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Notti Bianche, near The Kennedy Center, in the Former Nectar Space - Closed


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If I'm off base surely someone here will correct me...but doesn't dried pasta have a legitimate place in Italian cooking? Depending on the application (shape, sauce)?

i believe i have enjoyed both dry and fresh pasta the relatively few times i have eaten at notti bianche. (ditto with palena.) i think the point is that if you're showing off your pasta you aren't going to get much further with dry then that you know how to cook and sauce it, not that there's anything wrong with that. i eat it at home and i eat it at restraurants, definitely more than i should. but if you want to show off your pasta making skills, you are going to have to go much farther than that. when it's fresh, then it can be really about the pasta. am i right? :)

(i am fairly sure marcella hazan has a discourse on this issue somewhere, starting with the honorable uses of dry, and i'm going to look it up. after leaving her cookbooks mostly unopened for years, i tried out her modern version of chicken cacciatore last night and it is amazing what can happen with a few simple ingredients. the penne on the plate was from a box.)

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One thing that I really love about Italian artisanal dry pasta is the texture. Fresh pasta does not hold the sauce like a piece of dry that has been extruded through a brass die. These dies give the surface of the pasta a texture unlike the very smooth mass produced dry pasta, or even fresh pasta. I particularly like the pastas from Martelli.

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Tonight my fiancee and I brought our Restaurant Week to a close (and, since we'd eaten in every night this week, an open) at Notti Bianche.

We pulled in to the little side valet area. It must be a cushy valet job, because the guy left our car right where we pulled over for the duration of our dinner. He also left the keys in and the doors unlocked, but that's okay because the car was in plain view the whole time - and I feel like I'm not getting my money's worth from GEICO these days.

First, the food. If you already know how good the food is, and just want to hear me praise our own Julia Wolfe (insufficiently), please scoll past my amateur culinary raconteuring.

My better half started with the tomato salad. The myriad varieties of tomato blended juicily, the garlic breadcrumbs were delightful, and I don't know what "buratta cheese" is, but find some and hook it to my veins.

I had the octopus. I'm used to everyone's favorite cephalopod being tough and stringy, but the charred eight-legger was almost as smooth and tender as foie gras.

Against the objections of the +1, "we'll never be able to eat that much!", we got an intermezzo of mezzaluna pasta. My expecations of being able to have the whole dish to myself were dashed when I foolishly offered a bite to my fiancee. Contrary to popular belief, this pasta IS made freshly and laboriously in house. You can tell, and it definetely benefitted from this treatment (by "you can tell" I am NOT implying that dry pasta is inferior! Just that each is suited to different applications).

Growing up in Italian New Jersey, my sexy guest's favorite food of all time is chicken parmesan. It's no suprirse that she ordered the chicken "scallopine," which we were told was inspired by "eggplant parmesan, veal scallopine, and spaghetti pomodoro." The chicken was juicy and almost as tender as the octopus.

I had the hangar steak. Chef Chittum's command of this tricky piece of cow diaphragm is impressive, and his take was nicely charred on the outside and a brilliant and flavorful red on the inside. The smashed fingerling potatoes, while pleasant, felt like the black sheep of the dish - not really getting the same treatment that the other elements had.

Speaking of other elements, I think where Chef Chittum really shines is in his use of the tomato. From the titular salad enjoyed by my fiancee, to the dices on my octopus, to the pomodoro element of the chicken, every tomato captured the essence of what it means to be a tomato. Nowhere did I find this more true than in the tomatoes that accompanied my steak. I don't know how he prepares them - they looked like plain, roasted tomatoes to me - but biting into one was like getting a mouthful of my grandma's ravioli sauce.

The desserts were good, but didn't really stand up on their own compared to the rest of the meal. I had the wildflower honey semifreddo which was a delightful summer treat with plump raspberries. My lady friend got the cookies and cream, which needed more in the way of cookies. The chocolate ice cream was creamy and had an uplifting cocoa aroma.

I had the wine pairing for $15, although I'm sure the zero at the end was left off accidentally. Their "half glasses" were as big as the full glasses I've seen at some restaurants, and each selection would have stood out as great wines on their own, to say nothing of how well they went with our food.

I think my fiancee summed everything up nicely. She spent several months in Italy, and became well acquainted with the local fare. Her review, which was far more full of exemplary brevitas than mine, and which I also feel is much better written: "It was like being back in Italy." You can't get higher praise than that!

