Category Archives: We Love Food

Restaurant Reviews & Food News

Food and Drink, We Love Food
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In Defense of Restaurant Week (+ My Picks For Best Bets)

Photo courtesy of
‘Condiments’
courtesy of ‘Amberture’

The dates for Restaurant Week were leaked last week, and now that I’m on Twitter, I’ve been hearing both sides of the eternal debate – is Restaurant Week worth it? Alex, the foodie over at Brightest Young Things and I got into a brief discussion, she is anti-Restaurant Week, and I’m pro, so I wrote her an email explaining my stance, the text of which follows. After I defend RW, then I’ll go on to share my picks for which places are the best bets this go round. If you’re not interested in my defense, you can skip right to that part, I won’t hate you. But, without further ado, here’s my pro-Restaurant Week diatribe for Alex:

I hear the haters, I do – I understand – the service during Restaurant Week can be crappy, the restaurant loses more than it makes so you get the cheapest food items they can serve, smaller portions, the kitchen gets tired of cranking out the same food over and over and the quality lacks. I get it. I hear you when you say if you’re a REAL foodie, you’ll stay far away during hell week and go back after the restaurants have recovered. But you know what I say to all that? Suck it. Continue reading →

Arlington, Food and Drink, We Love Food
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We Love Food: Minh’s

Photo courtesy of
‘Day 63: Minhs’
courtesy of ‘InspirationDC’

I discovered Minh’s pretty quickly after moving to DC. You see, I have this thing for rice paper summer rolls and peanut sauce. I love them, and I want them at least once a month. Back where I come from (cue the country song), there is this amazing Vietnamese restaurant called Lang Van’s, owned by a friend’s family. I was upset to leave Lang Van’s, so I quickly searched out a substitute. Minh’s certainly lives up.

With one of the largest menus I’ve ever seen (trumped only by Cheesecake Factory) you pretty much can’t go wrong at Minh’s. Located between Court House and Clarendon out in Virginia (where arguably all the good Asian food hides) Mihn’s is situated on Wilson Boulevard in a nondescript office building. I’ve had friends tell me that they’ve ridden past it a million times, never noticing it. I wonder how that could be, seeing as there are huge neon signs in the window, but that’s just me. (Hey, I never claimed Minh’s was trendy, or sleek, or chic!) The outward appearance isn’t the fabulous part of Minh’s, the food is. Continue reading →

Adventures, Entertainment, Food and Drink, We Love Arts, We Love Food
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Eat Like A Kid Again; A Tactile Dining Experience

Digging In

Remember when your mother used to tell you not to eat with your hands and how unnatural it felt? And now, you’re all grown up and what feels unnatural is actually eating WITH your hands. Funny how that works, eh? Well if you want to take a trip back to your childhood, minus the nagging parents trying to instill manners on you, then the Tactile Dinner Experience might be just the thing for you. As part of this years Capital Fringe Festival, inter-disciplinary theatre company, Banished Productions, is putting on a 7-course theatrical “dinner” (I use quotation marks because if you show up hungry, you’ll leave that way) to mark the 100th Anniversary of Futurism, a movement from 1920s Italy basically rejecting all things conventional or antiquated. Or something or other. I was just there to eat with my hands and act like a kid again… Continue reading →

Food and Drink, We Love Food
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We Love Food: Vegetate

Photo courtesy of
‘Vegetate Outside’
courtesy of ‘needlessspaces’

I have a co-worker and friend named Heather. Heather is a vegetarian. She’s one of those odd vegetarians, though, that doesn’t really eat a bunch of vegetables. She likes them just fine, and she’ll eat them if you cook them for her, or bring them to her, but she doesn’t seek out vegetables the way a stereotypical vegetarian would. In fact, she tends to eat a lot of mac and cheese, and mozzarella sticks are her favorite bar nosh. Fried food is good food for Heather, especially when it involves cheese. So when I told her about Vegetate, the vegetarian restaurant in Historic Shaw, and my experience there, she said “now that’s the restaurant for me!” – and it totally is. Here is why. Continue reading →

