Roberto Donna, the owner the well renowned Italian Chef at Galileo III, hasn’t had the easiest time with running a business smoothly in DC, with a history that spans over 30 years back to the roots of the original Galileo restaurant.

Naturally, Jen and I were eagerly anticipating our dinner here, but finding the restaurant just isn’t as easy as you’d think. There are no loud, backlit signs announcing YOU HAVE ARRIVED AT GALILEO III, no huddling crowd of smokers outside the doors, no…well, anything, to easily identify where the restaurant is at night until you get close enough to the frosted windows to see the Galileo III logo etched into the window, barely readable with the light of the sun.

Once inside, it’s still not clear if this really is THE new home of Chef Donna. The interior feels dated, despite having recently opened their doors in late 2010. Luckily, Roberto Donna’s wife, the steadfast champion of Galileo, greeted us and whisked us to our waiting table, to which there seemed to be a number of for a weekend night.

Each item on the menu reads as a unique testament to the chef’s skills and creativity. Jen started her meal with the Budino di Parmigiano, a Parmigiano Reggiano cheese pudding topped with Burrata cheese and cream of porchini mushrooms. The rather plan setting with little more than a doily to enhance the appearance didn’t end doing much to really get Jen excited about her selection. A rich, creamy concoction served in an small ramekin that’s very good, but not quite something that either one of us would call great.

My appetizer, the Taglierini Neri ai Frutti di Mare, a plate of black taglierini pasta with squid, octopus, mussels, clams and shrimp covered in a light tomato sauce, was considerably better. Large chunks of fresh seafood adorned the plate, and the pasta is fresh as it can be without someone in the kitchen throwing flour on the table and splashing me with water and eggs. Despite all evident quality of the dish, it still lacks the presence of of being prepared in one of the finest restaurants in the city.

Jen’s entree, the Tortelloni filled with red beets, seems to do a bit better swimming lazily in a baby pool of chive cream sauce with fresh microgreens. A good vegetarian friendly dish, but still fell flat of astounding either one of us.

My main course, the Tagliata di Manzo, consisted of grilled marinated beef rib eye, potato tart, and roasted chanterelle mushrooms, served with dry tomato and a black olive sauce. A winner! A succulent, flavorful portion of beef, complemented by the taste of the tomato and olive sauce, and perfect with the textures of the mushroom and potato tart.

Galileo III has some of the best Italian dishes in the District. The service is very good, and Donna’s wife is constantly making the rounds to make sure your meal is as good as it possibly can be. The menu structure, with options for a three, four, and five course meal, are a bit confusing, as I thought I could order three entrees for a three course meal, which is, obviously (and to my stomach’s dismay) not the case. Portion sizes are good, the noise is low enough to have a conversation if there’s not a loud screaming girl at the bar, and despite the decoration being a bit behind the times, it’s not really going to detract from your meal. The quality of ingredients are good and the talent in the kitchen is there, but the execution is a bit lacking at times, and you should note that at three courses for $55 to start, it’s not going to be a cheap meal.

While I’m glad to have finally had a meal at the hands of Chef Donna, I can’t say that Galileo III is a place I’d consider being so good that I’d immediately think of going back to again. There’s no doubt that very good meals are served here, but I can’t ensure that the meal you’ll have here is going to be great.

See Galileo III on a map here.

Recommended For:

Italian restaurants are a dime a dozen in DC, which isn’t to say that all are created equal. When it comes to competition like that, the capabilities of the kitchen are indubitably of importance, but what about the basics of a meal, the fundamental elements used in every dish?

Restaurateurs will sometimes go above and beyond to ensure their ingredients are of the utmost importance. Acquiring their agriculture locally and thereby supporting local community. Obtaining their seafood from sustainable fisheries. Making sure every steak and sausage comes from pasture-raised, antibiotic meats. Using local, organic dairy vendors for the mountains of cheese used for every plate.

Well, now you’ve got an idea of the lengths Dean Gold and Kay Zimmerman of Dino go through to ensure that your meal is as unforgettable as they can make it. After all, the devil is in the details.

This Cleveland Park restaurant is a long hike from downtown, especially in the sub-arctic temperatures Jen made me carry her via dogsled (Normsled), but it’d easily be a great walk in temperatures otherwise warmer that we encountered in our winter stroll (car and metro options would have been entirely too reasonable). Tables are outfitted with giant dishes of sea salt and bottles of olive oil, perfect to soak your fresh, tableside bread in.

Highlights of our meal included my order of the Uova alla Diavola. Creamy Sriracha achovy aioli, anchovy salsa verde and fresh yolks make for some of the best deviled eggs I’ve had in years.

A wide assortment of cheeses are available from cows, sheep, and goats, all paired with rustic slices of bread, fruit, and candied nuts.

