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Now that's the crust I remember. I didn't put that as a subtitle to this thread on a whim. It's the gosh-darned truth. There are a lot of places in the DC area that claim NY-Style Pizza and 99% of those claims are complete bullshit. The remaining 1% come oh-so-close but no cigar. Today I had it in, of all places, that deadly, strip of foul restaurants on S. 23rd Street in Crystal City between Eads and Fern. Cafe Pizzaiolo opened up quite recently in a building on the corner that has seen businesses come and go over the past 5 years or so. I would have skipped right by this place because everything on that strip just sucks patootie. But then I saw this review in yesterday's paper and, lo and behold, I'm familiar with the owner from a past life. Owner Larry Ponzi is one of the people responsible for the restaurant in the National Museum of the American Indian. And while it may not be fine dining, Mitsitam Cafe is one of the most unique and worthwhile places to eat in this city simply because of its special menu highlighting a broad array of Native American ingredients and recipes. That venture alone shows that Larry has class and vision. Cafe Pizzaiolo, the restaurant he just opened on his own proves he has talent. He makes two kinds of pizza, NY-style and Neapolitan. Personally I wasn't a fan of the Neapolitan. But I wouldn't hesitate to suggest you try it, as your taste may differ. My problem is that NY style is far and away my preference. And Cafe Pizzaiolo's NY style is far and away better than any NY style pizza I've had in the area. (For the record, my preference has always been Vace, but as I said above, close but no cigar). Great crunch. Great resistance. Great chew. Just enough shimmering oil from the sausage. Wonderful yeasty flavor. Fresh tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella. Pepperoni and roasted garlic also topped my selection today. If you get it, and you should, be sure to keep it simple. The menu has a lot of toppings available that I consider questionable, such as pineapple and chicken breast, but I'm more of a purist and would also make the possession or sale of cinnamon raisin bagels a capital crime if given the chance. Hey, so when is Bebo's pizza oven going to be running? Who cares anymore? Unless you are allergic to NY style pizza, why even consider putting up with all the service issues at Bebo? Drinkie drinks? Aside from the fresh brewed iced tea, today there were five red wines and four white wines (including a prosecco) to choose from. All Italian and not a single cute animal on the labels. By the glass from 5-8 dollars, bottles run $19-$29, but if you choose to take your bottle to go instead of dining in the restaurant, that bottle price drops almost in half. Beers? I didn't see any drafts, but the bottle list is nothing to sneeze at. No Bud or Miller in the bunch. Bell's Two Hearted or Oberon. Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA or Indian Brown Ale. Peroni. Fuel Cafe Stout from Lakefront Brewery in Wisconsin. All about $4.75/bottle. The dining room is pleasant. Warm wood and colorful abstract oil paintings. Neon light accents and Italian advertising posters. I think it was a coffee bar, Starbucks-type knockoff before Cafe Pizzaiolo opened and you most definitely will see some resemblance. It definitely has that cafe feel. But as any Rays the Steaks diner will tell you, "who cares about decor?" (I'm also stuck thinking of George Costanza saying, "Eyebrows? Who cares about eyebrows?") This is the kind of pizza that can be baked early in the day, left out on a tray stand and eaten by the cut slice hours later and still taste great even if it's not reheated. And he sells it by the slice too! In a world surrounded by crap delivery pizza, Pizzaiolo delivers too. So now there's no need to order delivery from anywhere else if you're in the neighborhood. Larry is an independent local businessman who lives in the area and clearly takes pride in what he does. He is EXACTLY the kind of person who needs the support and word of mouth by people like us. And he wants to hear what you think, too. So be sure to tell him. Bottom line.......consider a visit to Cafe Pizzaiolo. If you take Metro, it's only about an 8 minute walk from the Crystal City station and essentially is no farther than going to Bebo or any of the other spots there on Crystal Drive. It's just a couple blocks further away from the river. If you like it, post it. If you don't, send me a PM first so I can come and choke you with a cinnamon raisin bagel before you have a chance to type your first vowel. ETA: This is $20 Tuesday country, pardners. -
https://www.maialinomare.com/ Now open. -
Does anyone have tips for how to make this successfully? My husband and I love it and our repeated attempts to make it have been failures. Usually we end up with pasta coated in slightly cheesy water with small lumps of cheese, or mostly bare pasta with the cheese in a lump at the bottom and/or stuck on the spoon or sides. We've tried just mixing the cheese in to wet pasta and adding water, whisking the cheese and water separately to try to make a sauce, and the method where you sort of make a paste of butter, cheese and pepper and add it to the pasta. what are we doing wrong?
