Guardado's, Del Ray and Norfolk Avenues, Bethesda - Chef Jose Nicolas Guardado Comes From Jaleo

[MarkS]

Last Saturday night my wife and I ate at Guadado's in Bethesda. They are on Del Ray ave in Bethesda with parking accoss the street.

To be able to dine in Bethesda at 8pm on a Sat. night without reservation is a feat in itself. I prefer being dynamic and this worked out well.

This is a tapas and paella place. The shrimp and Chorizo was great as wwas the mussels and marinated mushrooms. The sangria was respectable.

The place has no atmosphere but who cares.. The price was right and the food was good. If you have ever been to Centro Vasco in NYC, this is that kind of place.

Highly recommended ..I'll be back

[baczkowski]

What's the deal with the place? I think I'm like a lot of people in that I've been meaning to try it b/c of some decent press but I have yet to. When we walked by at 8:30 tonight, the place was barren except for a dutiful waiter making sure that every table's silverware and glass setups were perfect while Guardado himself was sitting slouched at the bar with a scowl on his face that said, "EFF Bethesda for not eating my cooking!"

Anyone been? Will this place last? Should it? It's got a crappy location in terms of foot traffic.

Pax,

Brian

[ICD]

What's the deal with the place? I think I'm like a lot of people in that I've been meaning to try it b/c of some decent press but I have yet to. When we walked by at 8:30 tonight, the place was barren except for a dutiful waiter making sure that every table's silverware and glass setups were perfect while Guardado himself was sitting slouched at the bar with a scowl on his face that said, "EFF Bethesda for not eating my cooking!"

Anyone been? Will this place last? Should it? It's got a crappy location in terms of foot traffic.

Pax,

Brian

We passed by on Saturday night a few weeks ago on the way to Mia's pizza. The place was empty except for one table. I don't know how long it can last this way. I agree, the location is just not very good.

[porcupine]

Had a chance to try it last night, when I met with two colleagues for a business dinner at Volare (not my choice), only to find it closed for renovations. So questions of "now where do we go?" were answered with "I know a place..."

The experience was mixed. One of the guys said his tuna ceviche was a tad tart for his taste, but otherwise excelllent, and he really enjoyed a plate of scallops with risotto. The other guy didn't seem to like his taco salad and beef and cheese stuffed plantain too much.

I ordered spinach with pine nuts, raisins, and orange, which was fine but somehow lacked the unexpected sparkle of the similar dish at Jaleo. The gambas al ajillo were similarly lackluster, perhaps because the shrimp were tiny and not very flavorful. But the garlicky oil was great for dipping the so-so baguette (?) slices. A dish of chorizo with melted manchego was a loss, extremely oily with kind of a generic spiciness to which the cheese taste was pretty much lost.

The menu has a large number of Salvadorean dishes. I'll probably return to try these, because I'm a sucker for pupusas and plantains. But I wouldn't return for the Spanish food, which is a shame, because I'd love to see a Jose Andres protege succeed, and I'd love to have an alternative to the Bethesda Jaleo, which totally and unambiguously stank the last two times I went (with in-laws, not my choice, and no I didn't complain to the manager yadda yadda because sometimes other things, like keeping peace with your inlaws, are more important, and anyway that's another story).

[baczkowski]

Four of us went Friday night and ordered as if we were eating at Jaleo: Multiple tapas that we shared. Unfortunately, at the end of the night, I panged for the mediocre Jaleo. I tried to follow Porcupine's advice and explore the Salvadoran options, but when I asked the hostess (A.K.A. "Mrs. Guardado") for these recommendations, she explained that all but two options are Spanish. I ordered the two loan Salvadoran dishes--pupusas and cheese and meat plantains--and thought they were my least favorite items we shared. The plaintain was gigantic but didn't pair well with the cheese or the chicken, which our server recommended over the beef. The pupusa was less disappointing but not very flavorful. It's no where as good as Irene's in Wheaton, Samantha's in Silver Spring, or even the mobile pupuseria that parks in front of the Silver Spring Home Depot in the mornings (by the way, this food-wagon has a great pickled slaw with some kick). The two best items had chorizo, with the vegetable pairing being our favorite. Overall, though, the food lacked depth and/or flavor.

On the positive side, the place was 3/4 full the whole time and the service was well-meaning and friendly (though they did time the food arrivals very poorly--sorry, couldn't resist this one last negative comment). Hopefully others will have more positive experiences b/c I'd like to see a hard-worker like the chef succeed.

Pax,

Brian

[Toogs]

Anyone been recently? There's a groupon today. I had never heard of the place.

[mtureck]

I had passed by Guardado's a few times, but never went in...Jaleo was a ten minute walk away if I wanted tapas, so why bother? But I saw the Groupon, and I figured I'd give it a shot...my last few meals at Jaleo were less than stellar anyway.