I can ALSO sum up the evening: it was like Thanksgiving. Not just all of the Italian food, or the tomatoes that tasted like my grandmothers sauce, but the hospitality (which leads me to the second part of my review).

The bartender (Andrew? Crap... I suck at names) was friendly and quick with the small talk, and he puts out a mean olive.

Our server, Jason, was friendly, jovial, helpful, and knowledgeable. He was always ready with an explaination of the obscure Italian culinary terms that appeared in our menu. The check came a little slowly, but it WAS restaurant week, we were in no particular hurry, and I'm always impatient about the check to begin with.

Then, onto the reason we were there in the first place: Julia.

I didn't know Danny. I know that a lot of people on this board look up to him as the epitome of what a gracious restaurant manager should be, and a purveyor of top-notch hospitality. I DO know Julia, and if Danny was half the manager she is, then his compliments here are well deserved indeed!

As the tomatoes made the food feel like Thanksgiving, she made the evening feel like Thanksgiving. I felt welcome. I'm always a little intimidated by restaurant brass, but she made me feel completely at ease. Whenever she left our table, I imagined it was because she was going to help my aunt grate up some parmesan, or my mom cut the rinds off the prosciutto. She gets the Dan Cole hospitality award (your prize money, which WILL get lost in the mail, is in the mail).

So thank you so so much Julia. You deserve any praise you get here and anywhere!

We'll definetely be back, this time for risotto and more pasta!

Must... find... more... buratta...

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We've been wanting to try Notti Bianche for the longest time - I remember being horribly dissapointed when the DR dinner there was cancelled. We finally got a chance to try it out today....nothing fancy....just their 'lunch on the run' menu, and while the food was good, the whole experience was ruined by appalling service that when we tried to rectify it revealed some serious internal communication problems at NB.

Lunch on the run is billed as "any salad, any soup, and any 1/2 pasta for $15".

We got their right at noon and were the only people in the place for a good 15-20 minutes. Once we indicated a preference for non-sparking water, our waiter took it upon himself to assume we didn't want any wine or other drinks.

My wife tried ordering the tomato salad as part of her lunch only to be informed that the tomato salad, despite being a salad, could not be ordered as part of the LOTR menu. We were mildly dissapointed and intended pointing out the discrepancy between what the menu said we could order and what we were allowed order while leaving. I had the tomato soup (very nice) and a nice pasta dish w/ guanciole, anchovies, capers....salty, but then its meant to be. My wife settled for the mixed greens and a very good linguine w/ 2 huge and very tasty shrimp.

Imagine our surprise when two ladies seated next to us ordered the tomato salad from the same waiter and was not told it was not a part of the LOTR menu. We started chattting to them and said that we hadn't been allowed order it so when the waiter came back we mentioned it to him. He turned on us and said, "OK, would you like to tell her she can't have her salad". I was gobsmacked. Then he made a big show of saying, "Its her birthday. Do you mind if I let her have it for her birthday".

By now, we were kinda pissed but it only got worse. The dining room started filling up and the young maiitre d'/manager started pitchhing in a taking orders and at another table next to us, a table full of people all ordered the tomato salad as part of the LOTR menu.

As we received our check we asked to speak to a manager.....at this stage it was more about finding out what the actual policy was because depending on who was taking your order you either were or were not going to get the friggin tomato salad. The waiter took away our check and the minutes proceeded to tick by.....tick tock tick tock tick tock.......after a good 5 minutes and with the manager skulking around at the front of the restaurant we decided we had better approach him. Even at this stage he seemed totally unsure what to do, he started off the conversation staying, yes, the waiter was right but ended by saying no, he was wrong. The waiter finally dropped us off our check at the hostess stand, nonchalantly adding that we should come back sometime........HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! He was a comedian as well as being a lousy rude waiter!!

Given the recent conversations on here regarding two-tier dining and special accomodations for certain patrons, it was certainly on display today at NB!

Horrible.

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We've been wanting to try Notti Bianche for the longest time - I remember being horribly dissapointed when the DR dinner there was cancelled. We finally got a chance to try it out today....nothing fancy....just their 'lunch on the run' menu, and while the food was good, the whole experience was ruined by appalling service that when we tried to rectify it revealed some serious internal communication problems at NB.

...

He turned on us and said, "OK, would you like to tell her she can't have her salad". I was gobsmacked. Then he made a big show of saying, "Its her birthday. Do you mind if I let her have it for her birthday".