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Just announced. If my googling is correct this will be in the new mixed development/apartment building along Connecticut Ave currently underconstruction. And given the size, 2,800 sq ft plus 1,000 sq ft patio, that's the only location that would make sense. The developers are going big on this one! Looks like it will be pasta focused with salads, antipasti, salumi, cheese, and meat/fish entrees. Bread Furst on one side of the street and the Trabocchis on the other. "Fabio and Maria Trabocchi are Opening a Van Ness Restaurant Devoted to Pasta" by Becky Krystal on washingtonpost.com- 37 replies
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They just opened their Reston location Friday - apparently have another coming soon to Tysons and one already open in DC according to their website. On good word, the place was packed, food was pretty good. It is situated on the main promenade diagonally across from Clydes in the old Paolo's (then Neyla) space. Indoor and outdoor seating is also nice, the latter being close to the main fountain at RTC. Appear to have around 25 locations throughout the US. Part of the FOX Restaurant Group which also has a FlowerChild location in DC. -
Had dinner here (Penn Quarter location) twice this past week. Originally enticed by Restaurant week offerings, and lured back because the dinner was good enough to simplify and try their burgers. Ricotta gnocchi truffle cream, was some of the best I have had. Literally cut the gnocchi into halves to make it last longer in order to mop up the truffle cream. Chicken pot pie braised chicken, baby portobello mushrooms, pearl onion, cheddar biscuit top - the cheddar biscuit top was more of a flakier, dumpling consistency than a more traditional pie--type of crust. The braised chicken and broth all finished well; not a piece left at our table of 4. Caramel banana bread pudding brown butter ice cream, banana rum caramel - cannot describe it any better than that - enough said. Atmosphere was lively, bar was hoping before the dinner crowd picked up both nights. The circa 1950s black/white themed dining area was comfortable and sounds reasonable. You could talk at a normal tone without shouting as is often the case in open-air type restaurants. Service never missed a beat, and from water service to clearing our tables efficiently everything flowed seamlessly. Overall dining time ~1 hour 15 minutes with 2 rounds of cocktails from the bar. Bar drinks were quick and pretty consistent. Nightly specials are static and looked good; hence why we came back for the Burger Royale Thursday night. Burgers were very good, and the fries made all of us clean our plates.
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Does anyone know this cut? "Our History" on rockyandcarlosrestaurant.com
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Jul 28, 2017 - "At Venice Beach's New Pasta Palace Felix, Jonathan Gold Admires Noodly Views and Italian Cooking" by Jonathan Gold on latimes.com -
This family-owned place has been around since 1993 - it is tucked away at the end of a strip-shopping plaza at the opposite end from Outback. Carpool Herndon is 200' away. They are open for lunch and dinner daily. The food is good or good+; just have not been there enough recently to expand. The place is clean and service is friendly. Atmosphere is a little dated, but you will always be greeted as if you have been there before. I had not been in some time, just kind of fallen off our radar, and stopped by last week for a nice lunch. Specials are posted daily and their bread fresh baked. Food comes out efficiently and you can tell they have a lot of regulars.
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Hi all, So I normally don't eat grains as they make me sick, but I'm about to be tested for celiac disease and gluten allergy/intolerance and in order to get a proper test result you need to be eating gluten. So if you wanted to indulge in some of the best homemade bread and pasta in our area without breaking the bank, where would you go? Prefer MD or something in DC easily accessible on the green line, but I'm open to other options. Would prefer not in VA though. (I realize not breaking the bank is relative, so maybe no entrees in the $30s? Twenties, meaning pasta is likely in the lower twenties works.)
