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Lupo Verde and Lupo Verde Osteria, Executive Chef Matteo Venini Replaces Domenico Apollaro on 14th and T Streets in 14UP, Second Location on MacArthur Boulevard in Palisades


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You could have knocked me over with a feather.

After an excellent meal at Ghibellina, I was strongly swayed that there may be a new king of the 14th Street Shuffle (the Dining Guide Shuffle, that is). Further proof that DC's Italian Renaissance is in full-swing. People are talking about this-and-that neighborhood, but the biggest change in DC's dining scene of late has been the explosion of high-quality, moderately upscale Italian restaurants.

And Lupo Verde, at least downstairs at the bar, positively screams Italian.

If you've never had a Na Biretta beer, get one, and if you like a lot of malt, get the Na Biretta Rossa ($9) - this is like Moretti La Rossa, but better, and on steroids. Excellent quality, and a very cool-looking bottle to boot. I would get this again in a heartbeat, but there are four Na Birettas on the menu, and I'm eager to try the other three.

It took forever for me to get my appetizer, probably close to half an hour, but when it arrived, I knew what took so long: I cannot imagine the labor that went into the Torta di Cozze ($9), and they've got boulder-sized testicoli offering this on a 14th-Street menu. Nominally a "Mussels Cake," this was an incredibly elegant little plate of warm, shelled mussels, sandwiched between two small wafers, with a half-melted scoop of Burrata, a little Parmigiano, and a drizzle of leek sauce. While not a large dish, and perhaps more delightful than delicious, this was not a nine-dollar plate of food; get it now, or pay more later - assuming it can possibly remain on the menu.

Lupo Verde has a nice little wines by the glass list, but I went straight for the house white: Pinot Grigio on Tap ($8) from Piemonte, and it was a solid (not perfect, but solid) match with the Torta di Cozze - ideally, you'd want something a bit fuller bodied and bone dry.

I recently had a very good spaghetti carbonara at Rose's Luxury, so I thought I'd try Lupo Verde's Carbonara ($14) to compare - there was no comparison. Lupo Verde's is made with homemade paccheri, guanciale, eggs, and Pecorino(-Romano?), and the paccheri is a wonderful vehicle for this classic Roman dish. This was, without question, the finest carbonara I have ever eaten. Like the Mussels Cake, it was a fairly small portion, but it was also a fairly small price - my server came down and almost apologized that the dish, served in a metal bowl, is presented merely warm, not steaming hot, because "that's the way they eat it in Italy," he said. Maybe, but the dish was plenty hot enough for me, and I was entranced by its execution.

Lupo Verde's house red is also from Piemonte: Sangiovese on Tap ($8), and while this was a perfectly nice wine, especially for the price, I would counsel having it with a less-delicate, perhaps tomato-based dish, or charcuterie, and I would again recommend a full-bodied, bone-dry white with the Carbonara.

Although I was getting somewhat full, I knew I hadn't eaten very much - these were not large courses - and since it was early, I knew I'd be wanting something later. So I got a plate of Three Cheeses ($13) to go which came with slices of bread, walnuts, and apricots. I apologize for failing to note the cheeses, but if you'd like, you can piece the order together yourselves: Lupo Verde is currently offering a total of four DOP (Denominazione Origine Protetta) cheeses, and I got the three that weren't Castelmagno. That was about the most non-helpful thing I've ever written, but the portions were fair, and although the cheeses are stored in plastic wrap, they were in perfect shape (on a similar note, my beer had gone several months past its expiration date, but it, too, was in perfect shape).

It is important to recognize that I have now tried only two cooked courses at Lupo Verde, and I am not reviewing the restaurant; I am reviewing the individual meal. And I'm going to come right out and say that these were the two most refined dishes I can ever remember having on 14th Street. Needless to say, coverage is initiated, strongly, in Italic, and Lupo Verde, based on this one meal, is a legitimate contender for the 14th-Street crown.

Yeah, you could have knocked me over with a feather.

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wow, Don.  High praise, indeed. I dined at Lupo Verde twice last week. My first visit was a media dinner, where I was fortunate to be able to taste of many dishes on the menu.  Somehow I missed the carbonara.  Darn.  Everything we had- cheeses, meats, pastas, pizza, was quite good. I went back a few days later and unfortunately even though we had a reservation, 45 minutes later we still had no table. My friends left, but my husband and I stayed as I was resolute in wanting to dine here again. I enjoyed a modified version of the RA2 pizza which is drizzled with honey and pistachios, and Garganelli al Nero, which suffered a bit from over-salting. A highlight for me was chocolate hazelnut semifreddo. It really was a fantastic dessert. This is absolutely a great addition to 14th street.  My full post is here.