...

Given the recent conversations on here regarding two-tier dining and special accomodations for certain patrons, it was certainly on display today at NB!

Horrible.

So, Niall, I guess you'll be skipping Legacy Libations on Friday? :)

(ETA: GOBSMACKED! That's the first time "gobsmacked" has ever been used on DR.com (I searched it!) and by Jove it shouldn't be the last! What a great word.)

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Okay, I've heard this mentioned many times. What are Legacy Libations?

Before Notti Bianche there was Nectar. Nectar (by all accounts sadly) departed and as often happens, many of their libations remained behind. We sampled some of them during the first Fall Picnic when Danny “The Cavalry” Boylen, then GM of Notti Bianche, brought in some reinforcements to save the day. One cold day in January, as I was mulling over where thirsty dr.com members could alight on a Friday after work, I had the idea of placing a call to Danny to see if the Notti Bianche bar could accommodate us. As is his nature, Danny eagerly embraced my suggestion of calling a “legacy libation” happy hour, to help move out the old Nectar remainders that were not compatible with their menu, and give us a semi-private space to do it in. The first Legacy Libation happy hour was born! It was one of the best-attended to date, a couple dozen of us, including babies and assorted friends. We probably caused a few drops of perspiration to appear due to fire code concerns, but you’d never have known it. Thereafter, at Danny’s invitation, we gathered on the last Friday of each month (although it was open to the public - nobody was treated special) for sampling libations (legacy and otherwise) and menu items at the bar, until the last drops of legacy libations were drunk a couple of months ago.

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Lunch on the run is billed as "any salad, any soup, and any 1/2 pasta for $15".

FWIW I was at Notti for lunch today (taking advantage of the opentable.com bonus points at 1pm) and on the menu posted outside as well as the menu that was presented at the table, there was an indication of which salads apply (incidently, it's all of them except for the tomato salad) for the Lunch on the Run special.

Perhaps the menu has been updated to reflect the earlier comments?

ETA - their website however, does not make the same distinctions as the hard copy menu. Then again, what they're offering now is a bit different from what's on the web.

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FWIW I was at Notti for lunch today (taking advantage of the opentable.com bonus points at 1pm) and on the menu posted outside as well as the menu that was presented at the table, there was an indication of which salads apply (incidently, it's all of them except for the tomato salad) for the Lunch on the Run special.

Perhaps the menu has been updated to reflect the earlier comments?

ETA - their website however, does not make the same distinctions as the hard copy menu. Then again, what they're offering now is a bit different from what's on the web.

Yes, the website does not make the distinction. And even if they have updated the hard copy menu I still think its a silly exclusion because it essentially takes the 'deal' out of the lunch on the run menu. It also seems strange that you can order a $10 tomato soup and a pasta but not a $10 tomato salad and a pasta.

Oh well, whatever.......and none of this in any way excuses or absolves them for the conduct of the waiter or their refusal to reply to the personal email I sent the restaurant.

ETA: this was written before I came across the discussions on Toms chat

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I bought my parents tickets to see Phantom of the Opera at the Kennedy Center, and my aunt and uncle opted to join us. Musical theater isn't my idea of a great time (but it made them all really, really happy), nor is dining with my picky, finicky, pain in the arse about food aunt and uncle. When it's just the three of us, my parents are more flexible, more likely to expand their horizons. When the five of us dine as a group, oy the stuff I endure...

Anyway, I hadn't been to Notti in about a year. We pulled up post-theater and I sent in an emissary to determine if the kitchen was still open. We had to hurry, but the answer was yes. I hoped that the food remained great, and was not disappointed. The service was fine for the most part, but not as good as during the tenure of "starfish."

We started off a bit rocky with my otherwise sweet and wonderful aunt ordered a French martini. I don't know why she ordered it because she's always dissatisfied. Too dark with chambord, or not frothy enough, or some other complaint. Usually she starts her order off with "does the bartender know how to make a French martini?" It's enough to make an otherwise courteous server think sarcastically "oh, this is going to be fun."

It was late so we only ordered one course each. Three people ordered the pappardelle bolognese (two full portions, one half). My father had the hanger steak that I usually order, and I ordered agnoloti de plin stuffed with veal and finished with butter, sage and a barolo reduction. After some persistence on my part, I got everyone to try my delicious pasta and they agreed it was tasty. My aunt and mother were a bit squeamish about the veal...I didn't have the heart to reveal that the bolognese they were enjoying so thoroughly was probably 1/3 veal. :angry: All of the plates went back to the kitchen clean save mine--I took home about half of the rich dish which reheated really nicely today for lunch.

