Dal Grano, Homemade Pasta with Combine-Your-Own Sauces in Langley Shopping Center, McLean - Currently Looking for a New Chef

[Ericandblueboy]

Dal Grano is next to the former Bistro Vivant, now Masala.  Bland is the key word here.  I had fettuccine with seafood white wine sauce.  The dish had some nicely cooked shrimp and calamari rings, and some mussels (not in shell).  I think it was the mussels that made the dish fishy, otherwise it had little flavor.  I also think the pasta is not firm enough.

[DonRocks]

On 6/13/2016 at 12:11 PM, Ericandblueboy said:

Dal Grano is next to the former Bistro Vivant, now Masala.  Bland is the key word here.  I had fettuccine with seafood white wine sauce.  The dish had some nicely cooked shrimp and calamari rings, and some mussels (not in shell).  I think it was the mussels that made the dish fishy, otherwise it had little flavor.  I also think the pasta is not firm enough.

Definitely a different opinion here about Chef Oscar Reyes' pasta:

Apr 14, 2016 - "Dal Grano Review: The Fresh, New Face of Pasta in McLean" by Tim Carman on washingtonpost.com

[Ericandblueboy]

I went back and tried 3 pastas. Rigatoni with garlic & olive oil, with broccoli added.  Fusilli with sausage, broccoli & cream sauce.  Veal raviolini with butter sage sauce.  I think the pasta is fine; however, the sauces are still a little on the bland side.  For example, I expected the garlic and olive oil sauce to be oilier and with more pungent garlic flavor.  The cream sauce with sausage really should have a little more bite from the sausage - they should use broccoli rabe instead of broccoli for even more bite.  On the other hand, they're not charging a lot of money.  

I don't know how to succeed as a restaurant in McLean.  Maybe they know the palate of a typical McLeaner but I'm not a fan.  

[Dr. Delicious]

I recently got 3 pastas: [1] gemelli with sausage, broccoli & cream sauce. I thought it was pretty tasty, and would get it again. The deficiencies Eric notes above weren't issues for me. [2] spaghetti with bolognese. A perfectly fine meat sauce, but I'll switch to something else next time. [3] butternut squash ravioli in a sage butter sauce. these were excellent, and adding sage to their brown butter sauce was a good move, and helped the sauce.

My overall impression was favorable. This is, after all, a counter service pasta joint. Good takeout service. Portions aren't big, but neither are the prices.

[Ericandblueboy]

Enzo Fargione, who now lives in Tampa, posted this on Facebook:

Dear Chef Friends
I have an OPPORTUNITY for one hard working culinary talent in Mc Lean, Va in the Langley Shopping Center, 1386 Chain Bridge Road 

DAL GRANO Deli/Restaurant is looking for a chef the cuisine to run the back of the house ASAP 
52-55 K year salary - 5 Days a week - 11 am to 9 pm - Paid vacations - great and professional working environment 

Please contact my good friend Josef at josef@dalgrano.com with your most updated resume for consideration and to schedule an interview.
Good luck to you all, this is indeed a very rare and wonderful opportunity to showcase your culinary skills.

[DonRocks]

On 12/21/2017 at 10:47 AM, Ericandblueboy said:

Please contact my good friend Josef at josef@dalgrano.com with your most updated resume for consideration and to schedule an interview.

That email is either *very* full, or it doesn't exist - my letter to it bounced.

Oops. 

[hopsing]

On 12/22/2017 at 3:38 PM, DonRocks said:

That email is either *very* full, or it doesn't exist - my letter to it bounced.

I just googled and the email should be:   jozef@dalgrano.com

[Ericandblueboy]

This place was full last night (a hump night, some families with small children) with a waiting list so I didn’t get to eat anything.  Did they ever get a chef?  Did the food improve? 

[Katya4me]

Myself and a group of about 7 friends went in February and we all enjoyed our meals.  The broccoli soup was a great starter and I enjoyed my squid ink pasta.

[Ericandblueboy]

Tried a couple of pastas tonight.  The pastas were fine but the olive oil and garlic sauce really lacked salt and garlic flavor, and the meat bolognese certainly didn't have the complexity of a good bolognese sauce.

[Ericandblueboy]

Went next door to buy a birthday present, so we stopped in for an early dinner.  Tried to stuffed pastas - ravioli with short ribs and veal raviolini.  Both were actually excellent for $14 each.  The pasta was firm, the filling tasty, and the sauces nicely flavored.  We also had their rib-eye special for $28, which came with a 12 oz rib-eye, broccolini and potatoes.  I asked for the steak medium rare but it came out pretty much well done.  The steak itself was tender, even if not cooked properly.