Fideuà, a kind of noodle paella, is a Valencian specialty. Photograph courtesy of El Taller de Xiquet.Some dishes, like rustic paella scooped straight from a wide pan, are best enjoyed without too much pretense or delicacy. That’s what chef Danny Lledó decided recently, as he plotted the course for his new restaurant, El Taller del Xiquet, on the ground floor of Xiquet, his Michelin-starred Valencian dining room in Glover Park.  “When I started Xiquet, I really was looking for a tasting menu type restaurant,” Lledó says. “But it’s great to experience a dish family-style. Sometimes we miss that part.” Xiquet, which opened in 2020, is a rarefied experience—and one that usually runs north of $200 per person. After indulging in a 10-course tasting menu in the stark third-floor dining room, diners head to a separate mezzanine for coffee and small dessert bites.  Eating at El Taller del Xiquet, which opens later this month in a renovated former private dining room, won’t feel that way. Lledó’s menu there will be à la carte, and the intimate, 14 seat place is aiming for a more relaxed vibe. When it comes to the menu, Lledó will still use Spanish ingredients and draw on Valencian foodways, but he’ll hew closer to tradition: think fideuàs (Valencian noodle paellas) served tableside from the pans they were cooked in.  There will be a gravlax toast made with smoked llobarro sea bass from the Canary Islands—a fattier fish than its Mediterranean counterpart—and bedecked with capers and lemon caviar pearls. A house specialty, fidueà in the style of the coastal city of Gandia, will be topped with cubes of monkfish and seabass, along with cuttlefish and red Carabineros prawns. “It’s great to experience a dish family-style,” Chef Danny Lledó says. “Sometimes we miss that part.” Photograph courtesy of El Taller del Xiquet. Valencia, where Lledó’s family is from, was hit by calamitous floods earlier this month. The disaster killed at least 200 people. It also disrupted traffic from the largest port on the Mediterranean and upended agricultural production in the region.  “I wanted to get on a plane and fly there and help in any way I can, whether it’s cooking or just taking mud out,” Lledó says. “The rice fields are inundated. We’re not sure when this area’s going to be fully recovered.” He decided that the best ways to help were by supporting local farmers, continuing to buy their products, and building awareness of the flood recovery in the US. And spreading the gospel of Valencian cooking is a major ambition of Lledó’s, who is looking to expand to other markets like Miami and Texas. El Taller del Xiquet, 2404 Wisconsin Ave., NW.The post Valencian Tasting Room Xiquet Is Getting a More Casual Downstairs Sibling first appeared on Washingtonian.