I went at an off time, both to avoid a possible Groupon rush, and because I had my three-year old in tow...he's still a little too rambunctious for prime-time. They have a nice kids menu, but he shared the tapas with us instead.

The groupon gave us eight tapas...only one item, a grilled fillet, was off limits....so we saw a good variety. They're not reinventing the wheel here...it's a very typical tapas menu, and very similar to Jaleo in execution. I started with a sangria, which was virtually indistinguishable from Jaleo's...which is very good. As for the food:

The very good:

Papas Fritas

Gambas al Ajillo

Espinacas con Naranjas

Shrimp were small but well cooked, the potatoes were excellent, and the spinach was a nice light contrast to some of the heavier dishes.

The good:

Croquetas Españolas

Carne a la Parrilla

Lomo de Puerco

The croquettes needed more texture inside...the chicken and ham were a bit too fine...but they were tasty. The beef and the pork were both good with nice sauces, but the pork was a bit overcooked and the beef has a strangely lambish flavor. Odd, but not off-putting.

The "meh"

Chorizo Fundido

Normally one of my favorites, but it was a litttle too oily, and the cheese was sparse and didn't really add anything.

And the only dish that really didn't work for me:

Calamares Salteados

Way, way too lemony...just overwhlemed the dish.

My son loved the Chorizo, the beef and the decent table bread incidentally.

Overall, it's obvious that the chef came from Jaleo, and while it's not quite as good as Jaleo in its prime, it was comparable to the last few meals I had there, and since it's ten minutes closer to my house, I'd be happy to go back for my next tapas meal.

I know Don really hates the Groupons, and granted, I have no idea if they'll help or hurt this place in the long run, but I do want to point out that I never would have eaten at Guardado's is it wasn't for the Groupon...and now they've gained a long term customer.

Now I await the opening of Boqueria, a NY tapas chain, which happens to be a few blocks from my office.

[DavidO]

I like Guardado's. There was a time when I thought it was quite good (better than Jaleo at the time), but now I would say it's pretty good and still worth a visit (although admittedly some of that is because it's not hard to get a table and they've always been child-friendly).

[ktmoomau]

Had dinner at Guardado's on Friday night.  I don't know what the atmosphere was like before, my friend said they had renovated, but it was cozy and I thought kind of nice on the inside.  It is a small place, not uber fancy or modern, but the staff were very attentive and nice.

We had sangria which I thought was good.  The bread was nice (yep I cheated) and sopped out some of the good juices from our dishes.  I thought the food while knowing the chef came from Jaleo was a little more rustic and what you would find in like a more Mom and Pop type of Spanish restaurant than Jaleo.  I had the piquillo peppers stuffed with seafood.  I thought this dish was very good.  I liked the red sauce on top and the seafood was cooked nicely. I had some of my friends mussels which were a huge serving for the price and very good.  If it was my dish I would have used bread to get all the good stuff at the bottom.  I had the portabello mushroom with goat cheese, which was fine, but probably my least favorite dish and the one I should have not ordered.  They had a dish called plain vegetables.  Well they were not really plain, they had a lovely tomato sauce which I used the bread to sop up.  This was actually my favorite dish.  Simple but excellent, you could get the dish with sausage, I don't know if that would make it awesome or take away from the squash and zucchini.  I also had chicken with olives and mushrooms in a lovely sauce.  This was also a good dish, the sauce was also bread sop worthy.  BUT the best thing was the flan, I would go back in a heartbeat for the veggies and flan.  It was very creamy and thick, while having a perfectly smooth texture.  I thought the flavor was excellent, not too much, with some nice fruit pieces on the side.  It was a really good dish.  Plus the prices were much better than what you would get at say Boqueria or Jaleo.  Next time 3 plates, as I definitely was stuffed, but I liked it and would go back.  No it's not a travel a long way for place, but I liked it and would go back when in the area, especially for a more economical option.

[pras]

Had dinner here last night.  We thought it was very good.  As has been mentioned above, it is kid friendly.  Our 4 year old had the grilled salmon from the child's menu.  She chose rice and mashed potatoes as her sides.  She devoured it.  We started with artichoke salad and a cheese sampler.  The salad was well dressed and finely chopped with some canned artichokes.  It was very good and specked with chopped onion and capers.  The cheese was as you would expect it,  with some apple to complement the cheese.  This was followed by the grilled portabella specked with goat cheese-very good flavor with an almost pesto tinge.  Octopus was served with boiled potatoes and sprinkled with smoked paprika--the octopus was very tender and well seasoned.  Ceviche--tilapia with red onions (we opted out of the jalapenos--wife doesn't do spicy), also pretty good.  Pappas fritas--with a red sauce and aioli--very enjoyable.  Some other sort of mushroom dish with garlic and olive oil.

Desert was chocolate mouse cake and flan.  Both were really good, but the chocolate mouse was the standout.  Very rich and indulgent.

Service was friendly and warm.  The bill was very reasonable.  We will definitely be back.