Eat Like Me, Food and Drink, We Love Food
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Eat Like Me: June’s Best Dishes

Photo courtesy of
‘this is generally what my life looks like at 6:30 p.m. any given day’
courtesy of ‘needlessspaces’

People ask me all the time if they can have my job. NO! Mine. Well, you can have my day job, but you’d have to fight me to the death for my foodie blogging job. And it would be your death, not mine. Along the way, through press dinners, media previews, nights out with friends, and places I’m reviewing for our We Love Food feature, I run into some damn good dishes (for up-to-the minute reviews, follow me on Twitter). Forkful after forkful, I wind up eating some dishes that make me think back with ultimate fondness, and leave me longing for them. Last month I told you all about with them in a little piece I called Eat Like Me. It was so popular with you guys, and I enjoyed writing it so much, that I decided I’ll do it every month. Sort of like a what’s worth it of my food intake – a satoralist of food, if you will.

So. June. It was rainy, right? Ugh. But it was also chock full of food for me, my calendar was overwhelming. June is a busy month in the foodie world. New warm weather menus come hot off the presses, restaurants open their doors to hungry summer crowds, and my friends want to eat out more. It’s pretty glorious. So, click on through to see what made the cut.  Continue reading →

We Love Food
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We Love Food: Firefly

Photo courtesy of Me

Firefly, courtesy of Me

Firefly‘s gotten a lot of mention around here but we’ve never done a comprehensive review. When I had to pick a place to meet an out-of-town friend who was staying off Scott Circle, Firefly seemed like a no-brainer selection. My darling wife and I met her and another dining companion on a Thursday night expecting a highly enjoyable experience.

We did not get exactly what we expected.

Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Features, We Love Food
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We Love Food: Eatonville

Photo courtesy of
‘Eatonville’
courtesy of ‘Jenn Larsen’

So I’ll let you in on a little secret, new restaurants. Sometimes two of the blonde single lady authors of We Love DC hit the town together, and judge you. You can spot us, cause we ask a bunch of questions, giggle to ourselves, and take tons of pictures of our food and drinks. One of us is southern, the other northern. One twentysomething, one thirtysomething. We try and represent all demographics. We also try not to make a scene. Maybe one day we’ll get fabulous enough to don disguises Ruth Reichl-style, but for now, we aren’t particularly incognito. I’m pretty sure our server last week at Eatonville knew something was up, but he was a good sport, as we grilled him all about the menu, the best picks, and even the decor. He wound up asking us a bunch of questions back to our questions about the restaurant. Bending over our table, conspiritorially, he asked us “do you twitter?” (Yup.) “Will you tweet about this?” (Sure will.) “Even if you don’t like it?” (Uh huh.) Luckily for him, we liked it just fine.

Eatonville had come up with mixed reviews from my foodie crowd, but ever the southerner, I was excited. Jenn was ready to judge with me, and she’s always good to have around to bounce thoughts off of. We dived into the menu headfirst, ordering the two most popular appetizers, the Hushpuppy (singular, that’s right, find out why after the break) and the Fried Green Tomatoes. (I don’t think it’s in my genetics to say no to a fried green tomato!) Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Features, We Love Food
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First Look: Zentan

Photo courtesy of
‘zentan interior’
courtesy of ‘needlessspaces’

Last night Inspiration DC‘s Rebecca and I headed over to preview Zentan, the new trendy hot spot at the Donovan House Hotel on Thomas Circle. The new hot spot opened on June 8th, after a bit of a kerfluffle (the space was supposed to be a new Todd English spot), when Chef Susur Lee of Shang in New York stepped up to fill in. Chef Lee, who is known for a wide variety of Asian-influenced restaurants, was also the second Canadian chef to appear on the Food Network’s Iron Chef America against Iron Chef Bobby Flay. So I was excited to see what came of all the drama – would Zentan live up?

