LOS ANGELES— Spanish chef José Andrés is the life of the party at a soiree in the Hollywood Hills, and guests are circling around him. Andrés is scooping caviar onto slices of jamon iberico (ham from the black-footed pigs of Spain), rolling it up and placing it into their mouths.

"I'm feeding you one bite at a time," Andrés says. It's a line he uses often. Who knew he meant it literally?

Andrés, with his restaurants, TV show and cookbooks, has helped bring a Spanish culinary revolution to the U.S. in the past 15 years.

Says Sam Nazarian, the host of the party and chief executive of SBE, the company behind Andrés' coming Los Angeles restaurant: "I've had a harder time chasing José than chasing women."

Already chef-partner of seven restaurants in and around Washington, Andrés recently returned from the Canary Islands, where he taped the final episode of the second season of his PBS-aired cooking show, "Made in Spain." His third book, "Made in Spain: Spanish Dishes for the American Kitchen," hits the shelves in November, the month his Los Angeles restaurant — the Bazaar in the new SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills — is expected to open.

It's an exuberant experiment in dining, located in the public space of the 11,500-square-foot hotel lobby, with several whimsical dining areas: a cocktail bar and raw bar, a space featuring his tapas as well as cured meats and cheeses, a "patisserie" with display kitchen and a roving "street food" cart.

"Who needs one more chef in one more building with four walls and a kitchen?" Andrés asks.

Andrés, who often punctuates his sentences with "amiga" or "amigo" and is a daredevil, a bullfighting fan not afraid to battle big waves for gooseneck barnacles.

He and Nazarian, a nightlife impresario who has successfully marketed the Katsuya chain of sushi restaurants (among others), "were meant for each other," says Andrés, whose title is culinary director and partner of SLS Hotels. They have in common unbridled ambition.

The SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills is reportedly a $230 million project, and more hotels are planned for Las Vegas, Miami and beyond. The Bazaar was designed by Philippe Starck. SBE also is opening XIV in West Hollywood in October, a venue for chef Michael Mina and another Starck-designed restaurant — a European chateau.

Andrés, who was born in the Asturias province of Spain and grew up in Barcelona, opened Jaleo tapas restaurant in Washington's Penn Quarter in 1993 after stints at restaurants in New York.

"When I would tell people I work in a tapas place — I don't know if it was my accent — they would think topless. … Everyone would look at me very weird," he said on "Late Show With David Letterman" a couple of years ago. But now "Spanish cooking is very hot and everyone is eating, reading Spanish things." Nobody thinks he's working in a topless place.

Andr...s and his partners, under the name ThinkFoodGroup, have two more Jaleo restaurants, Café Atlántico (with a "nuevo Latino" menu), Oyamel (Mexican) and Zaytinya (eastern Mediterranean), all in the Washington area.

Minibar is his six-seat restaurant on the second floor of Café Atlántico. There he unleashes his most creative culinary techniques — a deconstructed glass of white wine (white wine gelee dotted with mint leaf, or lemon zest or vanilla bean seeds), salmon-pineapple "ravioli" with crispy quinoa, a saffron gumdrop in an edible wrapper — the meal orchestrated in a series of "bites."

There's no doubt that Andrés, 39, who studied cooking at Barcelona's Escola de Restauració i Hostalatge and worked for Ferran Adria at El Bulli, is a busy man.

"I'm in meetings all day, about the Bazaar and other projects, testing new recipes all day, talking to key members of my team, trying to get the new system up and running, finalizing the opening menus," he says.

He is hardly an in-your-face Food Network type of chef, but in Spain, he can't walk down the street without being asked for his autograph, thanks to his Spanish prime-time cooking show, "Vamos a Cocinar." He taped more than 200 episodes of "Vamos" in three years beginning in 2005 but is no longer doing the show.

"My wife said, 'If you want to be a chef, we stay in Washington. If you want to be a TV star, we go to Spain.' "

He's staying in Washington, with trips to Los Angeles to help oversee the Bazaar, as well as other restaurants in the hotel — the more intimate Saam and the guests-only 3 Meal.

In August, he returned to Spain for vacation. "I had visits from my best friends. Ferran Adria and Juan Mari Arzak (of Arzak in San Sebastian) came for five days — we spent all day shopping, all day cooking."

But he also fit work in, traveling to the Canary Islands for "Made in Spain," a vehicle for his enthusiasm for Spanish ingredients.

"I was cooking on the top of a volcano, can you believe that? … They make this amazing wine there, (the grapes grow) on top of volcanic dirt. I went fishing for a very special fish — they call it 'la vieja,' it means old woman — it's like a parrotfish, very unique in the Canary Islands, and they make a unique stew, with water and the liver of the fish. … And did I tell you — I rode a camel!"

During lunch at Gordon Ramsay at the London West Hollywood, Andr.és into an amuse bouche of chawan mushi (Japanese savory custard), finishes it off in a couple of bites and looks at the empty cup: "An English chef comes to Los Angeles and is cooking Japanese food. Incredible!"

To Andrés, much of the world is incredible … or unbelievable.

"My producer (of 'Made in Spain') told me, 'José, you say astonishing too much. Stop saying astonishing.' But I say, it is astonishing."

