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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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Our 3 cheese polenta has been dribbles down the outfits of beautiful babies from all over the DC area!

Polenta with reggiano was my daughter's favorite first "feed herself" food. I'd pour the polenta into a baking dish and let it cool until it congealed. Then I would cut it up into small cubes. Even now, as a young adult, if I make polenta or cheese grits for her, her face lights up. She uses a fork to eat it now, I hasten to add.

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Hi all

We still have reservations available for our special menu on New Year's Eve. We will not be serving our ala carte menu. The cost of the menu is $79 per person {$69 if you reserve by 6:30pm} and you can choose 3 courses for $59 which included the prosecco & carviar topped deviled egg. Wine flights will be available for $39 or $79. Here is our menu.

Per Salute...

Prosecco e Uova alla Diavola con Caviale

Celebrate the New year with a Prosecco toast and Taurino's deviled egg topped with mascarpone & caviar!

Per Entrare…

Bocconcini di Capo d'Anno

Small Mouthfulls for the New Year:

Baccala alla Livornese: Fried baccala in a spicy tomato sauce

Taylor Bay Scallop Gratinee

Wild Mushroom Duck & Farro Soup

{vegetarian trio option offered}

Antipasti...

Your choice of

Panna Cotta di Pomodoro

Summer Yellow Tomato panna cotta with saffron aioli & rosemary oil

Terrine

A selection of house made pates served with house made mostarda, cornichons & crostini:

Decadently rich duck liver mousse with Madeira & Cognac

Country style duck & pork terrina with apricots, wild mushrooms & Marcona almonds

Country style rabbit pork & veal terrina with lots of pancetta, bourbon soaked cherries, rosemary & hazelnuts

Crudo di Capesante di Nantucket

Nantucket Bay scallops marinated in lemon juice with baby greens

Lesso Rifratto

Tuscan Hash - slow simmered beef & veal pan fried with potatoes, onions, red wine, tomatoes

Primi…

Your choice of

Risotto alla Novarese

A very hearty risotto with prosciutto, salame, veggies & house made summer tomato sauce.

Maltagliata

"Badly cut" pasta with lentils, veggies, formaggio di fossa

Salsiccia e Vongole

Linguine with house made sausage, clams, greens, house made summer red heirloom tomato sauce

Pappardelle ai Cinghiale

Our signature pasta: wild boar with raisins, currants, spices, grana cheese

Secondi....

Your choice of

Gamba d'Anatra

Dr Joe's Pekin duck leg, slow cooked & pan crisped, citrus duck glaze, with duck fat fried fingerlings & Brussels sprouts, wild mushroom confit

Pescaspada

Line caught swordifsh, grilled, saffron scented fish fumet cream, roasted baby bok choi

Filetto

Vande Rose tenderloin steak wrapped in pancetta with a black truffle red wine sauce; baby carrots & Taurino's mashed potatoes

Maialino

Our signature milk fed rotisserie pork with Rosemary jus, shaved truffle, sauteed pea shoots & smashed fingerlings

Verdure al Forno

Grilled mushrooms, winter veggies, fonduta, breadcrumbs, grana baked in a casserole.

Dolce…

Your choice of

Formaggi

New Year's cheese plate

Panna Cotta di Espresso

Cara Cara orange caramel sauce

Sgropino

A Venetian "cocktail" of a dessert: Prosecco, Vodka, house made lemon sorbetto blended till smooth, served in a flute with a straw!

Tiramisu

Torte di Mela

Tuscan Jewish apple cake

Have a happy and healthy New Year's!

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Grover and I had an amazing dinner here on Friday night. You'll have to pardon the vagueness, but each course built on the previous and they were all excellent. We started with the tomato panna cotta and the Duck Beggars Purse pate. You cannot believe how wonderful the tomato panna cotta was. It brought back Summer and fresh tomatoes. For a second course, I had the Risotto alla Navarese and Grover's soup was Duck Stock and Wild Mushroom with farro. The only words that come close to describing the risotto is "OMG, heavenly". For the main course, I had lamb short-ribs accompanied by mashed potatoes and greens. Needless to say, the veggies were ignored in favor of the ribs. The ribs were excellent. They were flavorful, tender and fell off the bone. By this time we were both totally stuffed, so naturally we had to have dessert... House infused Ambersweet Orange-"cello"...which should probably be against the law because it was so good.