Also, if you’ll let me ramble for a moment, Zentan signifies to me the solidification of the quality I’ve come to expect from hotel restaurants in our area. This is thanks in part to boutique chains like Kimpton, who work to pair quality Chef-driven restaurant concepts with their hotels. But excellent in-hotel restaurants are certainly on the rise in DC, and I have much higher standards for hotel restaurants here than I do when I travel. I was interested to see what Lee would bring to the District, plus get a peek at the Thompson Hotel. Continue reading →

DC Victory Gardens, We Love Food
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What do I do with all these vegetables?!

Photo courtesy of
‘The salad beds’
courtesy of ‘boboroshi’

So by now, your Community Supported Agriculture share has started generating produce. And if you planted spring crops in your garden, you might be harvesting some food. (Unless you’re mrmoonpie, who was WAY AHEAD of all of us, because he is too cool.) And the farmers’ markets are starting to fill out with actual farm produce, rather than jars of last year’s preserved produce.

If you’ve jumped as enthusiastically into the fresh-and-local food as we have in the Bridge house, this probably means that you’re shoving stuff into your fridge when you don’t quite know what to do with it.   So far we’ve gotten an enormous bunch of kale, a large bunch of spinach, more asparagus than we know what to do with, and strawberries coming out of our ears, plus a couple of bunches of spring onions, and that’s JUST from the CSA.  Here are some tips on how to enjoy what’s in season in these couple of weeks now, as well as preserving it for later. Post your suggestions in the comments, or let us know what else you’ve got that you don’t know what to do with. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, Fun & Games, Special Events, The Features, The Great Outdoors, We Love Food
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We Love Food: Food & Wine Festival at National Harbor

Food and Wine Festival

Summertime is festival time, and I’m not complaining. After attending Savor a week ago, I had no idea what to expect going into The Food and Wine Festival at National Harbor. Would it be fancy? Would it be lame? Would they have enough food and wine to keep me happy? Actually, does anyone ever have enough food and wine to keep me happy? Is there enough food and wine in the world to keep me happy for life? Ah! So many existential questions, but I digress. Basically, Jasmine and I headed over to National Harbor with zero expectations, and wound up extremely happy, totally entertained, bellies satisfied, heads full of wine.

We took the water taxi over from Alexandria, quite nice. Pretty views of Alexandria and National Harbor, and I generally just love boats. Period. If you’re a regular reader, you already know that if there is an event or location near, on, or around water, I’ll like it. It’s a guarantee. So National Harbor already had that going for it, as the festival exhibitors lined the boat docks, so we were on water the entire time. Combine that with wine, and food, and I think you’ve got a total winner. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, Night Life, The Features, We Love Food
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We Love Food: Policy

Light Fixture, Policy

"Light Fixture, Policy" by Jenn Larsen, on Flickr

Right from the start, you know something’s off at Policy. Standing in the luridly lit stairwell, a sickly yellow gleam gives everyone the look of a mental patient. Not even the most nubile twenty-year-old looks good in light like this. It doesn’t get much better inside. The whole place is lit like a lighting designer who hates his actors. I was originally going there to write it up for my usual We Love Drinks but, any cocktail menu that has a drink mixing my beloved espresso vodka with Red Bull is off my list. But the food menu seemed at least potentially interesting.

However, I had reservations about Policy the first night I walked by and saw they had valet parking. At 14th and T, I really wonder. What does that say? Your clientele is too scared to park their own cars? What are they doing in the neighborhood anyway?

After you get past the mental hospital stairwell, the dining room greets you with a look rather like the Diner From Hell. Ceiling tiles seem to drip blood all night. Awful lighting in your booth gives you a migraine. Bad club “hits” from a decade past pound away. Contrast the forced clever black-and-red motif here with the crazy kitsch black-and-red motif at Jimmy Valentine’s, and it doesn’t take Dante to tell you where the Devil would rather hang out.

Ok, I keep getting distracted, because all these things are actually not the worst part about a night at Policy. It’s the overpriced mediocre food. Another bad sign is when your server explains to you the “concept of small plates” because “not everyone gets it.” Um, right. 14th and T again, remember? We’ve got Cork and Bar Pilar already. Or is this explanation for the people who want the valet parking?