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I had a so-so meal at Notti on Friday. Two friends were trying to be sweet and take me out for my birthday. For their efforts, they called no less than six restaurants, all of which were booked (Beck, Central, Cashion's, Proof, Sonoma and Cafe Atlantico are the ones I recall), a full hour of travel time (thank you IMF/World Bank protesters) and food that generally made us say "oh...hmm."

For our appetizers, two of us had the pumpkin soup with hen confit and balsamico and one had the scallops. The scallops were scarfed happily. The pumpkin soup was so bland. We both added liberal amounts of salt, just to make it taste like something.

Entrees were OK. One friend's pappardelle bolognese was fine. Cooked just right and all, but dull. The biggest compliment we could give the dish was that we could tell it was fresh, housemade pasta. I stuck with the agnolotti, remembering how I had really enjoyed them last time. Yes, dull ordering the same thing again, but I have been sick recently so...it's just what I wanted. Most of the agnolotti tasted great, but ever so often I'd chew and bite into something gnarly in a fatty/cartilaginous way. :blink:

But the oddest part of the meal was my friend's "rack of pork." It arrived looking more like a very small (no more than 3 ounces) pork tenderloin. The pork was somehow too tender, gelatinous really. Like pork jello. The flavor was good, but the texture was off-putting. Still, he ate it and due to the teeny tiny size, he finished a good fifteen minutes before my other friend and me came close to finishing.

None of the four or so desserts appealed so we got the check. I have always really enjoyed Notti, but after this most recent meal, I can't say I'll rush back.

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Thanks to NB for finding a table for 7 of us close to closing last night. We walked over from the Tony Bourdain program at GW and tucked into some pasta including well prepared papparadelle. So close to closing it was understandable that they'd be out of agnolotti.

I only took a taste from other folk's desserts, but understand the gelatto with the desserts rocked.

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As part of the post-Bourdain group, my +1 and I enjoyed the Pinzamino as a starter. We certainly felt virtuous with all the lovely veggies - beets, wax and green beans, roasted green onions, fresh basil, and baby carrots - on the plate. They were all nicely blanched and lightly dressed and drizzled with an aged balsamic. We appreciated that they split the dish for us. I couldn't believe the portion was only a half of it - it was very generous.

My half order of mushroom risotto (made to order I was told) was very tasty as well - rich and creamy with lots of mushrooms throughout. Again, the half order was big enough for me and very filling. The Dogajola super-Tuscan was a nice accompaniment to both courses.

The +1 enoyed the seafood linguine - my bite included a plump little mussel and some nicely cooked noodles - there were lots of good-sized shrimp too.

Dessert was the chocolate torte (shared) - an almond torte loaded with bittersweet chocolate and served with a pistachio gelato. Theresa (our server) was sweet and helpful all the way 'til the end, not seeming to mind a bit that we were the last table to leave (not by too much :blink: )

It had been quite a while since I was at NB and I enjoyed it very much! I'll be back sooner rather than later.

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Last night, on my recommendation, my brother-in-law and nephew had dinner at Notti Bianche. Interested in their experience, I talked to my nephew this morning who told me that they had had a very nice meal with a lone misstep occurring when he received what he felt was an undercooked serving of sea bass. My nephew asked the waiter to have the chef cook the bass to his liking. The waiter complied, the chef complied, the bass returned to the table cooked as requested, and my nephew was happy. At the end of the meal, he learned that the waiter, without request or other verbal complaint, had removed from the bill the cost of not just one but both glasses of wine that he had ordered. Kudos to Notti Bianche for great service.