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We  were a group of 7 with a 7:30 reservation Saturday night.  Although I had tried to reserve the "Sophia Lauren" table earlier in the week and was told it was not available, they did wind up seating us there (a lovely round table on the second floor).  Lupo, and every other restaurant on 14th was hopping Saturday night.  A comment above about waiting well past a reservation time had me concerned, but we were seated at exactly 7:30.

I had called ahead to inquire about their corkage policy ($30). I was charged $45 corkage for a magnum and had spoken with Antonio Matarazzo earlier in the week to ensure there wouldn't be an issue and to discuss decanting the wine.  Antonio took care of the decanting and made sure to look in on us throughout the meal.  Between his attention and our fabulous waiter, we felt very well taken care of.

As the wine breathed we ordered a few cocktails and prosecco.  They had already run out of the prosecco on tap, but provided a very nice bottle.  We asked the waiter to put together a meat and cheese board for the table which we enjoyed.

Everyone seemed to enjoy their food, but I didn't get a chance to taste anything other than my husband's lamb stew (very good) and my Carbonara.  I liked the dish, but don't think I enjoyed the it as much as Don did.  I was expecting spaghetti or linguine, but it was served over a very large penne rigate which was quite al dente making it heavy even for a Carbonara.  I also loved the roasted radicchio salad that I ordered as an appetizer.  Others ordered, and enjoyed, spaghetti with lamb meatballs, lasagna and steak.  The steak was served on a large board with three sauces and was probably the most impressive looking dish to hit the table.

I'm sorry I'm not able to provide more details about the food, beyond the fact that a bunch of the menu was explored and no one indicated they had anything that didn't appeal to them.  Really, this review goes more to the feeling of dining at Lupo Verde.  Even though we were a large table, even though they were absolutely packed to the gills, I felt that we had amazing service, enjoyed a lively but warm atmosphere and we all left planning our next visit to this restaurant.  What more can you ask?

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Now, if people would please do the same with Lupo Verde - my impression (from feedback that I'm receiving) is that I might have hit it on a perfect night. I seek truth, not glory.

OK.

We went there late last Friday night and had a mostly pleasant but not spectacular meal.  Started with focaccia that was really dry (made early that morning perhaps?) but accompanied by excellent, fragrant olive oil.  Two of us split 3 appetizers - the Torta di Cozze Don tried, fried artichokes, and zucchini with soft scrambled eggs.  Our impression of the mussel cakes was similar to Don's -- a very enjoyable, interesting little dish (which came out in ten minutes, by the way, along with the rest of the appetizers).  The fried artichoke was one big deep fried artichoke, not the individually fried pieces we were expecting (our fault for not asking).  It was tender and tasty, but kind of awkward and...inelegant?   The batter was oversalted and kind of greasy.  Not unappealing, but not great either.  And the zucchini with soft scrambled eggs, technically on the accompaniments section and not an appetizer, was pleasant and well done, though a very simple dish.

We split the carbonara, and I'd echo Schulju's comments on it above.

And finally, split the fried seafood plate.  It's a modest portion of well-cooked seafood, but again, we both found the batter salty and fairly greasy.  I think they just need to up their game a bit in the frying department.

Service was great, from the hostesses up front who got the wait time on a VERY busy Friday night just right, to our waiter and everyone else who helped along the way.

It's worth noting this place has only been open a couple of weeks, and there's lots of interesting stuff on the menu.  We left happy if not bowled over, and are looking forward to trying it again.

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(If Orlando Amaro is here, who's cooking at Station 4?  Or is he just overseeing/getting things running?)

I'm not sure - I was under the impression they brought in a chef from Italy (maybe that's Domenico Apollaro?)

In case anyone is wondering why I wrote what Rhone1998 quoted, I've now heard enough "good but not great" feedback from people so that I feel the need to proactively seek out some checks and balances.

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The chef on site here is Domenico Apollaro, who is from Italy.  I only see Orlando Amaro listed on the Station 4 site, not the Lupo Verde one, so perhaps he was just overseeing the opening phase.

Last evening I was treated to an early meal at Lupo Verde by a friend who is a friend of the house.  (So, full disclosure: we got special attention and comped items.)  When we arrived a little after 5:30, it wasn't too busy, but there was a wait for tables by the time we left a couple of hours later.

I liked the rustic feel of the downstairs space.  Re: Rhone1998's comment above, they seem to have the frying technique down now.  The arancino and fried artichokes we got to start were both fried perfectly.  The artichokes were particularly impressive.  They were papery crisp on the outside with no hint of greasiness and cooked through but firm on the inside.  They came with a bagna cauda.

