisfies, but I still maintain that piña borracha is the perfect way to end a meal, or, now that I think of it, to begin one. I may do just that on my next visit to Spanish Diner. n

John Wood started Open Hand Pasta & Provisions soon after the pandemic hit. He sells pastas, sauces and meal kits.

Pasta Pivot

LAID OFF FROM HIS chef’s position at Bethesda’s Barrel and Crow restaurant when it closed temporarily in March 2020, Gaithersburg resident John Wood turned his pasta-making passion into a business and launched Open Hand Pasta & Provisions (originally named Impasta Artisans—no relation to Impasta in Damacus). Wood sells homemade pastas and sauces and other items (ParmigianoReggiano cheese, extra virgin olive oil, homemade granola and homemade dog treats) at various farmers markets in the D.C. area. In Montgomery County, Open Hand has market stands in Potomac Village (Thursday), Pike & Rose (Saturday), Rockville City Center (Saturday), and Olney (Sunday).

Wood, 36, graduated from L’Academie de Cuisine cooking school in Gaithersburg (now closed) in 2005. While there, he did his externship at Chevy Chase’s Persimmon restaurant, then went on to work in D.C. for such notable chefs as Frank Ruta and Bob Kinkead. He was the chef at TapaBar (now closed) in Bethesda and took the helm at Barrel and Crow in 2017. Soon after the COVID shutdown began, the restaurant’s owner, Laura Houlihan, laid off the staff but let Wood use her kitchen to start his pasta business. When Barrel and Crow reopened, Wood shifted his operation to a shared catering kitchen. In late July, he opened his own commissary kitchen with a tiny brick-and-mortar storefront in the old town section of Gaithersburg.

The name Open Hand refers to the way Italians hold the rolling pin—hands open with palms resting on top—when flattening fresh pasta dough. Wood brings about eight pastas ($10 to $15 for 8 oz.) to farmers markets, some stuffed (black truffle ravioli or duck and foie gras-stuffed cappelletti, for example) and some not (such as tagliatelle, pappardelle and rigatoni). Three sauces are always available—tomato basil, pesto Genovese, and black truffle white wine cream—plus a meat sauce, such as Bolognese. Sauces range from $5 for 4 oz. to $10 for 8 oz. Wood uses raw items (such as vegetables and herbs) sourced from other farmers market vendors as ingredients in his own line of products.

On Thursdays, Wood delivers meal kits in the Metro region. Orders must be placed by Monday. A starter, two pastas, grated parmigiano cheese and a dessert for two costs $50 to $60. The kit I ordered, which was ample enough for two meals for two, included vegetable minestrone; campanelle (cone-shaped pasta with a ruffled edge) with peas, pancetta, mint and lemon verbena; mushroom-stuffed cappelletti atop sauteed spinach; and coffee cream tarts. Directions were simple and precise and the quality excellent. As the store and kitchen gain their footing, Wood plans to expand Open Hand’s offerings. “We have a deck oven,” he says. “Bread is the next logical step. And pizza pop-ups.”

Open Hand Pasta & Provisions, 220 Girard St., Suite B, Gaithersburg, 240-330-7004, openhandpasta.com

Taco Treasure

VICTOR ALBISU GAINED A reputation

in Washington as a fine-dining chef, having worked at such upscale establishments as BLT Steak, Marcel’s and two of his own restaurants—Del Campo and Poca Madre (both now closed), but perhaps his greatest success is in the fast-casual realm. He opened Taco Bamba in Falls Church, Virginia, in 2013, showcasing traditional tacos (such as al pastor, barbacoa and carnitas), inventive tacos (“tacos nuestros” on the menu) and other Mexican street foods, such as tortas (sandwiches), nachos and enchiladas.

Taco Bamba was an instant hit. In June, Albisu opened his sixth outlet—and first Maryland location—in Rockville’s Congressional Plaza. “I love Rockville. I had a lot of friends and family there in my youth and it’s always been a destination for me,” says the 46-year-old chef, who grew up and lives in Northern Virginia. “I love the restaurants and ethnic diversity there. Mykonos Grill, La Limeña, Bob’s Shanghai,

The 2,766-square-foot restaurant, which seats 52, plus 18 at its cocktail bar and 16 on a front patio, was designed by Maggie O’Neill of Swatchroom. The industrial chic space features an open kitchen, cherry-red metal stools and stunning murals—one of an avocado half, another with the chainlet’s trademark rooster.

Taco Bamba, 1627 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 301-822-2334, tacobamba.com

Il Pizzico—these are places I made special trips to. I love that area and have always wanted to be a part of that market.”

What sets Taco Bamba apart from other fast-casual places is its creativity, Albisu says. “Our locations’ menus are all different, our bar programs are all different. That we are a fast-casual place with a bar program is already different.” There are 11 traditional tacos ($3.50) and 13 craft tacos ($4.50) at Taco Bamba Rockville. Among its custom tacos are the MoCo Crab (a crab melt with spicy mayo, vinegar slaw and potato sticks), the Mrs. Hogan (pork, gochujang, kimchi bacon fried rice, cucumbers and radishes) and the Fredneck (BBQ pork carnitas and slaw). Other intriguing menu items are the Sidney Frumkin torta ($14) stuffed with pastrami, chihuahua cheese, pickled onions and Thousand Island slaw; a Middle Eastern-spiced fried chicken nugget taco; guacamole made with grilled avocadoes ($5.50); and a cocktail made with tequila, juiced roasted pineapples, orange and lime ($7).

Left: Taco Bamba’s menu includes items with names such as (clockwise from top) the Fredneck, the MoCo Crab and the Mrs. Hogan.

Below: A wood-fired pineapple margarita

&COMINGS GOINGS

This fall, José Molina, the owner of Breads Unlimited bakery in Bethesda’s Bradley Shopping Center, will open Edith’s Pizza in the same Arlington Road shopping center.

Also slated to open this fall: Roaming Roosters, a fried chicken chain coming to Pike & Rose in North Bethesda, and Chaia, a vegetarian taco spot in downtown Bethesda.

New York City-based hamburger chain Shake Shack will open locations in Bethesda’s Westfield Montgomery mall in late 2021, in the Kentlands in Gaithersburg in 2022, and in Rockville at an as yet undetermined time. Falls Church restaurant Firepan Korean BBQ will open a second location, in Silver Spring, at the end of 2021.

Common Plate Hospitality, a restaurant group based in Alexandria, Virginia, will open The Heights at Wisconsin Place food hall in Chevy Chase in spring 2022.

In North Bethesda, Flor de Luna closed in July. Two spots that closed temporarily early in the pandemic announced permanent closures: Car Wash Coffee in Kensington and The Daily Grill in the Hyatt Regency in Bethesda. Bangkok Garden closed its Bethesda location in August after a 37-year run. Its Rockville location remains open. n