é by José Andrés

Finding é is part of its appeal. Inside The Cosmopolitan, look for the small glass door beside Jaleo's bar and paella grill. Beyond it is a nine-seat counter, a red glass wall and a velvet curtain. It is a remarkably compact setting for a restaurant that people build an entire evening around, and the small number of places makes it a particularly good choice for a couple who enjoy seeing a meal come together.

José Andrés's Spanish cooking takes an experimental direction here. The menu changes, and the pleasure lies in the sequence: ingredients, textures and presentations can arrive in forms you would not expect from a conventional Spanish restaurant. You are buying a tasting-menu experience rather than choosing a starter and a main. That matters more than trying to predict a single signature plate months before your trip.

The steel-topped counter puts the preparation and presentation directly in front of you. With only nine guests, the room has a shared focus; this is a useful option when you want an involved dinner without the scale of a large dining room. It is less suited to a private business conversation, a noisy celebration or a group who want to arrive at different times. For those occasions, a larger restaurant with its own table will give you more freedom.

Jaleo outside the door offers another way into Andrés's Spanish food, but it is a separate restaurant experience. Booking Jaleo does not secure a seat at é. If the little counter is the reason for going, make that reservation first and fit the rest of the evening around it. The two published sittings also make this an easy restaurant to misjudge: an early sitting is still a tasting dinner, while the later one can overlap a race session or leave you eating well into the night.

There is no need to add a second grand attraction to justify the outing. A drink elsewhere in The Cosmopolitan and dinner at the counter already make a complete evening. For visitors staying on the west side of the Strip, keeping both in the same resort can also remove a vehicle transfer from the plan.

Tickets are released three months ahead, and the waitlist is worth using if your preferred sitting is full. Dietary requirements deserve a conversation before purchase because the format gives the kitchen less scope for an improvised replacement than a broad à la carte menu. The practical details below cover the booking; the reason to choose é is the close-up view of a very individual approach to Spanish cooking.