We also split two pastas, a hand-rolled and -cut striglie long pasta with lamb ragu, tiny meatballs, and ricotta salata, and also a squid ink pasta with saffron seafood and fish.  Again, they were both good, but one stood out more than the other, and that was the squid ink pasta.  It is, unfortunately, not listed on the online menu.  The noodles were flat, and fairly short and narrow, but I can't recall what they were called.  I was surprised at the contrast of the delicate saffron-enhanced seafood with the squid ink, but it was a great pairing.

We followed this with the porchetta, which was different from the one on the online menu.  This was a smaller portion than one I had (a year or so ago?) at Casa Luca, but it was moist and packed wonderful flavor.  There was a polenta component (I think), but what I can't forget about it was the prune sauce.  I picked up cinnamon in the sauce, but I'm not sure of the other seasonings.  I love prunes with pork, and that sauce was fabulous.

Despite our fullness, we tried our best to eat some of the dessert that was brought out.  It was a delicious layered parfait-type dessert in a glass with compressed peaches, amaretti crumbs, and sweetened whipped cream.

I left wanting to come back.

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Went last night with a lovely lady. She's been there plenty, and I'd never been. Started with a Moretti Blonde and she had a very berry tasting Rose. 

The house bread comes warm and buttered and herbed and freakin' delicious. We weren't super starving, so we decided on 1 appetizer, 1 pasta, and 1 entree. The appetizer was the fried artichokes. I've never had that before. Man, do they fry well. Crunchy, and the artichoke was tasty, maybe some cheese in there, I wasn't sure. Then, the cacio e pepe, which is one of my favorite things ever. Handmade pasta, of course, and it was perfect, creamy and peppered. Then, the agnello o agnello (lamb 2 ways) - a lamb chop and seared pulled lamb and seasonal vegetables. Chop was delish, could have been a touch rarer, but I didn't actually ask for how I wanted it. The seared pulled lamb was delish, don't usually like lamb made this way (braised or whatever), but it, too was pretty perfect. Another beer and another glass of wine. $88 + T/T. 

Really lovely place. Wasn't hungry enough for cheese/charcuterie, but the boards looked insane.

S

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Might have been my aunt or my nurse or my sister :) 

Btw, that article might be the single dumbest thing I've read all year. If online dating stopped completely, businesses would get crushed. People go on dozens, I don't know, hundreds of dates now. Every freaking place is busy because of it.

It's that kind of crap that made me stop reading the Times, where they pick up on an anecdote and make it a pretend trend. Like middle schoolers having blow job parties or whatever.

I give Zero F-cks about bartenders or proprietors complaining about this. It's like complaining about more patients 

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We were up on 14th Street yesterday and stopped in here for brunch.  It was busy, but we were able to sit at the bar.  I had the Insalata lupo verde, which had a couple of less common salad ingredients (pickled mushrooms and hazelnuts) that added some earthiness and crunch to the Boston lettuce, red onion, and Parmigiano. The salad was also adorned with a warm poached egg, which mixed into the salad and the balsamic-honey vinaigrette. I was fairly hungry and it was s satisfying salad.  My husband had a spaghetti dish with smoked salmon, lemon, capers, and fennel. He thought the pasta was too al dente and, when I tried it, I agreed. The flavors were wonderful together, though.

Food was a bit slow coming out, but as soon as we asked our bartender to check, he came right back out with our plates. I don't know if they had been sitting there for a while or not, but everything was at the right temperature. And the pasta was not overcooked<_<.

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5 hours ago, Pat said:

We were up on 14th Street yesterday and stopped in here for brunch.  It was busy, but we were able to sit at the bar.  I had the Insalata lupo verde, which had a couple of less common salad ingredients (pickled mushrooms and hazelnuts) that added some earthiness and crunch to the Boston lettuce, red onion, and Parmigiano. The salad was also adorned with a warm poached egg, which mixed into the salad and the balsamic-honey vinaigrette. I was fairly hungry and it was s satisfying salad.  My husband had a spaghetti dish with smoked salmon, lemon, capers, and fennel. He thought the pasta was too al dente and, when I tried it, I agreed. The flavors were wonderful together, though.

Food was a bit slow coming out, but as soon as we asked our bartender to check, he came right back out with our plates. I don't know if they had been sitting there for a while or not, but everything was at the right temperature. And the pasta was not overcooked<_<.

Thanks for this update, Pat. It looks like Lupo Verde isn't opening in Palisades after all; however, Med Lahlou will be opening Lupo Marino at The Wharf - here is their tweet about it.