But the point of my post, although specific to this experience, goes to the more general issue of comping items for errors. I know from reading this board and following chats from the Washingtonian and the Washington Post that there are some people who feel entitled to comps for virtually anything that occurs during a meal (the diner at that table over there stared inappropriately at me for at least a second; I expect a free dessert!). I am somewhat stunned by this attitude. Quick background on me so that you can understand my confusion: I'm not a DC resident, although a frequent DC visitor because of work and Redskin season tickets (beat Seattle!). I've used this board and the chats to get an idea of places that I might like to try and that fit certain price ranges, tastes (mine and others who might travel with me), and locations where I might stay when I'm in the area. Even though I'm in the area less than a dozen times a year and frequently accompanied by folks who may not want the fine dining experience (after a Redskin game, I'm as likely to end up at Old Glory on M Street as anywhere), I've managed to eat at some very good restaurants, including Blacksalt, Marcel's, Vidalia, Restaurant Eve, Tosca, and the Prime Rib. Thus, Notti was on my list when I stayed at the GWU Inn earlier in the season and after that experience, I recommended it to my nephew when he told me he was going to stay at a hotel across the street after last night's game. I am a frequent diner in and around my home of Norfolk (I think our restaurant scene can be fairly described as solid, dependable, about $10-12 lower in entree price on average at the top end than at the best DC restaurants, and several years behind any significant trends--no superstar chefs but several very, very good chefs who have good reputations). I do not shy away from mentioning problems that might arise during my meals.

With that as background, I must say that I don't understand the level of expectation that's reflected in my nephew's experience at Notti. I would have expected this problem to be resolved approximately like this:

Nephew: Excuse me, but my sea bass seems underdone.

Server: I'm sorry. How would you prefer the bass to be cooked?

Nephew: I'm still a bit skittish about raw fish; how about medium well?

Server: I'll take it back to the kitchen.

[8 to 10 minutes later]

Server: The chef cooked a new bass for you; could you check to see if it's to your liking?

Nephew (after slicing through the fish): Why yes, that's outstanding. Thank you.

Server: You're welcome. Please let me know if there's anything else I can do.

That's it. That's all I'd expect down here, and that's all I'd expect a restaurant in DC to do. An offer of a free glass of wine or a dessert would be nice (and I'm not arguing that more egregious missteps than the one outlined above shouldn't be handled this way--it's a spectrum of service, not an absolute response) but not expected. When a restaurant does such a thing and I hear about others that do it this way for a minor misstep and without complaint, I have to assume that it's become a learned response, much like the puppy that shies from any human contact because of the beatings of a previous owner.

In trying to understand this level of expectation, I know that DC has a large population of status-conscious, status-seeking types who must demonstrate their importance (see, I can make people jump when I snap my fingers and express my royal displeasure!). I also know from personal experience that the level of service personnel in DC does not always match the talent in the kitchen, thus contributing to more errors in the dining experience. In my area, I would say there may be more correlation between the competence of kitchens and servers so that the general level of our basic service, even in lower end restaurants, is generally pretty good. In other words, here I would expect my server to get the order right, communicate it correctly, and serve it promptly after it's ready. Unlike my expectations in higher-end DC restaurants, however, I do not expect many of our servers here to guide me through a menu or wine list. I have experienced and read other experiences about service in DC restaurants that does not always meet this basic level.

Of course, "the customer is always right" is a fine touchstone for the operation of a business, but I learned from years in private law practice that you can't always allow clients or customers to run roughshod over your business. Perhaps it's better to say, "the reasonable customer is always right" because with some folks, I feel it's become a game of trying to see how much they can get for free when they go out to a good restaurant. And the only referral business you get from customers like that is other customers who are looking to do exactly the same. Given the profit margins many restaurants expect to make on alcohol, I'm always surprised to hear that any alcohol is removed from a bill, even after a much more vocal complaint than my nephew made.

As I said, I probably could have written this post in connection with tons of other restaurants, but my nephew's experience last night and no work today gave me just the right impetus to put this into words. Sorry for the length--even with editing, it's still pretty long!

Happy New Year to all!

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Notti really is one of my favorite places [and close to the Kennedy Center, love grabbing a meal there for post/pre theatre dining].

Hadn't been there in a long while, and since Restaurant Week just started, so I went back yesterday with my dining group, many of which didn't even know of the place.

Their RW deal was 1 choice from Appetizers/Salad section, 1 from Pasta/Seconds, and lastly desert. Some select upcharges [i.e. scallops w/ bacon as an appetizer = $3, for the mains short ribs=$5, linguini w/ fresh dungeness crabmeat =$5] We were told that there was a special RW menu was created [although the RW menu on their website as of last night had completely different items]: 4 antipasti, 3 salads, 5 pastas, and 4 seconds [mains]. Healthy amount of selections for us.

