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Dino, Dean Gold and Kay Zimmerman's Italian Enoteca in Cleveland Park with Beverage Director Fabian Malone - Closed

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deangold
deangold

It's been a fun ride.  Thanks to all who have supported us for the last 8 and a half years.  

deangold
deangold

I want to thank Don and the members of the community for helping us make Dino what it is, even if what it is isn't financially successful enough to go on.  It is amazing to know that we are the second

deangold
deangold

Don wrote me questioning if we use MSG in our hamburger. At his suggestion, here is my reply... We don't use any free MSG. I am not aware of any ingredient that has MSG in it. We look at o

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MarkS hammerhead

MarkS

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Congrats

We hosted my son's high school graduation dinner at Dino and it was amazing. We must have scared Dean off as he did not come try the amazing Brunello I brought, but the food was perfect. Anytime you can have three generations all happy and satisfied, it is not an easy task.

My wife and I need to come back..Soon..Maybe celebrate after dropping my son off at college(far away)

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deangold leviathan

deangold

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We must have scared Dean off as he did not come try the amazing Brunello I brought...
Did anyone check my pulse to see if I was dead and the defibrillator hadn't licked in yet? I hate when that happens! Got any more bottles???
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dinwiddie hammerhead

dinwiddie

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Friday wife e-mailed me at work and said she was in the mood for Italian and would I make a reservation at Dino. Being a dutiful husband, and always willing to go to Dino, I got right on it.

So my wife, son, and I had a fantastic meal.

We started with appetizers for the table, Panzanella, Insalata di Porcini, Seafood Salad, the apricots wrapped in panchetta with cheese, a half order of Rigatoni ai Funghi, and a half order of Fusilli con Ragu d'Anatra. All were wonderful, but the Panzanella and the Porcini salad were fantastic.

For our entrees I ordered the Risotto di Mare. It was so good you had to put your fork down between each bite to savor it. My son ordered the Pesce al Cartoccio, fish in parchement paper with zucchini, tomatoes, potato, lemon & herbs. My wife had the Salmon medallions and declared it the best salmon she had eaten in years.

We washed it all down with a bottle of a 2005 Toros Collio Del Friuli.

For dessert we had the trio of sorbetto, rubarb with gelato, and vanilla gelato, fresh strawberry sauce & black pepper. Coffee for my wife, espresso for my son and I ended the meal.

Once again, a fantastic meal and a wonderful time talking with Dean and Kay.

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deangold leviathan

deangold

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I glanced at my muted TV just now and there is Dean on 9NewsNow, cooking in their new studio kitchen. Fresh apricots in pancetta, lamb chops, and a savory plum salsa. Great promo for Dino and for local farmers markets!
I'm surprised you recognized me given that I was for once not in a Hawaiian shirt!
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Scott Johnston leviathan

Scott Johnston

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Fresh apricots in pancetta are to die for...run before the season is over, this is a great dish.

The new pickled onions are better than the imported ones (I have a bit of an addiction here, really under control after eating a #10 tin of them). Please part with the recipe!

The Seafood stew and the Branizino continue to amaze me. Thanks for another great meal!

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Adam23 ventworm

Adam23

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Fresh apricots in pancetta are to die for...run before the season is over, this is a great dish.

The new pickled onions are better than the imported ones (I have a bit of an addiction here, really under control after eating a #10 tin of them). Please part with the recipe!

The Seafood stew and the Branizino continue to amaze me. Thanks for another great meal!

Agreed on both counts. We had the apricots last night and they were superb. The seafood food was delicious and so flavorful as well.

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zoramargolis donrocks@aol.com

zoramargolis

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Next Food Network Star, anyone? :lol:
Jerry Garcia lives?!?

Dan, The Food Network would be much more likely to cast you than Dean-- I'm afraid that Dean is the wrong generation. If Julia Child showed up there today, at the same age that she started on PBS (around 50), they wouldn't look twice at her. Too old, and not skinny and cute. Young guys are allowed to be chubby, as long as they are likeable and funny. So, when are you submitting your tape to them, Dan?

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DanCole42 leviathan

DanCole42

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Dan, The Food Network would be much more likely to cast you than Dean-- I'm afraid that Dean is the wrong generation. If Julia Child showed up there today, at the same age that she started on PBS (around 50), they wouldn't look twice at her. Too old, and not skinny and cute. Young guys are allowed to be chubby, as long as they are likeable and funny. So, when are you submitting your tape to them, Dan?
Sorry. I'm just chubby. :lol:

If Julia Child showed up there today, at the same age that she started on PBS, they'd probably say "ZOMBIE!!!!"