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3 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Thanks for this update, Pat. It looks like Lupo Verde isn't opening in Palisades after all; however, Med Lahlou will be opening Lupo Marino at The Wharf - here is their tweet about it.

The last I heard, they were planning to do both. There were problems with DC on things they needed to get Palisades open, but it sounded like they were still trying. That was months ago, however. It sounded like "Once DC signs off on X and Q" it will open. But it's still not open, so I don't know.

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Had the chance to try the Palisades location out.  It was hopping last night with what seemed like a mostly local crowd (I'm part of the rough element that gets bused in from the mean streets of Bethesda).  Started with cocktails - the Peppino and Boulevardier.  Former was limoncello, gin, and prosecco.  Went down way too easily.  Dangerous.  Wife liked the latter - I don't do Bourbon or Scotch so can't comment.  Appetizer was the duck, split between two.  The duck consisted of a confit duck leg (really, really good and a slab of torchon with an almost brulee top.

Our pastas (I generally don't do Secondi) were the garganelli and the garlic ravioli.  The first is described as a Neopolitan ragu sauced dish. Never heard of Neopolitan ragu, but it was  quite good and seemed to be Bolognese less the carrot and celery.  The garlic ravioli had a ton of potential - the waitress described them as being made with gelato, which then melts inside the pasta to make a creamy garlic filling.  Sounded like soup dumplings to me, which I do like.  While I liked the ravioli well enough, I think a bit less garlic would help. The other change I would make would be to do a tortellino instead of a raviolo.  The latter are big enough you have to cut them in half, letting the entire filling run out onto the plate.  Bite size would work a bit better.

All in all a very good meal.  

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Went last Saturday to the Palisades location... full to the brim and a bit overwhelmed with reservations (ours was a 30-minute wait). As appetizers, delicious fried artichokes and some octopus that was unnecessarily breaded. Pastas were spaghetti cacio e pepe (OK, but nothing special) and fusilli with neapolitan ragu (very good). The stand-out was the grilled branzino that was delicious and perfectly grilled with some nice side veggies.

Overall, a good experience though perhaps a tiny bit pricey... 

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18 minutes ago, frazwr01 said:

Anyone notice if the Palisades location is kid friendly or not? I live a couple blocks away and was thinking about taking my 2 young children there...

Although there's probably an older clientele, I'd be very surprised if this location wasn't child-friendly (they might not have crayons and sippy cups, but I suspect they'd welcome well-behaved children).

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7 hours ago, frazwr01 said:

Anyone notice if the Palisades location is kid friendly or not? I live a couple blocks away and was thinking about taking my 2 young children there...

How young?  I ask because similar to the 14th St. location, it's a bit tight inside. I'd bring my nine year old but not my five year old niece, who can't sit still.

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We had an early dinner at Lupo Verde on 14th two Saturdays ago. I hadn't been in quite a while and it really has an Italian feel to it. It did before but it seemed more pronounced to me now. My husband was really wowed by the meal. I enjoyed it too, but he was raving about it. The last two meals we had out before this were at Rose's and Albi, so his enthusiasm is noteworthy.

Normally I think it's good when restaurants keep changing their menus, but in this case I can't tell from the online menu what we had, because it's rather different. 🙁

We both had the Lupo Verde Salad, which was Caesarish and enormous. It was more like a Caesar salad than what a lot of places promote as a Caesar. It now appears on the menu with a description close to the one I described above from quite a long time ago (hazelnuts, etc.). They now list a Caesar but it has grilled Romaine. Ours was not grilled. Nor was it chopped, which was one of the few things that made it seem less traditionally Caesar Salad.

Our mains were pasta. My husband's was Fettuccine Alla Norcina. There is a Tagliatelle Alla Norcina on the current menu, and the description (sausage, porcini mushrooms, truffle) looks close. I had a thinner pasta* with a vodka sauce. I didn't expect I'd need to remember it so soon or I would have taken notes 🤨. Both were delicious. Portions were large enough that we brought food home.

Service was decent but could have been a bit more attentive, though the person who filled the water glasses was super attentive. We finally asked for bread pretty far along. It was an excellent focaccia with bits of green olives.

The food that passed by also looked wonderful, including the whole roasted branzino (?), which was encased in something and set on fire to be brought out. We got to see the whole spectacle, down to the flames being put out expertly when it was presented. Wow.

If I lived closer I would be here more frequently.

*Edited with the middle-of-the night recollection that it was not thin pasta. It was ravioli stuffed to its limits with oh-so-moist shredded short rib. It suddenly hit me that I had told my husband it seemed like a rustic homemade pasta, as the dough was pretty thick. It had to be to hold that much meat without bursting.

 

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