He's so animated and excitable when he talks that once in a while it's difficult to understand what he's saying. But when the waiter takes his order for an after-lunch macchiato with a side of steamed milk, he makes sure he's not misunderstood — "I want steamed milk, not skim milk," he emphasizes.

The cookbook "Made in Spain" highlights the ingredients for which Andr...s is such an ardent spokesman, in recipes such as padron peppers with Tetilla cheese, olive oil pancakes studded with Spanish chocolate, nectarines and anchovies with Pedro Xim...nez dressing.

The menu for Bazaar leans toward the minibar-type: oysters with lemon "air," salmon tartare smoked a la minute, shrimp cocktail on a pipette — you eat the shrimp from the pipette and squeeze the sauce into your mouth.

Andrés is a fanatic about fruits and vegetables — "Man, the flavor of a pineapple is 100 times more powerful than the flavor of meat."

Bazaar offers melon with almond foam and spaghetti made of carrots. Also on the menu: a "nitro caipirinha" cocktail; caviar served with steamed buns; iberico ham sliced to order and dragon fruit with lemon "air."

And foie gras cotton candy?

Cotton candy — Andres calls it the "most amazing form of caramelization ever made by man."

Here are some of his recipes, including an apple-fennel salad and a lobster dish inspired by the classic pulpo a la gallega, which is boiled octopus sprinkled with pimenton, olive oil and sea salt. The lobster exemplifies the simplicity of northern Spanish cooking: "Here I use lobster — a genuine American ingredient — which is much quicker to cook than octopus (which takes about an hour)," he said. "It's important to watch the cooking time closely so that the lobster does not become rubbery."

The last, pancakes, was published in the cookbook "Made in Spain" and calls for Spanish chocolate, which is available at select grocery stores and specialty markets.

APPLE AND FENNEL SALAD

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

• Salt

• 2 ounces Manchego cheese

• 1/2 fennel bulb

• 1 Granny Smith apple

• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

• 1 tablespoon chopped chives

• 4 small fennel fronds for garnish

In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil and sherry vinegar. Season with 1/8 teaspoon salt or to taste. Reserve.

Cut the Manchego into batons about 2 inches long by 1/4 inch thick. Slice the fennel lengthwise very thinly, preferably with a mandolin. Place the Manchego and fennel in a large bowl.

Core and halve the apple. Dice half the apple into a 1/4-inch pieces. Thinly slice the second half lengthwise, preferably with a mandolin. Add diced and sliced apple to the bowl, along with the walnuts.

Gently toss the salad, adding just enough vinaigrette to lightly coat the ingredients. Divide the salad among four plates. Evenly sprinkle the chives over each serving and garnish each plate with 1 fennel frond. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings.

• Per serving: 243 calories, 6 g protein, 8 g carbohydrates, 2 g fiber, 22 g fat, 6 g saturated fat, 10 mg cholesterol, 210 mig sodium

BOGAVANTE A LA GALLEGA (GALICIAN LOBSTER)

• 2 tablespoons fine sea salt

• 1/4 cup Spanish olive oil, plus more for drizzling

• 1 bay leaf

• 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

• 1 large potato, cut into 1/4 inch cubes

• 1 Maine lobster, about 1 1/2 pounds

• 1/4 teaspoon pimenton (sweet Spanish paprika)

• Coarse sea salt for garnish

In an 8-quart pot, combine 4 quarts water, salt, oil and bay leaf. Place the peppercorns in a sachet or tea ball and add to the pot. Cover and bring to a boil.

Add the potatoes and lobster, cover and boil for 8 minutes.

Check the potatoes to make sure they are tender. Strain and keep warm.

Continue to cook the lobster just until the meat is opaque and firm, 1 to 2 minutes more (to check for doneness, pull apart the tail slightly and crack the claws). Don't overcook the lobster or the meat will be tough and rubbery. Drain the pot, reserving the lobster. Cut open the tail, remove the meat and slice it crosswise into six medallions. Place the slices back in the tail.

Arrange the lobster and potatoes on a serving dish. Using a small sieve, evenly sprinkle the pimenton over the lobster and potatoes. Sprinkle with a little coarse sea salt, drizzle with olive oil and serve.

Makes 4 servings.

• Per serving: 113 calories, 11 g protein, 16 g carbohydrates, 2 g fiber; no fat, no saturated fat, 32 mg cholesterol, 520 mg sodium

OLIVE OIL PANCAKES

• 1 3/4 cups flour

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

• 4 tablespoons best-quality olive oil, preferably Spanish, plus more for frying

• 1/3 cup chopped dark chocolate, preferably Spanish

• 1/4 cup honey, preferably lemon

• Fresh mint leaves

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk in the egg, buttermilk and 2 tablespoons olive oil until the batter is smooth, then stir in the chocolate pieces.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium-low heat. Ladle 1/4 cup of the pancake batter into the pan and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Flip the pancake with a spatula and cook until golden brown on the second side, 1 to 2 more minutes. Place the pancakes in a warm oven until all are cooked and ready to serve. Repeat with the remaining batter, adding more olive oil to the pan as needed.

To serve, drizzle the pancakes with honey and garnish with mint.

Makes 4 servings.

• Each of 4 servings: 540 calories, 11 g protein, 79 g carbohydrates, 3 g fiber, 21 g fat, 6 g saturated fat, 58 mg cholesterol, 663 mg sodium