Dean selected the wine pairings, Kay selected dessert and the choices were spot-on. When we left, we were happily fed and full. All in all, a wonderful dinner.

Edited to correct my lousy spelling and to insert the correct names of the dishes we had, so that you can order the same things when you go to Dino.

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Went to Dino's this Friday. Overall, the food was solid and the service was attentive, but not stuffy. The saltimbocca was the best I have ever had. It was so tender that I had a hard time picking it up with a fork. Husband and I fought over the last meatball. The free form lasagna was rustic, gouey, comforting. My only complaint was the seafood stew. The broth was a tomato garlic based and tasted robust and flavorful, however the seafood in there, especially the rock shrimp were overcooked.

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Burrata was mmmm.... Food & wine was very impressve as was the bar service. First time there and I can't believe I waited so long to go; really warm atmosphere to boot. I am sure it's also a great place for dinner, but I suspect I'll make my way back more often for snacks and wine.

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On Friday night, I finally tried the burrata, and I am so glad I did. Other highlights of the night included the zuppa di pesce and the roasted chicken, as well as the beet salad with grapefruit and ricotta salata.

I have a feeling our server was in the weeds, bad, but he was still very patient and prompt. I originally ordered the duck special as an entree, which was described as "duck breast." I took one bite and unfortunately had to spit it out- it was all fat. I'm not talking some skin- it really was all fat! I usually wouldn't send a dish back, but before I even had the chance to, our server/Dean offered to replace it with something else.

It was the first time bringing my parents to Dino, one of my favorite restaurants, and I am confident they saw what keeps me coming back: the food, atmosphere, and graciousness of the entire staff from the busboys to the bartenders to Dean and Kay.

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I had a highly enjoyable evening out with some co-workers last night. The thing that strikes me most about Dino is the phenomenal quality of the ingredients. Everything was totally primo.

One of the best examples of this was the Panna Cotta di Pomodoro. Imagine perfectly ripe tomatoes that somehow time travel into the future from this past summer right onto your plate. The intensity of the flavor was amazing.

I got two words for you-duck necks. The necks served as casing for some delicious duck fat infused sausage. Pork fat may rule, but the duck fat wasn't (or maybe it was) chopped liver in the Fantasia di Macelleria. This house-made plate of pates was a knock out. Make sure you eat your pickled veggies.

I had linguine with clams, sausage, and rapini. The pasta was perfect-one of these days I'll figure out how to make noodles like this myself.

Congratulations on a great place Dean. I look forward to coming back very soon.

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I just made a reservation at Dino for tomorrow night - Yay yay yay (Playing phone tag with sitter but her last voice mail just said she can make it - Really need a nice dinner out!!! - Sick of new year diet and really sick of staying home in the cold)

What is the dress code on a Saturday night - I am assuming no jeans. - Jacket and slacks with no tie okay?

How bad is the parking by Dino on a Saturday night - I usually metro it, but would prefer to drive tomorrow.

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Dino is casual. Jeans are fine, but plenty of folks get a little dressy as well.

No good parking solutions, especially on a Saturday night. Unless you get lucky with a meter on Conn Ave, expect to spend 10-15 minutes driving around the neighborhoods looking for a spot. Along with everyone else.

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Dino is casual. Jeans are fine, but plenty of folks get a little dressy as well.

No good parking solutions, especially on a Saturday night. Unless you get lucky with a meter on Conn Ave, expect to spend 10-15 minutes driving around the neighborhoods looking for a spot. Along with everyone else.

Metro is good alternative, Dinos is about 150 feet from the cleveland park metro.

I took my extended family to Dino's to celebrate my mother in law's birthday. This continues to be one of my favorite places to eat in DC, every time I go back I wish my pocket book and stomach would allow for more trips! My favorite thing from wednesday night was the pear salad, you could probably serve the wine poached pear filled with marscapone as desert! And since I'm not a fan of olives, I thought the pork and duck sausages at the bar were far better bar snack.

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Had an excellect dinner last night, we shared one item in five courses so we created our own tasting menu;

We were about a 1/2 hour early for our reservation, We offered to wait in the bar and was actually looking forward to a few minutes of chilling in the bar, but they had a few cancellations and no shows so we were immediately seated.

Started off wih a round of prosecco - This drink is the best way to start off a terrific night.