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soapy ventworm

soapy

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I love dino's and I wish I could go there more freqently. I took my husband to celebrate some good fortunes that we have had I finally got to try a mixed drink (kaffir lime rickey, good but not amazing. The wine list there is so crazy and long it's easy to forget about other forms of delightful alcohol you can get at dino's!

We had the resteraunt month deal. For appetizers we shared mushroom over polenta, (best dish of the night, so so wonderful) griled apricots wrapped with procuitto and stuffed with marscapone (was delicious but the plating was a little odd, just think a smaller plate would make the dish look less spares vs 6 lonley appricot halves on a big plate) duck ragu and the mushrooms with ramps over pasta. and for desert we had the guffanti picante and annother cheese that I'm blanking on the name. I noticed that since I've been to dino's roughly 5 months ago they offer less jams and things on the plate but they give more cheese. three cheers for more cheese. We capped the night off with complimetnary limoncello and this awesome chocolate/hazelnut gelato concotion. Looking at the menu I wish I had 2 extra stomachs to make room for all the other wonderful dishes on the menu that I want to enjoy. Oh well. I think Dion's is my favorite DC resteraunt, just delightul food.

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porcupine leviathan

porcupine

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After a day of incredible highs and unbelievable lows, I needed a good stiff drink and some light, tasty food for celebration/consolation. We chose Dino. Whispering Manhattan, grilled white peaches with prosciutto, apricots with bacon and mascarpone, chilled fennel soup, and caprese made everything better (almost). Thanks, Dean.

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turbogrrl ventworm

turbogrrl

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Princess had holed herself up in the house, and Nick and I decided to drag her out. She wouldn't help, though. Anything you're in the mood for? 'Food.' Any particular *kind* of food? 'Food.' Can you narrow it down to a continent? 'Too hard.' Animal, vegetable, or mineral? 'Eh. Vegetable. Oh, and I refuse to drive myself.'

Well, fine then. We piled her in the back seat of the car and took her to Dino. (This is a sacrifice, as Princess lives in bethesda and Dino is only two miles from my house. Clearly we should have just put her on the metro.) We walk in, and there are Porcupine and Mr. P finishing up their meal! We took the bar table behind them, but we managed to not throw anything but conversation at them. Dean let us know that he had one order left of the scallops-as-butter-conveyance-system, so we couldn't say no to that. (it was everything it was promised to be, too.) What followed was a blissful orgy of tastes: apricots and caprese and burrata, a whispering manhattan for me, and risotto and rabbit & wild boar stew and milk fed young pig roasted on the rotisserie. The peppercorn ice cream was a definite hit; I had it in my affogato, Princess had it with the roasted plums.

Princess will never actually admit when she's had a good time, but I'm pretty sure I saw a smile on her face. Nick and I certainly had a fantastic evening. The only problem is that I'm not actually hungry yet. I guess it's going to be a late late brunch kind of day. Many thanks to Dean for being an incomparable host and chef and raconteur!

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seanvtaylor ventworm

seanvtaylor

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We had an excellent RW experience here last night. A half order of the wild boar pasta was a nice starter--this dish has been at Dino for a long time, and I still don't tire of it. I think it's the pasta more than the boar. My entree was the young pig--really tender and flavorful served, beautifully roasted with a nice rind of fat on the edge, with some smashed fingerlings that almost outshone the pork. A cheese course and a bottle of Barbaresco really brought the meal together. Only disappointment was that they didn't have any heirloom tomatoes, so no gramignia all'aglione. Despite that, as with all meals we've had here, they've been really enjoyable and we look forward to going back.

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mr food hammerhead

mr food

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A great 3 hour meal. Food and drink excellent-wine service was slow. I told Dean he needs to rethink how the wine is delivered on a busy night especially given the care he takes in his list but this is a very minor quibble. Our server was friendly and attentive throughout the meal (no, I can't remember her name :lol:) The pig was indeed beautiful as SVT notes. We all enjoyed our starters-the fried (but not greasy)seafood combo, 3 cheese polenta were great. A nice trio of gelato completed the meal with cheeses for my spouse. Dean is one of the good guys in this business and I will continue to recommend his establishment.

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deangold leviathan

deangold

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Only disappointment was that they didn't have any heirloom tomatoes, so no gramignia all'aglione.

