Juventino

Have you tasted the trial pizzas? LOL

No problem pancha! I was simply giving Kathy her deserved compliments on her fine wooden pallet Thank you for the welcome, I've been lurking for quite some time and have taken the plunge. How could I forget my Somm and buddy Ed Jenks taking over the head Somm job over at Vidalia? Ed leaves 2941 to move over into DC. He's very good and has a way with hand crafted beers. If this was posted elsewhere..................I do apologize.

Grazie Anna. Io so che Totti non e Juventino, forse cambio il mio avatar per te.

Was your Grandfather's name Gino? Food couldn't have slipped that much, it has been the same menu since the sixties. LOL

Not sure where but I am sure that she is taking some time off. This girl has an excellent pallet, nose and really knows her stuff. She'll land on her feet somewhere close by. She'll be just fine wherever she turns up.

A place that I hace YET to see written about that has been around since 1927 is Mike's Italian Restaurant on Route 1 in Alexandria. The place is clean, service is OK but the food is what has kept it going. Don't judge this book by its cover...............you'll leave full and content. Veal is the center piece of this joint but please do not ask for vegan food, you'll get an earful by some short Italian lady telliny the dangers of fad diets. Another place for killer Chinese food late at night is Yums on 14th. You'll need to be strapped with your Glock to get in but the food is worth it. Another great place for friendly service and good food is Vasso's. They got a write up from TS that was pretty damn good for a local joint in North Alexandria. It beats waiting for a table and being run over by the snot nosed crowd down the street at Rustico!

Went for dinner tonight and I was suprised to say the least....................paper napkin roll ups, very small menu and not too busy. Pizza seemed to be the hit of the night and the kitchen was almost dismal in terms of activity. We all love Roberto and this place seems loved, service needs attention. I hate to dump on the service but the food is pretty rock solid. With all the different menus and formats, I asked numberous times for suggestions and simply received the old "Everything is good" answer. I'd like somewhat of a menu guide to walk me through what is good, popular or missed attempts. I want this place to succeed but I'm not sure what is going to happen. The menu is dummied down so that it is affordable to the tourists and lunch crowd, so it will continue to thrive but I do not think that it will be a force to reckon with. IMHO

I know it is an old post but this information is so not true. The Alpine started in 1965 in its current location, with the original owner/chef. Before this restaurant, it was the Evans Farm Inn which was opened in 1927. I verified this with Mr. Evans himself.

I know that this is an old post and that many of these posts are GOSSIP, maybe I can shed light on what is and what is NOT happening with the 42 year old establishement.............. The history of this restaurant starts with the fact that it was the original site of The Evans Farm Inn. It moved in the 60's to its last location. I know this because I have spoken to Mr. Evans quite often. That location was the first in NoVa with air conditioning. It was a bit crude but they used dried ice to cool the restaurant. The year after that (1964?) it was leased and turned into a restuarant called The Frankenstein. It died in a year, it was quite...............scary to say the least, from what I had seen of it and was told. Really not much else to say for that one year. It was then for sale, the original owner of the property was the owner of the hardware store. He later went on to sell the hardware store and has since passed. The current owner has no relations to the former owner except they share the same first name, Bill. Up until the Frankenstein, the spot was leased and that is why the Evans Inn moved to McLean. Finally the owner decided to sell the property and restaurant to its current owner of the Alpine. There were four Italian gentlemen that owned and operated the Alpine, three were chefs and the other was the finance part. After a few years the financier stepped away and one of the original chefs passed away, he was a bit older than the other two chefs. I beieve since about 1979 Pino Gagliardi and Ermanno Tonizzo have owned and operated the restaurant. They were brothers in law, they married sisters. Ermanno Tonizzo had three other brothers that worked side by side with them as chefs, each one leaving the Alpine, one after the other. The three other brothers have since opened their own successful restaurants. Pino Gagliardi has since retired from the Alpine, I believe about 5 to 7 years ago. That leaves Ermanno Tonizzo as the sole heir and owner of the Alpine. He has been the default face of the Alpine and was well known. He was very close friends with the Redskins team doctor in the 60's and that lead him to meet Jack Kent Cooke and Joe Gibbs. He then became the Official Redskins Chef. He flew with the team to their away games and could be seen walking the sidelines during home games as well. For those that have not been there, the Alpine is a very large restaurant. In its hey day, the Alpine was THE best restaurant in NoVa. Sure it has seen better days but only one restaurant can say it has been around longer............Clyde's of Georgetown, by one year. It would be great if the Alpine got a face lift, a nip and tuck........that is yet to be seen. It currently is open for business for years to come. Sure it is for sale, like everything else in life. Everything has a price and so does the Alpine. Yes, the entire block on either side is ripe for redevelopment, but I do see it years away. If anyone on this site has lived here for more than ten years (and I'm sure most of you have only lived here less than ten years) Ballston and Clarendon were dumps, even after the metro came in. Glebe and Lee will have its day in the sun, like it used to. It wouldn't take long to redevelop this area, it simply has to wait out the explosive growth of Clarendon and Ballston. You can see that it already has started by the massive redevelopment of 4 square blocks on Glebe, turning apartments into high end condos. SO, just a little bit of truth of what seemed to be alot of gossip about an old lady called the Alpine. PS..............Don't Indians come from Kilmanrock?

I've heard there are other locations set to open as well. The Master of Puppets that lured him away owns other restaurants. Also, the Pizza boy from Two Ammys (SP?) isn't the head Pizzaiolo..................it is someone else.