Grilled mozzeralla - had just a hint of smoke on a roasted peper

Exotic Mushroom soup - the broth was shocking light there was at least five mushroom varities each with its own nuances and the blending just melted together loving

Lasagne - This isn't your grandmothers lasange - Gourmet with very light flavored sauce so as not to overpower, veal and beef and of course the pasta sheets were homemade to perfection

Lamb short Ribs - Cooked Perfectly

Lemonccello mmmmm (I really wanted a second, but had to drive home)

Gelato Trio - Coffee, Chocolate and vanilla with spice bean. Coffee was my favorite only by a hair over the chocolate (Just a personal taste preference that I did not like the vanilla with pepper spice bean, I thought the spice was too strong while my friend said that was her favorite)

Service was very enjoyable, no pretenious phoney stuff - Had a chance to chat with Dean for a little bit and hear about some future menu revisions (yummmm).

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eeeep. Fell in bed, woke up, still tipsy.

There was a plethora of alcohol, you see. We ran into Madame et Monsieur Porcupine as soon as we walked in the door, and had a lovely impromptu coze, and then some time later we wended our way to our languishing table. And promptly ordered cocktails. No sooner had the cocktails arrived, when the lovely B, with a bit of a shimmy and a throaty voice, delivered two glasses of birthday bubbly and a song, courtesy of M/M P.

I'll never refuse bubbly. Nor B, come to think of it.

I couldn't resist the Summer Tomato Panna Cotta; even though I have tomatoes in my kitchen year-round due to an exuberant houseplant, there really is nothing like the essence of summer tomato. Nick had the Scamorza, which was smoky and cheesy and spicytomatoy. I only stole two bites, really! Nick also managed to score the last Orata Arrosto, thanks to the efforts of our fantastic server Tina, which was entirely worth her extra effort- that is one fine fish! (well, rather... was. You know that caricature of a bit of a fish head and the bones trailing past it? Yeah, that. We demolished that Fish. Victorious.) It quite cast into the shade my Il Peposo alla Fornacina, though I should note that I mopped up every last bit of brisket and sauce with my bread. Seriously. Plate clean.

Which was fortunate, as it was dessert time, and our two splashes of moscato were on the way, and I was only halfway through my cocktail (a Very Fine Five Families, aka the Sicilian Manhattan). And then Nick pushed the rest of his glass of white at me, and ordered me to finish that, too. What was a girl to do? I drank them, of course. I also had to rescue him from the last little bit of his moscato, as I wanted him to be in fine fiddle to drive me home. The sacrifices I make.

I managed to deviate from my norm and try a different dessert, a warm eggy breadpuddyingly delight with gelato. And then there was the extra dessert, because I couldn't make up my mind: the intensely intense Nico. Nick had our usual, the Affogato. (Had to perk him up enough for the drive home somehow.)

The only thing that would have made the evening better? If there had been a nice Firehouse Pole right by our table. With a giant poufy cushiony high-jump landing area (but covered in a featherbed instead of that awful vinyl) surrounding it at the bottom. It would completely disrupt the flow of traffic in the bar, of course, but some sacrifices must be made in the pursuit of awesome. So yeah, that would have been nice. I spent some time fantasizing about that, and then eventually stumbled down the stairs and out into the night.

The car was much farther away than I remembered. I think gnomes must have moved it and then told Nick where it was, since he wasn't surprised to see it where it was, totally at the wrong end of the block.

Did I mention I'm tipsy? But happy. Oh, yes. Also, Restaurant Week is a complete and utter steal. I just hope Dean doesn't go broke before it's over.

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mmmm, dino! What to do when one has a mid-week birthday (on Ash Wednesday, no less) and an early class the next day? Go to a place that feels like home! Very much looking forward to my dinner tonight.

I know, I'm supposed to be fasting or something.... feasting is close enough to fasting, right? Right!

So... I'll bet that class was fun this morning :rolleyes:

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We were lucky enough to score a shipment of Fresh Alaskan Golden King Crab. Fresh Alaskan King is insanely good (and you all know that I am an expert on insanity!).

We will be serving it on pappardelle. We have about 50 orders and it may not last the weekend. The season is closed on this fishery till next year. The other main fishery is open for a few weeks in December.

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We had an outstanding meal at Dino the other night. I had the burrata and the polenta for comfort and the lasagna for dinner -- sooo rich I couldn't finish it! Finished with the avocado gelato. Loved it. The salt just made the cream of the dish glow...

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Fast and Furious opened last night; there was no question that I was going to see it. The first question was *where*... until I realized that it was showing at the Uptown. The only question left was... how many drinks to have beforehand?