Our last two shipments of heirlooms have been 2's which means they need 2 days to ripen fully and so we were a little light ont he tomatoes. Since we have 4 heirloom dishes right now, we decided to go with a mushroom pasta so we would be out of only one dish and not run out of four! But we are now awash in fully ripe tomatoes. We ahve over 6 varities on hand tonight and 3 more new ones coming tomorrow. Hurrah!

...wine service was slow. I told Dean he needs to rethink how the wine is delivered on a busy night especially given the care he takes in his list but this is a very minor quibble.

I can't argue with that! [knock on wood]We were slammed to the walls last night. This restaurant week is running far ahead of my projections thus far [/knock on wood]. Hard to hire a sommelier for just 2 weeks a year. Plus my wife sleeps with our current one :lol: !

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sphere777 ventworm

sphere777

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Went to Dino's last Saturday and did the Restaurant Week meal. I chose two appetizers--the grilled artichoke hearts, the tomato and mozzarella salad--and selected the venison steak as an entree along with a glass of petit syrah (2004 but I can never remember what wine I drink).

The artichokes were good but a tad too much for one person but I dearly loved the tomato and mozzarella salad, thanks to the heirloom tomatoes. I didn't know about them at the time but hey it's tomato season so I was hoping to get lucky!

The venison steak came on a bed of mushrooms and greens (my guess is kale) as well as a very nice balsamic vinegar reduction. It was cooked to the pinker side of medium rare and was just perfect to my mind. I was very pleased with the steak--it was very rich and filling. Note: the steak was smaller than I expected, I just figured that its size was due to how the deer was put together.

I don't get to go out often and I was very very pleased by this meal. Thanks Mr. Gold!

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mr food hammerhead

mr food

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Graziano Mendocino County. Good stuff!

Yep, I broke my usual Italian pledge at Dino for this wine and worth it. First glass corked and Tina (our server as my wife reminded me) quickly brought another carafe/glass. Did I say how much I appreciated being asked if my wines were at the correct temperature???? They all were :lol:;):o:)

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xcanuck hammerhead

xcanuck

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Went here for dinner last night with the in-laws. Everything was wonderful, as usual, but the Maialino deserves special praise. Holy f**k...talk about decadence. My arteries are going to be in shock for weeks to come. You gotta love pig fat to enjoy this 12 week old, milk-fed piglet. Tender and luscious just begins to describe it. I really can't say I've ever eaten pork that delicate (not tasteless!...delicate). The dessert wine (a 2003 La Giaretta Recioto di Valpolicella) was the perfect end to the meal. Add in an antipasti plate and the total charge was only $35 as part of Restaurant Month. Thanks, Dean!

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MarkS hammerhead

MarkS

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Another great dinner at Dino Saturday night.

My two teenage boys had the Burrata and I had the Antipasto.. The antipasto could have fed the table and it was amazing. Each vegetable had it's own flavor from sweet, to tangy to pickled.

Of course I had brought a 2000 Barolo which was great. I also brought a Brunello but didn't open it as I had an early morning the next day.

I had the pig. Again this was amazing.

My Wife had the veal. Clean plate there.

My two sons each had paste with Meatballs. Thanks to Dino for obliging as they really are orderig off the kids menu but wanted and recieved an adult portion. Teenage boys eat a lot.

Desert was heaven.

I need to return on Tuesday/Thursday when there is no corkage. Either way. Dino is amazing.

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KeithA leviathan

KeithA

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Very nice meal last night at Dino. Started with the fried zucchini blossoms, which were not what I expected. The fried coating was more like a dense, but still light tempura than a light flour dusting I've had with similar preparations before. Still very good, especially the the garlicky, rich tomato puree on the side. The caprese was awesome - you can't beat a salad like this when the ingredients are super fresh. My wife had the pesto linguini as an entree which was perfectly al dente with chunks of squash and eggplant and a nice amount of pesto coating the pasta and veggies. I really enjoyed the venison steak which seemed to me very similar to a beef steak, but cooked perfect med. rare with a very wonderful flavorful madeira wine sauce that just went so well with the steak and the potato/onion side I opted for instead of the usual kale. What can I say I needed more man food - fried app, meat and potatoes for dinner :lol: Since I did the extended RW deal, I also had the hazelnut chocolate dessert which is essentially a big slice of ice cream cake. The top 1/3 is rich hazelnut gelato and the bottom 2/3 is chocolate gelato studded with chocolate pieces and hazelnuts and the whole thing drizzled with chocolate ganache like ribbons. Very good for this chocoholic. Also the muscat/moscato dessert wine was very good too, although it didn't really go with the rich choco-dessert. Another nice visit to Dino. My only regret is that I couldn't convince my wife to get the garlicky tomato pasta that the people next to us ordered which looked and of course smelled very good.