Right, distraction. Sorry. Here we go. We tried six dishes at Policy. Two were good. Four were disappointing. The Madras Curry Lamb Sliders may have had curry in them, but I wouldn’t have known if it wasn’t in the title. The three little sliders for $13.95 were juicy, sure, but had no flavor at all. For lamb, that’s… odd. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Features, The Hill, We Love Food
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We Love Food: Taqueria Nacional

Photo courtesy of
‘Taquira Nacional’
courtesy of ‘needlessspaces’

The first step to healing, is admitting you have a problem, right? Well, people, here is my admission: I am addicted to Taqueria Nacional. Its draw to me is more powerful than Potbelly’s was when I used to work near 17th & L (best Potbelly’s location ever) and those of you who know me know that I adore Potbelly’s. I will forgo any lunch I’ve brought to work faster than you can say “Hey Katie, wanna go to Taqui…” I’ll dash out of conference calls, I’ll leave my boss in a lurch, I’ll do pretty much anything for a pork taco from Taqueria Nacional in the middle of the day. So this We Love Food? This one is personal, cause I’m a regular. A regular with an addiction.

Taqueria Nacional opened in 2007 amidst a flurry of rumors (it’s in an alley, it’s only a takeout window, it only has tacos) in the foodie scene. Clearly we did not have Twitter to quickly spread the truth, and it took a while for everyone to get on the same page – but here it is: Taqueria Nacional is tucked away behind Johnny’s the Half Shell, in the corner of the courtyard of the CSPAN building. It hides as a little standing-room-only takeout shop with a line that usually reaches halfway across the courtyard. Ann Cashion and John Fulchino are behind this little taco place, which bodes well for the new Mexican fare at H Street Country Club (Cashion’s new venture), and the standards are high. The tacos are five bites of heaven, the salads are fresh with high quality lettuce, the agua frescas are creative, and my stomach cheers at the thought of the fried yucca. Continue reading →

Farm Fresh, Food and Drink, Night Life, Penn Quarter, People, Special Events, We Love Food
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Farm Fresh: Cafe Atlantico

Cafe Atlantico

WeLoveDC authors Donna (greenie) and Katie (foodie) have paired up to bring you a double-hitting feature about local area restaurants that take on the challenge of being green. Donna will explain the logic behind the environmentally friendly trends and Katie will tell you if the food tastes any good. It’s a rough life, but someone has to do it, right?

It is oh-so-trendy, but not just that, it’s plain good for you and the earth. Farm-to-Table dinners have hit DC hard, so when WLDC author Donna and I were invited to sample Chef Terri Cutrino’s Farmer’s Market Dinners at Cafe Atlantico, we jumped at the chance.

Katie: From a foodie standpoint, these dinners are interesting to me, not just because I’ve finally gotten around to reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma (I’m late, I know), but also because this particular type of dinner and dining can show you what exactly a chef is made of.

Because the ingredients are not picked until Thursday, and the dinner is put together on Friday, it’s a stretch. Sort of Top Chef meets real life, if you will. And the results, I must say are the same, given the short amount of time a Chef has to work on a dish, with specific ingredients, you’re bound to have it be hit or miss – just like Top Chef, you’ll be presented with dishes that shine, and dishes that flop. On our particular night we experienced both. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, Night Life, We Love Food
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We Love Food: Black’s Bar & Kitchen

Black's Entrance BEST

Known as  one of the best happy hours in the northern Metro area, Black’s Bar & Kitchen is situated a few blocks from the Bethesda Metro station. WLDC author Acacia and I were headed to Bethesda to review Menopause the Musical (which you can read all about) and we decided we could make it a double feature – a We Love Arts and a We Love Food, all in one trip.  I would recommend you replicate our Bethesda trip, I enjoyed the play, but I will probably look back with even more fondness on our eats.