Across the table, folks got a mix of salads [Hearts of Romaine w/ anchovies/olive puree, Organic Baby Lettuces w/ golden raisins, toasted pinenuts and balsamic] and appetizers, of which most of us chose the Diver Scallops w/ grilled housemade pancetta, sweet golden raisins, and I presume chopped scallions for garnish . It was 2 fresh scallops, and what was a little surprising was the bacon was unexpectedly very sweet [was expecting the smokiness]. It paired well with the golden raisins. Very tasty.

For our mains, there was a mix of pastas [agnolotti w/ roasted veal and barolo reduction, tortelli w/ porcini mushroom and ricotta, and linguini w/ fresh dungeness crab and meyer lemon] and seconds [striped bass w/ braised beans and kale in a barbaresco sauce, braised short ribs w/ caramelized radiccio and polenta cake in a barolo reduction].

Everyone enjoyed their meals, the biggest praise went to the HUGE short ribs. That alone looked like a $30 item by itself:

event_2984481.jpeg

I had the linguini w/ fresh dungeness crab. Have to admit I hoped for large chunks throughout the pasta, but it was finely shredded & dispersed throughout the linguini. Still very tasty. The linguini was fairly thick and a substantial amount was on the plate, so with anticipation of the dessert I saved half for lunch today :(

For drinks, 4 of us shared a bottle of their 2005 Montepulciano which complemented the meals just fine. [good value for $40].

For desserts, a special menu at the end was provided. Our choices were tart/sweet blood-orange sorbet, pumpkin ricotta cheesecake, and a chocolate cake of sorts. Nice desserts, the pumpkin ricotta cheesecake was thankfully a round 2" mini-version [was worried how big it would be, given how full I was]. Everyone seemed to enjoy them.

Service was pretty good last night. Pleasant and professional.

Good night all in all.

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I had a nice pre-opera meal at the bar last night. An asparagus soup starter was a winner on all counts--the flavor was so green and vibrant that I suspect the asparagus was barely cooked, if at all, and the sprinkle of crunchy speck added nice salty, porky dimension. Green pea capellacci with mint oil, radish slices, and shaved hard cheese (can't remember which) was gorgeous for the first few bites, with the radish being a nice acidic surprise, but toward the end, I began to wish the butter sauce wasn't so heavy. I only had a half order, and I am fervently pro-butter, but even this was a bit much, especially as the radish began to lose its tang in the ambient warmth. Good bread and lovely well-priced wines rounded out the meal and gave me something nice to daydream about during some of Rigoletto's more disappointing moments.

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Notti Bianche has fallen into minimalist, skeletal, brain-stem mode, barely remaining alive from a culinary perspective, with only fourteen items TOTAL on the menu (including apps, salads, pasta, and meats). The glasses of wines are ten-dollar plonk, and the front of the house is non-existent.

Despite an unwelcoming, self-service vibe, the type that has you craning your neck to desperately flag down a server - any server - and sorely tempted to get up and find your own salt shaker, the tables were full tonight ("full" as opposed to Ten Penh, which was positively overflowing, with all tables booked and the bar three-deep). There was apparently a large private party due to arrive in the back of Notti Bianche as well, but when I was there, the bar area was fairly empty.

The menu is a subset of what it used to be, featuring some of the dishes on the VERY out-of-date website which still lists Brendan Cox as the chef. The paper version of the menu lists the manager and assistant manager, but makes no mention of anyone in the kitchen other than pastry chef Peter Britt on the list of desserts.

Nevertheless, both pasta dishes this evening reflected that some talent remains in the kitchen. A Pappardelle ($18) with a ragu Bolognese and shaved Parmiggiano, and a Tortelli ($17) stuffed with Pennsylvania goat cheese, toasted pine nuts, and young spinach (both dishes holdovers from the Cox era) were both decent executions of fresh pasta, and taken in isolation of their surroundings, were not at all bad.

With the entire service staff wanting to be anywhere but the dining room, Notti Bianche was such a flat, downtrodden experience that I asked for the check at the same time I asked for the dessert menu, thinking I'd peruse it, sign, and be on my way. But one of Britt's desserts, a Pumpkin Riccota Cheesecake ($7) with dried-fruit marmalada and spiced pumpkin seeds, sitting atop a few drizzles of vanilla sauce, was enough to tempt me into ordering. It was serviceable and pleasant - not as full of life as it should have been, but still more alive than this joyless shell of a restaurant, a depressing exercise in dining that can only be recommended to hotel guests not wanting to stray from their quarters.

Cheers,

Rocks.

