| CLASSIC pasta | two in Washington DC | |||
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A January week in Washington D.C. to take part as guests in the opening of the 110th Congress, gave us a chance to visit two Italian restaurants in the District. We were delightfully pleased and excited about the restaurants and especially their excellent pasta courses. Ristorante Tosca
Tosca, a classic Ristorante, elegant but still filled with warm Italian buon gusto, is under the ownership of Paolo Sacco and is in the business district near the capitol. Its superb menu has a range of a la carte choices -- ample and varied but not too many, plus an exciting tasting menu, with suggested wines, prepared by Chef Cesare Lanfranconi. We were fortunate to be able to dine at Tosca twice. The small taste-treat starters were delicately coated rice balls one evening. The next night we were served melon and prosciutto -- but so creatively done. The melons were shaped like little bon-bons, or truffles, and the prosciutto were wrapped like a delicate fabric round them. we basked in the warmth of the surroundings and the superb work of the kitchen. Pastas we tried included a buck wheat cannelloni filled with a Swiss chard béchamel sauce and Bresaola, and served in a brown butter garlic sauce, with additional béchamel and topped with fresh arugula. This is a special taste combination we want to try to reconstruct at home. The second pasta was to die for. Ravioli, filled with roasted veal and prosciutto, and served in a red wine reduction, butter, fresh sage and parmesan. We agree with Elizabeth David that these jewels, ravioli, are the real genius of Italian cooking -- especially when they are done so perfectly, with such balance of flavors, and with such deep taste, reflecting the wonderful stock base. Our ravioli were worth a return trip by themselves. The veal was mouth-watering. A grilled rack of veal with a timbale of salsify, Swiss chard and a flavorful rosemary wine sauce, starred one evening. But it was topped on the next visit by Chef Lanfranconi's grilled veal tenderloin, filled with truffled Taleggio cheese, and served with sautéed cauliflower and Chantarelles, in a Barola wine sauce. Bravo Tosca. Obelisk
In a narrow town house near DuPont Circle, we had a different, and also wonderful, dining treat. The restaurant is small -- maybe twenty tables -- and the hand-written daily menu gave us the choices in a "menu complete" presentation for $65. A first course of an excellent antipasti misti was followed by the primi, the pasta. We passed on the Tuscan Ribollita (it was actually unusually warm this weekend in DC), in favor of a pici with pancetta, tomato and garlic as one selection, and a gnocchi presentation as the second. Pici, the wonderful hand-made and hand-rolled spaghetti construction famous in the Pienza and Montalcino regions of southern Tuscany, was right on target: a wonderful combination presented to appreciate the pasta first, and the pancetta, tomato and garlic saucing it perfectly. The gnocchi was an unusual and wonderfully light and delicate serving. The several gnocchi in the presentation were accompanied by a sauce, so to speak, of Castelmagno -- a fairly sharp, blue-veined cows milk cheese from Piedmont -- and chopped walnuts and chives. A creative and delightfully different gnocchi. The main course choices, for us, included a pollastrino, a very small chicken as it was described to us, and as it was -- browned and grilled perfectly and served with some large, sliced porcini. The chicken was flattened, almost as if it had been in a panini press, and it worked beautifully. We also had an excellent grilled lamb loin with rapini and cippoline. A pan-cooked sea bass was the other option on the menu that evening. A cheese course, with quince-chestnut jam, followed, and then deserts, including a chocolate cake and a pear soup with toasted almond sorbet. The "complete menu" tour was very cleverly put together to provide a variety of tastes, presentations and culinary delights. It seems unfair perhaps to find fault with the general ambiance. The service was absolutely efficient, and all questions were knowledgeably and thoroughly answered. But missing in the efficiency and thoroughness somehow was the general warmth and delight that we believe is sine qua non for a truly successful Italian dining experience. The quality and creativity of the food presentations, however, will bring us back.
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