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Handmade Pasta Classes with award-winning Sfoglina Simonetta Capotondo , Each course is $65 per person, or purchase all three classes for $175. Seating is limited. To reserve a spot email reservations@fabiotrabocchi.com or call 202.525.1402. All CLASSES SOLD OUT!!!! Wait list available...- 4 replies
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We’re ready to announce the next round of pasta classes today, but we wanted to give you advance notice before the announcement goes live on the website! The next three classes are posted below: March 9 – Filled Pasta, 2:30 – 4:30 Participants will learn the classic egg pasta dough, as well as roll it by hand with the pin, and shape it into various forms such as ravioli and tortellini. $75 per person March 16 – Classic Egg Pasta, 2:30 – 4:30 Participants will learn how to make the classic egg pasta dough, as well as roll it by hand with a rolling pin, and cut it into various shapes, such as tagliatelle, pappardelle, maltagliati, farfalline, garganelli, and quadrucci. $75 per person March 23 – Semolina Pasta without Eggs, 2:30 – 4:30 Participants will learn how to make hand-shaped pasta with an eggless dough made of semolina and water, forming shapes such as trofie, lorighiddas, malloredus, orecchiette, cavatelli, and maccheroni. $75 per person
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I was reminded of the goodness of W&M this weekend when a friend suggested it for dinner. I've gone for lunch in the past, and have always been happy I did. It isn't a cheap lunch, but their breads and pastas are top-notch, and should be your focus. For dinner, Cristina and I shared the pasta special of the day, duck confit stuffed pasta (I can't remember the name of the pasta, but it was kind of a fat tubular ravioli) in a sage butter, and the roasted carrot pizza. I've somehow never had a pizza here, but they do it right. Nice chew and char to the crust. They describe it as Neapolitan style, though I think it's a bit more substantial than that (no soupy center). My pizza came with thin slices of carrot, Fresno chile, and cilantro. The base used Point Reyes Toma cheese and a nice, rustic dukkah (that is, larger chunks of nuts, not super-finely processed). Great flavors and textures. Interesting cocktail menu, and a fairly extensive selections of wines by the glass. I didn't ask to see the full wine list, but apparently there is much more to choose from than what's on the main menu. -
Little Grano [Grano Pasta Bar] is probably the best place in the Hampden area.I am not sure of the raison d'etre of the big one [Grano Emporio]. -
I had a wonderful meal at Seven Hills when I visited San Francisco a few months ago. Everything was fresh and fabulous. The pastas were particularly good, and the meatballs were the best I have ever tasted. If you drive there, heed the advice on their website and park at the nearby Jug Shop. -
Did you know that Carbonara didn't exist until after WWII? And in many ways, it's an American dish? I sure didn't know this. From Wikipedia: Pasta alla carbonara is unrecorded before the Second World War; notably, it is absent from Ada Boni's 1930 La Cucina Romana. The dish is first attested in 1950, when it was described in the Italian newspaper La Stampa as a dish sought by the American officers after the allied liberation of Rome in 1944.[23] It was described as a Roman dish, when many Italians were eating eggs and bacon supplied by troops from the United States.[24] It was included in Elizabeth David's Italian Food, an English-language cookbook published in Great Britain in 1954.[25]
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I've been to Mamma Lucia once. (In Bethesda -- don't know if there's more than one.) I was in a big group that included children not sprung off by me. It seemed like a perfect place for kids. The staff and clientele were tolerant and friendly. And, I might add, my entree was delicious. It was a pasta with a spicy pork sauce -- can't recall the name. But when it was served, the following things occurred: (1) I thought, "Wow, that's big, I'll never finish it"; then (2) I thought, "Wow, that was big, I can't believe I finished it." -
I rarely post in the Baltimore section, but I was surprised not to see Supano's with a write-up. It's a family-owned Rat Pack-themed Italian restuarant with gorgeous woodwork all over the interior, and pictures of Frankie and Dino and all of their buddies festooning the walls. A large projection screen in one corner dominates the dining room, with videos of Sinatra's concert events running non-stop. The menu also announces "Best Italian Restaurant in Baltimore" and "Best Steakhouse in Baltimore" by various sources, as well as many dishes such as "World's Best Eggplant Parmigiana" and "Baltimore's Best (this or that)"....superlatives aside, this is a restaurant with incredible decor and very good food. I had the shrimp cocktail and the "World's Best" Eggplant Parmigiana. The shrimp cocktail was pretty good, although not the "best" I've had. The eggplant was worthy of superlatives, but perhaps not "World's Best"....nonetheless, I would most definitely order that dish again. As you can imagine, the steaks and chops are also the stars of the show, and the pasta and other Italian selections look like they're from a competent kitchen. There's a whole lot of menu to be sampled here, and I will do my best every time I visit Baltimore. -
Family dinner last night at Paulie's. A few things to know going in: It's counter-service, which is a surprising choice (to me) for a restaurant like this, but seems to be a fairly popular model in Houston. It is small and tables are first-come first-served. Portion sizes are mind-bogglingly big, and a half-portion of pasta will be enough for 2 meals. The panzanella salad in no way resembled any panzanella I have encountered before, and was essentially a spinach salad with a few croutons in it. Not bad, but not what we expected. Again, the portion size was crazy, and I would suggest a half portion to share between 2 or 3. The Caesar salad my in-laws got was the better choice, and perplexingly had a higher crouton to roughage ratio than the panzanella. The kids happily devoured spaghetti and meatballs. A couple small bites I had were good...a smooth, fairly sweet sauce with light and well-seasoned meatballs. At $8 for a "small" that 2 kids only finished half of, this is a ridiculous value. Cristina's creste di gallo was served with that same tomato sauce, kicked up with some red pepper, pickled onions and half moons of sweet Italian sausage. The sausage itself is nothing special, a finely ground and tightly packed version with a good dose of fennel and caraway (but not too much). My mother-in-law had the skirt steak served with a side of pesto gnocchi. The steak itself was described (by my MIL) as "a bit chewy, but hey, it's skirt steak," and the gnocchi I tasted were good - medium density and coated in a solid standard basil pesto. I think I won the night with my bucatini Amatriciana, which was smoky, and spicy, with a good amount of sweetness from the tomatoes. This is the must-order dish as far as I can tell. With prices that are $11 or less for "small" portions of pasta that are really enough for 2 people, the value at Paulie's can't be denied. The pastas are reportedly made in house, and were all decent, though I prefer a bit more al dente texture. Reasonable people may disagree though, as my wife thinks my "al dente" is too chewy. There are a number of well-priced beers by the bottle (local bottles priced at $5), and Italian wines by the glass ($10-15) and bottle (all in the $40 range). Paulie's is a neighborhood gem that I would compare favorably to Frank or Supper in NYC. Dinner isn't going to blow your mind, but it is solid, and perfect for a family-style night out.