We ambled into Dino 30 minutes before the movie started, and settled in at the bar. Our last venture through Scott's cocktail menu declared the The Undertaker a clear winner, so we started off with two of those. Princess declined to drink, no matter how I wheedled and implored. With 15 minutes left before the show, we elected for another round; Scott offered to make us a Corpse Reviver, the inspiration for The Undertaker, so we hedged our bets and had one of each. There was no contest; The Undertaker was the winner by a clear mile. (Hrmm, maybe there needs to be another in the series: The Grave Digger?) Finishing our drinks rather a bit more hastily than was polite, we said our farewells and dashed across the street to settle in for the show.

It was no more and no less than expected. (cars, explosions, explosions, cars, scantily clad girls, brawls, girls, explosions, cars) Princess and I enjoyed ourselves hugely, Nick sulked.

But another drink would have made it better.

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Dino, why do you break my heart? We have had such great meals in the past, and especially last Passover. Tonight was...challenging. Two real heartbreakers? We brought two friends to the restaurant because we had such a good time last year. Second? The AMAZING orange grappa that I loved - we asked for a second glass to drink....and she brought the grapefruit. IT was ok, but it wasn't transcendent like the Orange for me. Such a silly thing, but at 3.5 hours after we sat down, it wasn't worth calling her back.

Things that were fabulous: the chicken liver, the gefilte fish, and the nutella mousse that I love.

The things that bothered me? Letting down my friends - i put my credibility on the line when their seder was canceled, and said how good the food was and the experience here. We had...I don't even want to detail any of the mediocre food that we had. In most cases, it was poor because of bad timing on the service (except for two underseasoned dishes). This was going to be us taking some time off from dining with a bang. We get married in a few weeks and have to cut our dining budget.

Well, Kay was nice enough to give us a gift card, so we will be back. I am sorry it was such a rough night for you guys (you both looked as if you pretty tired when we left) but I am more sorry that we usually love eating at your restaurant - but that we disappointed our friends.

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Unfortunately last night, on one of our most important and busiest nights in the year, Our POS computer broakdown (the food ordering system). The result was the tickets {the chits that we use to fire the food for your table} were coming up randomly with time lags. It was impossible to fix and going manual, which we did, was difficult to a kitchen that is dependent on one system.

In this days of computers, the kitchen and the floor become totally dependent on the system to get the food out properly and to time meals. While it is possible to run manually, it is a different system. We had to jump into that mode mid-shift, resulting in a poor performance. We tried to make sure each table was satisfied and obviously we failed to so so in your case. I am sorry. I have sent you a PM as well.

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Unfortunately last night, on one of our most important and busiest nights in the year, Our POS computer broakdown (the food ordering system).
ouch. That's rough, Dean. Sympathies, especially as how you are awake and posting at 6 in the morning after a night like that. :rolleyes:
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There is no question but that by the time we got to our entrees last night, things had slowed down a bit and that tables arriving after us were leaving before us. On the other hand, there is an ongoing belief in Jewish (and I suspect all other cultures) that "Nobody makes better [insert favorite food] than my mother." Please don't tell her, but Dean and Ella smacked Mom down last night, not just in one round but in almost every round -- from the liver, the gefilte fish, through the matzo ball to the chicken, and, OMG, the brisket, the tzimmes, and the farfel. I was adopted as a baby and it's possible that Dean is my long-lost biological mother.

The difficulties caused by the wayward POS were smoothed by Michael's gracious, if stressed, care.

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We didn't see the Fast and the Furious and we don't observe Passover, but we nonetheless found ourselves at Dino last night. It was clear that it was a busy night and we were lucky to nab two spots at our favorite location - the bar. It was wonderful seeing so many families with kids and their Haggadah's (sp?). And, even though we didn't order the Seder dinner, Scott was kind enough to get us the chopped liver as an appetizer. We ordered the two fish specials - halibut and sable fish. Both delicious and a reminder of why we keep going back to the fish so often (even though we are certified lovers of the Bistecca). We finished up with a really luscious macaroon. All in all, last night was a great example of why we keep going back (and will continue to go back after we move across the Potomac Ocean) - reliably terrific food, knowledgable staff, and a warm and inviting atmosphere. Each time we come through the doors there is always a friendly greeting by Kay or Dean. We like sitting at the bar because Scott, Jody, and before them, Chris, always have something delicious to recommend. Will we miss having it in our neighborhood - you bet. But I think that the dining experience is more than good enough to justify the ride all the way back to VIrginia.