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brettashley01 ventworm

brettashley01

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Had a wonderful evening last night at Dino. The food came out at the perfect pace- absolutely no rush, we were able to linger over appetizers for at least 20 minutes. An absolute gem of a waiter (I wish I remembered his name!) who was neither intrusive nor absent, and made us feel very welcome. And what a great Restaurant Week/Month special! It was so hard to decide what to order...

We started with the vegetable antipasto, which was a HUGE plate of grilled marinated vegetables, plus mozzarella and pecorino, and a bean salad. I love those grilled onions. He ordered the half portion of the wild boar pappardelle, which didn't have enough sauce to my liking, not that that stopped me from tasting one, two, three times.

For mains we had the zuppa di pesce and the mahi mahi. Good news first: the zuppa was delicious. I got the last scallop. (Unfortunately all the clam shells were empty. Huh?) Bad news: the mahi. I actually giggled when both dishes arrived at the same time. What a contrast: the zuppa was colorful and abundant, while the mahi was... not so much. It was a small piece of fish wrapped in parchment. We were expecting vegetables to spill out when the pouch was opened. But under the fish sat one lonely slice of squash, and one small fingerling potato. Hmm.. we ordered mizuna greens to round out the meal. Maybe my eyes are bigger than my stomach but both mains seemed smaller than the appetizers. Anyway, the fish was well-cooked, which is what matters most I suppose.

Dessert was the stewed rhubarb with black peppercorn vanilla gelato, and two cheeses which I can't recall- but I did get adventurous and order the one which came with a warning "BEWARE OF THIS CHEESE." It was funky but good. One kink though, there were candied walnuts on my cheese plate, even though I had warned my waiter of my allergy. Not cool, but at least I had someone to pass them off to. As my date does not imbibe, I had both the grappa and the muscato. This was my first time with grappa. We don't go well together- as our waiter put it, it was like "moonshine." I think that was my first and last sip.

Ok so I know there are some complaints in there, but on the whole I really love Dino and will definitely return. It's just comfortable, never rushed, and good quality food. Maybe next time I'll stick with a bunch of appetizers as it seems this is where the restaurant currently excels.

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susanmab ventworm

susanmab

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I'm taking my date and some friends to Dino Monday night. This is quite a coup, because I have not been able to talk him into going there with me, and I've been trying for about six months. He's been "a few times" and swears that its been service and not food issues that turned him off. Personally, I've never experienced any problems, so I'm not quite sure what he's on about.

So I'm looking forward to a lovely evening. It's been over a year and I am long long overdue! What's on the menu right now that I shouldn't miss?

(it's barely 8am and I'm getting hungry just discussing it here)

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xcanuck hammerhead

xcanuck

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I'm taking my date and some friends to Dino Monday night. This is quite a coup, because I have not been able to talk him into going there with me, and I've been trying for about six months. He's been "a few times" and swears that its been service and not food issues that turned him off. Personally, I've never experienced any problems, so I'm not quite sure what he's on about.

So I'm looking forward to a lovely evening. It's been over a year and I am long long overdue! What's on the menu right now that I shouldn't miss?

(it's barely 8am and I'm getting hungry just discussing it here)

You have to try the Maialino - milk fed suckling pig cooked on the rotisserie and served with a fantastic pig stock sauce. It's my favorite addition to the menu.
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deangold leviathan

deangold

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Query for Dean: Back at the Dim Sum Sunday, you mentioned you might do a tomato menu or some such to celebrate the good tomatoes. Have I missed that (he said hoping not)? Or have the whims of produce changed your thoughts on that?
We are going to offer a tomato tassting menu from September 3 thru September 17.
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susanmab ventworm

susanmab

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You have to try the Maialino - milk fed suckling pig cooked on the rotisserie and served with a fantastic pig stock sauce. It's my favorite addition to the menu.

Damn, that sounds right up my alley. When I lived in New Orleans, the season for cochon de lait was pretty well-celebrated. It's been years.

It's almost 9:30. Is it more acceptable to be thinking about dinner now I wonder?

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