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New York press and food fiends have been raving about Pasquale Jones, a tiny restaurant in NoLita serving pizza and other goods from a wood burning oven. Not wanting to deal with the crowds or a wait, we headed there for lunch on Sunday. Despite suggestions from my cousins to get the clam pizza, @MichaelBDC and I decided to split an order of radicchio salad, a margherita pizza, and a half bottle of red wine. @MichaelBDC and I love a well thought out and dressed salad and the radicchio salad was great and a nice start to the meal. The pizza was...fine. Given everything I had read and heard about the pizza at Pasquale Jones, I was really expecting something transformative or at least a pizza that made me rethink all other pizzas but I was disappointed. The ingredients were very good and high quality but the execution was lacking. I generally don't mind or even notice less than perfect pizza, but was surprised to find a noticeably soupy middle. At $21, I wanted a do over but we forged on. The wine was a dry red, likely a chianti, that was definitely overpriced. But then again, we were in Manhattan. Sadly, this meal was a disappointment, our sole lackluster food excursion during our long weekend in NYC. If I lived in lower Manhattan, I would be willing to give Pasquale Jones another chance, especially to try some of the pastas and entrees at dinner. However, since my trips to NYC are annual or semi-annual at most, I would much rather return to old favorites and explore some new-to-me places.N -
"The Secret Behind Italy's Rarest Pasta" by Eliot Stein on bbc.com How rare? Only three people in the world know how to make it.
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"Amatrice, Italy - Home of Spaghetti all'Amatriciana - Devastated by Earthquake" by dcs and FunnyJohn
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I've noticed the appearance of Mafalde on several menus in town lately. Last night, for example, I had it at Hank's Pasta Bar (where it's on the menu as "Malfalde," and I don't think that's a regional spelling variant; I think it's a simple misspelling that would have remained on the menu forever - Pasta Guide.pdf - that will be five dollars) - it cost $19, and was made with a generous amount of fennel sausage (enough for a piece in every bite), spinach, and cream - it's not a "liquidy" dish; it's more of a "glazed" dish, as odd as that may sound. The portion size was perfectly reasonable for what I paid (I never did get any bread, but I didn't ask), and I would recommend this dish for someone not concerned with calories. The appearance of Mafalde could also be due to the increasing number of upscale Italian restaurants in DC - the past 2-3 years have been an Italian Renaissance (sorry). I've had this pasta more than once recently, but I don't remember where else I've had it. My dish looked *exactly* like the picture below, except mine didn't have as much liquid (which you can see on the right side of the bowl). Mafalde is essentially a Lasagna noodle, except that it's about one centimeter wide and much shorter in length, so it comes in little strips instead of big sheets.
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I apologize if I'm being repetitive but I haven't found a dedicated Pasta Mia thread and being that it is always packed I figured someone might have something to say about it. My real question is WHY DON'T THEY USE THE BAR??? I've been there a number of times, waited out in the cold a number of times and not until recently walked into the back of the restaurant to find a full bar, stocked, with additional tables and seating!! It seems like a huge revenue center for them if only they wanted the cash. I know what you're all thinking...nothing about Pasta Mia is run according to any efficient or sane method, but come on. They've got a full bar and they make people stand outside in the cold. Give them a drink and the people will pay!!! Also, I had thought (or hoped) that they made some of their pastas fresh and I was surprised to find out that none of them are in fact made in house. -
I was at Balducci's today and I saw a new pasta. It's dried pasta but the packaging is delicate. The tagliatelle looked very thin, almost like fresh pasta. When I got home, I realized the cooking time is only 4 minutes. I made pasta with fresh clams, and the pasta tasted excellent. If anyone knows more about this fabulous pasta, please post.