We stepped into Black’s and basically halted, it was absolutely packed. The interior is sleek, stylish and clean. The bar features two and four-seater booths are built into the back wall with a few free standing tables between the booths and the bar. Large windows look out onto Woodmont Ave. and the patio featuring a small modern pond. We couldn’t find a seat in the bar area, and it was one of those pre-spring days too chilly to sit outside, but we had plenty of time to waste before the show so we decided to wait it out. Soon thereafter a table opened up, but the wait gave us time to survey the crowd. Around 6 p.m., we were bringing down the median age – it was mostly a 35-55 aged crowd, complete with power suits and ties. But by the time we left around 7:15,  the average age had lowered considerably, and there were plenty more jeans and after-work twenty-somethings mixed in the crowd.

Black’s is also an oyster bar, with the goods laid out on display when you walk in the door. I was eager to try the seafood, so we grabbed beers and gave our order. Continue reading →

Foggy Bottom, Food and Drink, We Love Food
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We Love Food: Brunch @ Circle Bistro

French Toast at Circle Bistro

Okay, okay, I know, I get it. I’m on a brunch kick. I promise next We Love Food, I’ll write about another meal, I’ll branch out, but really? LOOK AT THAT PHOTO, you can’t not love brunch. Om nom nom nom. That my friends, is the french toast with whipped marscapone from Circle Bistro.

Circle Bistro is located in the Circle Hotel, right off of Washington Circle in Foggy Bottom/West End. My friend Rachel and I headed there a few Sundays ago to partake in my current favorite meal. We walked in about 15-20 minutes early for our reservation (it’s all about the OpenTable points, my friends!), and the manager-type/host was curt and rude, only agreeing to seat us if we were willing to wait for a server to free up to take care of us. He huffed all the way to our table, and was brusque handing us our menus, basically taking it out on us that we were early.

I realize that early guests can be an inconvenience if you’re short on staff. I too have been a hostess at one of the busiest restaurants in Charlotte, and dealt with more than my fair share of difficult table assignments and situations, I get it. But this was easy, we were happy to settle in for a while, brunch is the most relaxed meal possible. But honestly – don’t promise me slow service from the get go, it’s a bad start, and doesn’t make me feel like you are willing to be accommodating. Especially when we were one of four total tables. Color me unimpressed.  I sat down, hoping the food would save the situation. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, We Love Food
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We Love Food: Brunch @ Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe

Photo courtesy of
‘Kramerbooks Glass House’
courtesy of ‘Wahig’

There are days in DC that I forget we are in a recession. Last Sunday’s brunch at Kramerbooks & Afterwords was one of them. The book shop was stuffed full with people, and every table was filled, the air abuzz with excitement for spring. I was worried that the wait for two would be at least an hour when we walked in, but we actually only waited for 15 minutes! Afterwords Cafe has lots of little parts, the glass house, the outdoor patio, the upstairs – they take advantage of not a lot of space, and stuff it full with people.

Kramerbooks is definitely a DC institution, ranking up there with Ben’s Chili Bowl and the Brickskeller as a place everyone has been at some point while living in the city.  I actually had not, but was eagerly awaiting checking out both the bookstore and the cafe – I had heard mixed reviews, from horrible to mediocre, to a favorite.  I was ready to decide for myself. So… the food? Well… you’ll find out after the break.

Continue reading →

Downtown, Essential DC, Food and Drink, We Love Food
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We Love Food: Georgia Brown’s

Photo courtesy of
‘Smothered Fried Chicken’
courtesy of ‘Sabine01’

I’m a southern girl, I think I’ve made that abundantly clear on this blog. (Also, while we’re at it, let me just say, UNC is going to PWN you during March Madness, everyone. But I digress…) So what southern girl can’t love some Georgia Brown’s? A few friends and I headed there during my favorite week of the year, restaurant week, and were treated to some down-home food. I’ve been raised on southern cooking like Crook’s Corner and Mert’s Heart and Soul, so I was dying to find out if Georgia Brown’s lives up to it’s famous truly southern brethren.

