Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s, a former sailor in the Spanish navy and an eternal optimist, oversees an empire of 27 restaurants, including 10 in Washington, D. C. He invited \u201cCBS This Morning: Saturday\u201d co-host Alex Wagner to Jaleo — where he began his takeover of the Washington dining scene 24 years ago.
On the menu for Andr\u00e9s\u2019 New Year\u2019s celebration? Traditional tapas: lobster salad in a gazpacho-style dressing, a Norwegian shellfish cigala, beloved in his home country of Spain, and ib\u00e9rico ham with something extra extraordinary.
\u201cSo we get egg yolks and we drop the egg yolks into the semi under boiling syrup, water and sugar. And at the end, you get these threads like hair,\u201d Andr\u00e9s said.
\u201cCandied egg yolk?\u201d Wagner asked.
\u201cIt\u2019s candied egg yolk.\u201d Andr\u00e9s said. \u201cMe, I love this. It\u2019s such a crazy mix.\u201d
Chef Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s shows \u201cCBS This Morning: Saturday\u201d co-host Alex Wagner describes how he candied egg yolks to create thread-like texture.
Like this meal, Andr\u00e9s\u2019 cuisine is steeped in tradition, but he\u2019s become famous for his experimentation. His formative years were spent working for the revolutionary chef Ferran Adri\u00e0 at elBulli in northeastern Spain. Andr\u00e9s immigrated to America in 1991, eventually settling in the nation\u2019s capital.
\u201cYou have a restaurant on that corner, a restaurant right there, a restaurant right here. Restaurants can define a neighborhood. What was this place like before you got here?\u201d Wagner asked.
\u201cThis entire area was — almost nothing happening. Four p.m., we go dark. No cars. No people in the streets,\u201d Andr\u00e9s said.
Over nearly two and a half decades, Andr\u00e9s helped turn the District into a dining capital. Whether it\u2019s at his two-Michelin-star restaurant Minibar, his veggie-focused fast casual chain Beefsteak or at kitchens for the less fortunate, his passion for food and life is unmistakable.
Chef Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s has opened a series of fast-casual restaurants called Beefsteak, where the main focus is on vegetables. In this web-exclusive cl…
\u201cRestaurants can become agents of change, and I love that as chefs and restaurant people, we do that part in America to keep moving America forward,\u201d Andr\u00e9s said.
But in a city where everything is political, even restauranteurs can get caught in the crossfire. Andr\u00e9s, who became an American citizen three years ago, made headlines when he backed out of opening a restaurant in Washington\u2019s new Trump International Hotel over candidate Donald Trump\u2019s remarks about Mexican immigrants.
\u201cThere\u2019s not much I can say about that because it\u2019s still going, but what I can tell you is that I always dream about opening a restaurant there,\u201d Andr\u00e9s said.
The two men are currently in a legal standoff.
\u201cWe always need to be celebrating the success of others. Unfortunately for me, it was not the right environment to open a restaurant, for personal reasons. But at the end, I always wish everybody the best because when others do well, you do well, the community does well,\u201d Andr\u00e9s said.
Andr\u00e9s still thinks food can bring all parties to the table.
\u201cI\u2019ve seen Democrats. I\u2019ve seen Republicans. I\u2019ve been able to feed all of them. I\u2019ve been able to feed different administrations. But as a restauranteur, I\u2019m going to keep doing what I do. Restaurants are a meeting place, a meeting place of people with different ideologies, different backgrounds, different social status,\u201d Andr\u00e9s said. \u201cIt\u2019s a place that wants you sharing a plate of food. Even if you\u2019re not in the same table, but being in the same place, it\u2019s an amazing, unique way of bringing people together.\u201d
In that spirit, Andr\u00e9s introduced us to the unique way Spaniards toast the new year: with cava, their sparkling wine, and a dozen grapes.
\u201cPeople of America, happy new year! People of America, happy new year!\u201d Andr\u00e9s said.<\/p>\n

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