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Went to dinner last night with the soon-to-be-missus. Started with the mixed green salad which came nicely dressed and with a light layer of cheese. Followed by the Duck Beggars Purse, 5 very generous slices of duck sausage that I would heartily recommend. It was also a large enough portion that you could easily split it within a small group. The sausage was followed by the risotto which was came at just the right mix of creaminess while not being too chewy and not too al dente. The last dish was the sablefish which had a great buttery texture. Equally as good was the carrots and celery side, which while simple had great texture of firm but not crunchy. We finished the meal with three cheeses. The first was made with prosecco which was fully flavorful cheese with noticable hints of prosecco. We dubbed it the tasty novelty cheese. The second was a blue that my fiance described as a starter bleu cheese were it had all the up front taste of bleu, but none of the lingering taste. If you like your bleus to have a hard right cross of taste, this was more a stiff jab, but a great cheese if you wanted to introduce someone or try to get them to like bleu cheese. The last was a fantastically sharp pecorino.

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We had yet another great meal at Dino on Thursday for the second night of Passover. Kudos to our waiter who was super gracious- my parents were in from out-of-town and had read on the website about the free corkage on Thursdays. They showed up in DC with a bottle of Spanish Kosher for Passover wine that they had purchased at the temple gift shop and insisted upon bringing it to the restaurant. Our waiter very patiently opened the bottle, gave me dad a taste and it lived up to its "mevushal" reputation. We did the wine pairings instead and they were great. The food was also wonderful, particularly the chicken livers and gefilte fish.

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Another great meal at Dino last night. Dino has become a real favorite as we can BYOB and get treated well with great wine service. I started with 1/2 order of Duck pasta which was sublime and then followed with the Salmon entree which was perfect. The espresso pana Cotta was exceptional. The other 3 in our party all had great meals as well.

The only issue was the upstairs was about 20 degrees hotter then the downstairs. I thought for a moment my frieds wife was going to take her clothes off because she was that hot.

Next time the downstairs!!

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Another great meal at Dino last night. Dino has become a real favorite as we can BYOB and get treated well with great wine service. I started with 1/2 order of Duck pasta which was sublime and then followed with the Salmon entree which was perfect. The espresso pana Cotta was exceptional. The other 3 in our party all had great meals as well.

The only issue was the upstairs was about 20 degrees hotter then the downstairs. I thought for a moment my frieds wife was going to take her clothes off because she was that hot.

Next time the downstairs!!

Just a coolant leak that was repaired. I have 5 a/c's in a 3000 square foot space, so I have 5 times the chances of having something break down!
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Time to quit just reading posts and start writing them. My wife and I had another great dinner at Dino last night. We started with the pan roasted sardines, grilled smoked mozzarella and the salad Misticanza. Sardines and grilled mozz were great. We then had the sable as well as the mahogany clams and sausage with rapini over fresh linguine. The sable was incredibly rich and succulent although the veggies with it were a little boring and under seasoned. I also loved the clams and sausage. It's really nice to get sausage with the right proportion of fat in it. As usual we relied on Dean for the wine selection. He chose the Peter Solva "Rose" {Lagrein} Alto Adige 2007 $54. It went very well with everything. Thanks Dean! For desert we shared the Gelato Affogato and the Tiramisu. The Alchemist Bas Armagnac helped cut the richness of the desserts. All in all, a really nice dinner and time. I hope Dean recovers from the Italian trip soon.

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Just a note to welome Mel Gold tot he Dino family. Mel will be handling PR and special events for Dino!
Congratulations to both of you!!

Hey Dean - ever think of doing a tribute to the cuisine of Genoa? Ravioli, torta, prescinsuea, chestnut flour?

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Another great dinner last night. Got to catch up with some friends, fabulous time had by all.

We didn't plan it this way, but all four of us got a 1/2 of the duck pasta for an app. It was so good that I could excuse the embarrassment of being, you know, the table what all ordered the same thing. Luckily we managed to select four different mains.

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We were going out of town on Thursday so what better place to eat dinner Wednesday night but Dino. We took a friend who had never been there. Other than that he kept saying how good the food was, it was just the usual great time. I'm still trying to find a enoteca somewhere in the area that is as good as Dino...I'll be in Italy the rest of the month and restaurants there are going to have to do some work to keep me from comparing them to Dean's great cooking.