I’m all about bread, I think I’ve also made that clear on this blog. If you start me off with some crappy bread, I’m going to be sad. It’s like a warm up jog before the workout, I need the bread starter to shine for me, gear me up for the meal to come. And boy, did Georgia Browns give me a run for my money. They sent out biscuts and corn bread and I’m not just warming up, I’m basically working out. They dished up biscuts with peach butter and corn bread – fresh, with actual corn in it. (Insert heavenly angelic aaaaah noise here!) Now that’s a way to start a meal. So I was sold right then and there, in my mind, there’s little you can do wrong after some biscuts and sweet butter… or is there? Continue reading →

Food and Drink, We Love Food
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We Love Food: Dino (II)

24701673_1c08e50160

Dino Sinage by Shawn.L on flickr

Last August, Tom and Tiff checked out Dino for Restaurant Week. I was jealous. It sounded delicious, and the menu changes seasonally, so a group of girlfriends and I chose Dino as our big Restaurant Week pick this go-round. We certainly weren’t disappointed. Dino, unlike most other places, was offering their entire menu for RW diners, along with crostini and a complimentary glass of grappa, limincello or muscato. It was a truly thrifty deal, and cheesy tasty to boot! Plus I love it when places embrace Restaurant Week for what it is, and make it worth the diners time by allowing us to try anything we want off the main menu. It enables a place to show off, and I always think it’s admirable when a restaurant  decides it can handle whatever the crowds throw at it.

We sat down at Dino and were immediately impressed- the menu is huge, and the choices can be overwhelming. There’s antipasti, oggi, pasta, formaggi, secondi, and plentiful options for dessert. The menu is rustic Italian featuring the flavors of Venice and Southern Tuscany – we were in for a treat. Continue reading →

The Features, We Love Food
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Souper Girl: Defeating the Pizza Guy One Bowl at a Time

Photo courtesy of
‘Day 1 of 365: Comfort and Spice’
courtesy of ‘marciadc’

A while back, we were delighted to discover Soupergirl, who makes soup from local ingredients for your comfort food enjoyment. Today we have a guest review from Friend of We Love DC and Funmonger Lisa King:

With the mercury firmly fixed in the teens, I was especially happy to seeSara Polon, aka SouperGirl, in my office today, dropping off the Sweet Potato Ginger soup and pita chips I’d ordered.

When I got home I duly poured about a third of the bright orange, incredibly thick and creamy soup into a saucepan, stirring it as it bubbled away. As it was heating I tried not to eat all the pita chips and read the ingredients again as I wondered if there’s really no cream in there. (She promises there’s not.) Continue reading →

Food and Drink, We Love Food
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We Love Food: Posto

"artwork" by ustreetgirl, on Flickr

"artwork" by ustreetgirl, on Flickr

“A modern Italian place to meet” is Posto‘s motto, and indeed its Logan Circle neighborhood has been eagerly waiting to meet it. The newest venture from executive chef Massimo Fabbri, of downtown’s lauded Tosca, it replaces Viridian next to Studio Theatre and has already escalated in popularity, evident by the full dining room on a freezing Monday night.

It’s a relief to find that Posto has warmed-up the walls of a previously minimal and rather chilly atmosphere from Viridian’s days. The decor might strike some as more Napa than Roma, with columns wrapped in glowing natural wood, but the large light installation murals of grapevines and various Italian scenes like Venice’s Campanile set the scene. Somehow these oversized murals, dancing the line between ironic and tacky, end up being rather joyous. And though many have commented on the decibel level, I found that though it was packed, our table of four could still carry on bantering without much problem.

For my first course I tried the Pesce Spada – swordfish carpaccio with tomatoes, capers and olives. I was surprised to have it come out with a heap of frisee on top (not so much a fan of twiggyness in food), but it matched well with the fish, which was delicate and flavorful. A friend pronounced the Granchio – lump crabmeat with peppers – “very yummy” – but another’s Insalata del Posto – arugula salad with fennel – was deemed “overdressed” (then again, he is a very picky German).

I’d heard pasta was the standout here, made in house by chef de cuisine Matteo Venini, and I was not disappointed. Continue reading →