I've now eaten at Assaggi twice, once on Sunday mid-afternoon and the other time for lunch today with a friend. Both times I had excellent experiences, both due to the food and the attentive and welcoming staff. On Sunday, the only chef on duty there was Giovanni Carlo, who formerly was with Roberto Donna in Galileo Laboratorio. He is a young chef and thus far has not been noted in any of the reviews. He has, however, great imagination and skill in the kitchen. On my second visit, I met Domenico Cornacchia, the chef/owner, formerly of Cafe Milano. He was very warm and welcoming. Golnaz Feiz, the MaƮtre de, is kind and attentive. You feel that you have entered the home of a friend. Although the restaurant is largely unchanged from Centro, the staff has added some softening touches which has made the restaurant quieter, with a more relaxed feeling.
On Sunday, we started with a delicious Bellini which was accompanied by a selection of cheeses from the Mozzarella Bar and the marinated condiments. The cheeses were delicious and were drizzled with some fruity olive oil which enhanced their flavor. The burrata was made with cow's milk and was from California. You could tell how fresh it was. The rustic bread, was also excellent. My husband had their lunch special plate which consists of a small pasta portion, a small salad and a protein. In this case, the protein was skewers of fish, monkfish and salmon, and they were cooked perfectly. The pasta was a penne (done al dente) with peas and proscuitto. I enjoyed the veal ragu which was served over a hand made gamelli pasta which was made with flour and wine. It too was al dente and served in a generous portion. The ragu was a proper ragu, and even though the weather was hot, I found it totally delicious. We tried two desserts, the ricotta cheese cake and the hazelnut chocolate cake. Both were absolutely fantastic. They were served warm and had both a light and tender textures with deep flavors, served with delicious sauces and a scoop of ice cream.
Today for lunch, I started with a mixed green salad which was dressed perfectly with a balsamic vineragrette. There were crisp tender vegetables with the greens, such as baby zucchini, radishes and green beans. My friend had the gazpacho soup and declared it to be delicious. This was followed by a small appetizer of a grilled fish (which we split) with thyme and a dab of an olive tapenade. Sitting on top of the fish were fried tomato skins. I had never seen this either as a decoration or an accent, but added a lovely element to the dish. My friend had the lunch plate of salmon with a serving of salad. Her salmon appeared to be properly cooked, not overdone. I tried the lunch special which was a linguine with seafood in a white wine sauce and some fresh tomatoes. The seafood was perfectly done. It's easy to overcook calamari, but this calamari was tender and delicious. I'll confess that I sopped up each last bit of the sauce with the delicious rustic bread. The bread, by the way, was accompanied by a compound butter which was delicious.
Although we were sated, we couldn't resist a delicious dessert of a multi-layered "cookie" (I'm not sure what to call it) which had cream in between the layers. There was some semi-freddo on the plate as well as a wonderful rum ice cream with cracked caramel throughout. Just to end it with perfection, we shared a tasting of three types of chocolate, each with a different level of cocoa.
Frankly, Domenico Cornacchia, Giovanni Carlo and Golnaz Feiz are adding something quite wonderful to the Bethesda dining scene. I can't wait to go back and continue to explore their most interesting menu. There is a chef's table (for 6) which can be reserved for a tasting menu. It shouldn't be hard to find 5 friends to share what I would expect would be a wonderful meal!