TWIS Happy Hour Guide: Jalea

But, have no fear! Jalea, a Spanish and Peruvian restaurant recently opened on Main Street, is here to satisfy your tapas needs. They’ve created their own Tapas Tuesday special, featuring select two-for-one tapas every Tuesday from 5 to 9 p.m.

The deals: I walked into Jalea Tuesday night with only the aforementioned deal in mind. But, it turns out, the restaurant has a few more specials up its sleeve. Happy hour is Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m., featuring $3 beers, sangria and wells, and $5 tapas. Like the Tapas Tuesday menu, the happy-hour menu does not include all of the restaurants tapas offerings, but you’ll find a few on the happy-hour menu that aren’t on the tapas menu. These include albondigas (Spanish meatballs with tomato sauce), patatas salteadas picantes (spicy potato wedges and tomato sundried aioli), gambas al ajillo (shrimp, butter, sherry wine and fresh garlic) and more.

Thursdays feature two-for-one Pisco from 5 to 9 p.m. I’d only had the traditional Peruvian drink once before, at Darwin’s on 4th. I ordered Jalea’s Tuesday night and loved it. The foamy top of the drink is sprinkled with cinnamon, delivering a sweet aroma before the tart, limey taste tickles your tastebuds.

The picks: On the Tapas Tuesday menu, everything is $7 or $8, so you’ll pay $7 or $8 for two dishes. Our first picks were the choros chalacos (steamed mussels with lime juice, tomato garlic, cilantro and Cuzco corn) and the leche de tigre (tiny pieces of white fish, corn, onions and ceviche juice). The leche de tigre ceviche was my favorite of the two. Though they tasted fairly similar, the ceviche’s fish was incredibly fresh tasting and plentiful, and the flavors were less overwhelming than the mussel dish. For our second round, we ordered the yucca a la huancaina (fried yucca with huancaina sauce) and the rollitos de lomo (Peruvian style egg rolls). We loved both dishes. The fried yucca was a great, more authentic-seeming alternative to the truffle steak fries served at other area Peruvian restaurants. I had no idea what to expect when ordering Peruvian egg rolls – turns out it’s deliciously flavored beef tenderloin in a fried roll, served with a very tasty, very spicy tomato cream dipping sauce. This dish was delicious with the Peruvian beer we ordered, Cusqueña, which is just $3 during happy hour.

Also available on the Tapas Tuesday menu are tomato pan y queso (tomato, manchego cheese and basil on a garlic rubbed toast point with a balsamic reduction), calamares (sautéed calamari with lemon pepper vinaigrette or deep fried with tartar sauce), pollo en cerveza (classic beer marinated chicken wings) and berenjena braceada (sliced eggplant with ricotta and mozzarella cheese in a tomato basil sauce).

Atmosphere and service: Jalea is modern and clean, with lots of vibrant red in the decor. With such fantastic food, a great deal and trendy look, I was surprised at how empty the restaurant was. There was plenty of room at the bar, where we chose to sit. We had fantastic service from our bartender, Cecilia. She recommended I try the red sangria, which was light, fruity and refreshing. I could have downed a pitcher! So come grab a seat at Jalea ... I don’t imagine it will stay uncrowded for long.