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Fans of crispy pig need to run (not walk) to Dino. The Lombata di Maialino is f**king brilliant. If I recall correctly, it's a huge hunk of baby pig that has been confitted in duck fat and finished on the griddle (I'm sure Dean will correct me if I'm wrong). The result is tender pork surrounded by melt in your mouth fat and nice layer of crispy skin. Delicious!! One word of warning - do not attempt to gorge on pig skin the day after getting a root canal. Ouch....

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Fans of crispy pig need to run (not walk) to Dino. The Lombata di Maialino is f**king brilliant. If I recall correctly, it's a huge hunk of baby pig that has been confitted in duck fat and finished on the griddle (I'm sure Dean will correct me if I'm wrong). The result is tender pork surrounded by melt in your mouth fat and nice layer of crispy skin. Delicious!! One word of warning - do not attempt to gorge on pig skin the day after getting a root canal. Ouch....

I'm almost drooling after reading that. Wow.

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Fans of crispy pig need to run (not walk) to Dino. The Lombata di Maialino is f**king brilliant. If I recall correctly, it's a huge hunk of baby pig that has been confitted in duck fat and finished on the griddle (I'm sure Dean will correct me if I'm wrong). The result is tender pork surrounded by melt in your mouth fat and nice layer of crispy skin. Delicious!! One word of warning - do not attempt to gorge on pig skin the day after getting a root canal. Ouch....

Except for the root canal part, I wholeheartedly second this post. This was the highlight of a "Kids Restaurant Week" meal we had tonight. Not to take anything away from my fantastic Gamberoni Croccante (Crispy Shrimp - pancetta wrapped, head on shrimp, crisped with herb & citrus pesto), but that pig is, as xcanuck so eloquently stated, f**king brilliant. Burrata was excellent as usual, the "Lingcod" Selvaggio In Agrodolce (Wild Alaskan Lingcod - A Pacific Northwest fishermans' favorite, sustainably caught, in agrodolce: caramelized onion, caper, sherry vinegar, red wine, honey & cardamom; with creamy sauteed pea shoots, wild & exotic mushrooms). But, stop me if you've heard this, ohhhhh the maialino...

My only complaint from the evening is my own fault - my 11 year old, 2 weeks shy of his 12th birthday, is really too old for the Kids menu, even when it's a special menu as it was tonight. The portions were just right for my 9 year old daughter, but my son ate his dinner in 30 seconds flat, and then polished off two bread baskets and a goodly amount of my baby pig before he pronounced himself "no longer starving".

Yes, he then had a snack when he got home.
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Only 4 more oders from the existing batch. I am starting to put up more tomorrow so it will be about three weeks before we have more ready to go.

Going... going...

I know you're at down a least two orders after tonight, Dean. That pig is an awesome thing. I sliced into it and met enough resistance to make me think for a minute that I might be cutting into bone - until I realized it was the crispy skin, and proceeded to continually slice off shards of skin-fat-meat 'til there weren't no more left. Thank you, as well, for your behind-the-scenes Riesling recommendation to go with my cheese plate. Dino's ongoing Restaurant Week special gets you this sublime pig plus an appetizer (I chose the Burrata), dessert or cheese plate, and aperitif (Grappa!) for $39.09. My bill also included the nice surprise of a $8.00 happy hour discount (and no, neither Dean nor the uber-friendly bartender knows me from Adam). Where else you gonna get a deal like that?

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Dean Gold is a good, kind man and someday people will write songs about him.

We had to cancel our KRW reservation on Friday night to go take a two year old for staples in his head. A two year old who was much more upset to be missing dinner at Dino than he was about the staples. Dean very generously found room for us to come in early on Saturday night.

BLToddler ordered his own polenta with mushrooms, chugged down all the pickles that came with our proscuitto, much of our cheese, and happily finished with a plate of fruit. The adults imbibed Scott's terrific cocktails and then enjoyed duck, pig and the lasagna. (All of which were fabulous. Mr. BLB didn't like this version of the milk-fed pig as much as he liked the one from a few weeks ago, which was fine because I got to eat all of that yummy pig skin myself. Plus the duck skin...I was in heaven.)

It was wonderful to see so many well-behaved small people at Dino (and we took our restless small person out for a walk before dessert).

The only disappointment, as noted by BLToddler on the ride home, was that he didn't get to say hi to Ms. Kaye. Next time!

It was a wonderful evening and I look forward to going again soon!

Thanks!

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