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As a former server at Notti Bianche, I just want to let the current management know how disgusted it made me to see your advertisement in the latest issue of The Washingtonian. First, I find it misleading, if not deceitful, to still claim three stars, especially since NB has not appeared in any of Tom Sietsema’s Seasonal Dining Guides since the departure of Chef Tony Chittum. Second, to claim that NB made Washingtonian’s “Top 100 Restaurants,” in the same issue where it is listed as an “Outgoing” Top 100 Restaurant, is totally repugnant and utterly asinine.

Having watched Notti Bianche go to hell in a hand bag over the last two years has been a sad affair indeed. I was there when former manager, Danny Boylen, received his Rammy, and I was there when The Washington Post awarded Chef Chittum three well-deserved stars. Since I left in 2007, I have seen how subsequent managers and chefs have eroded NB’s sterling reputation. Accordingly, I just wanted to take the opportunity to remind the current management that NB is no longer Chef Chittum’s baby; nor is it the same restaurant managed by Mr. Boylen (and that’s not saying much).

Don’t forget that Notti Bianche is the third restaurant in five years to occupy that dank, parking garage on New Hampshire Avenue. With what I’ve seen, I’m sure it won’t be the last.

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My recent visit to Notti Bianche is not an experience I will repeat due to poor service and mediocre-at-best food. We chose it only because it is so close to the Kennedy Center, where we would be going after our meal. No waiter came to the table for perhaps 10 minutes after our arrival. We each ordered an appetizer and entree. My appetizer (a salad) arrived, but no offer of fresh pepper and more importantly my date's soup didn't come at all until another 10 minutes later after I flagged down the Maitre D' because the waiter was paying no attention. The Maitre D' attempted to "explain" that there had been confusion because the waiter thought she wanted her appetizer and main course at the same time (!!!). It may be that the restaraunt was understaffed that night, but I doubt it. In any case,the waiter offered us (with a flourish) a glass of poor quality Primitivo at the end of the meal when we had consumed a nice Viette Barbera during the meal. The food was uniformly unremarkable, with no creativity, no ingredients other than the pedestrian, and little flavor.

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My recent visit to Notti Bianche is not an experience I will repeat due to poor service and mediocre-at-best food. We chose it only because it is so close to the Kennedy Center, where we would be going after our meal. No waiter came to the table for perhaps 10 minutes after our arrival. We each ordered an appetizer and entree. My appetizer (a salad) arrived, but no offer of fresh pepper and more importantly my date's soup didn't come at all until another 10 minutes later after I flagged down the Maitre D' because the waiter was paying no attention. The Maitre D' attempted to "explain" that there had been confusion because the waiter thought she wanted her appetizer and main course at the same time (!!!). It may be that the restaraunt was understaffed that night, but I doubt it. In any case,the waiter offered us (with a flourish) a glass of poor quality Primitivo at the end of the meal when we had consumed a nice Viette Barbera during the meal. The food was uniformly unremarkable, with no creativity, no ingredients other than the pedestrian, and little flavor.

My wife and I had the misforture of eating there last fall, because, as you noted, it is near the Kennedy Center. Our meals were less than good. The osso bucco was overcooked and tasteless, our salads came directly from plastic bags, and our red wine was warm. Even though it was reunion weekend at GW, the place was nearly empty. I understand that several years ago, under a different chef, it was an excellent restaurant.

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My wife and I had the misforture of eating there last fall, because, as you noted, it is near the Kennedy Center. Our meals were less than good. The osso bucco was overcooked and tasteless, our salads came directly from plastic bags, and our red wine was warm. Even though it was reunion weekend at GW, the place was nearly empty. I understand that several years ago, under a different chef, it was an excellent restaurant.

And before that (Tony Chittum is the chef to whom you refer, I believe); and, under a different name and a different chef, again (we miss you Jamison), and a stellar GM (ditto Jarad) it was a truly destination restaurant. Ah well... ;)

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Notti Bianchi had "temporarily closed for renovation" quite awhile back, and still has not opened. The building is now ARC The Hotel, and promises a "farm-to-table" dining space called Notti 824 (being at 824 New Hampshire Ave NW - I really wish people would just pick up the phone and call me for naming advice).

"Upscale for All, with Something for Everyone" - sounds like a plan.

Screenshot 2018-10-06 at 08.43.50.png

It's hard to fathom that *this* dining space once had the best cheese plate in all of Washington, DC, yes it did.

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