My locally sourced Dr. Joe’s Pekin duck breast with pasta stood no chance to an appetite built up from a good 30 minute sprint uphill, with Jen cracking the whip and screaming “MUUUUUUSH! MUUUUUUSH!” to my lone ears and tired legs. She even noted that I was unconsciously pushing the strips of duck to the side of the plate as I powered through the plate,.

Jen: What are you doing?

Me: Huh?

Jen: Why are you pushing the duck to the side of the plate?

Me: Uh, apparently because I wanted to save the best of this for last.

But really, the duck here is unreal in flavor on a bed of Dino’s finest house made pasta.

The Budino de Pane, or bread pudding, however, was a bit lackluster not only in presentation but substance. Made with barberries and raisins, then served with a scoop of vanilla gelato and and amaretto whipped cream, this was by far my least favorite dish of the night, but with 10 other different dessert choices, I’m sure I can manage to eventually come up with something I like on that menu.

The service is of the caliber of the dishes served here at Dino. Our waiter was friendly and accommodating, great with casual banter and recommendations on the restaurant’s formidable list of selections. Nothing about this place screams “DC HOT SPOT” but rather, an upscale dining establishment that Cleveland Park just happened to be blessed with having in their ‘hood.

What is it about Italian restaurants that make them so plentiful throughout the District? Is it our region’s love for pastas, rich sauces, and abundant selections of wine? Or is it somehow a considered a comfort food among gastronom and omnomnomnivores alike?

Whatever the reasons, it’s refreshing to come to an Italian restaurant that simply, somehow, just does things better than the status quo.

Add in special considerations such as a $39 for three course special every night of the week, and that the restaurant has a number of gluten free options to choose from, I can’t see why I wouldn’t be returning.

Unless Jen suggests we take the dogsled again.

See Dino on a map here.

Recommended For:

• Vegetarians
• Pastafarians
• Frugalistas
• Paleoheads
• Dinner Date after the Zoo

Not Recommended For:

• Indecisivists
• Jersey Shore Casting Call
• Haters
• Gators
• AC Slaters

Kora is one of the latest in a deluge of new Italian restaurants in the DC area, and the second restaurant by Chef Morou and his wife, Heather. The couple’s first restaurant, Farrah Olivia, has been closed since April, which has given Morou the time to properly focus his attention on Kora.

The new restaurant takes the place of the now shuttered Bebo Trattoria, and is named after Morou’s youngest daughter, who smiles proudly from an oversized pop art piece on one of the walls of the restaurant. The atmosphere is modern, but the type of modern you feel from perusing the home furnishings of a west elm catalog. Modern, simple and could easily transform into a retail space with a sales clerk hawking African ebony floating shelves for $800. Wall mount screws sold separately.

I digress. A lot.

The restaurant opens up to a large hostess table, and a large pizza oven that likely burns the midnight wood churning out flat breaded deliciousness.

Speaking of bread, the carbtastic surfboards served here are fantastic. They’re baked to perfection, with a slighly crispy exterior, and an aromatic soft center that smells vaguely of herbs. Make sure to get a few dabs of olive oil, poured into a dish of basil, fresh ground pepper, and sea salt. Tuck in.

I opted for a half gnudi to start. Half gnudi? I know, you must be thinking one of two things.  Which half?

Gnudi on top

Gnudi on the bottom

Not quite. (but if you’re going to make me choose, I’d prefer going gnudi, Donald Duck style) Gnudi is a pasta that could probably be best described as a light gnocchi. It also has a much softer and chewier texture, and pulls apart like a piece of bread. In fact, I’d say it’s almost like a little dumpling, and this is definitely one dish that Kora does right. It’s served on top of a small lake of parmesan cream sauce, accompanied by a good dose of caramelized onions, asparagus, and sauteed spinach to top.

Half Gnudi with caramelized onions and a parmesan cream sauce

I love this gnudi so much, I want to take it behind the middle school and get it pregnant.  Despite the pasta and the cream sauce, this dish doesn’t make you feel overly stuffed.  Well, it might to a normal person, but not to a Norm on a cheat meal.  And you know how I treat cheat meals.

BURN IT TO THE GROUND.

Next, I tried the restaurant’s Salmone.  Pan seared Norwegian Salmon on a bed of sauteed spinach and saffron orzo, a veritable raft floating between the Creamy Basil and Saffron Infused Butter oceans.  Sounds good, right?  And again, the presentation is on point.  The taste?

Salmon with saffron orzo on a paired creamy basil and saffron infused butter sauce

Eh.  It falls a little flat.  The salmon is perfectly cooked, as are the spinach, orzo, and sauces, but this dish doesn’t really excite me.  Saffron tends to be a mild spice, and this dish tasted like it needed something else to really make it stand out.  For me, I felt like the salmon was the culprit.  The seared sides of the fillet almost begged for some sort of salted crust, but it just didn’t have the gustatory sensation I expected from the first to my last bite.

On a quick side note, the server gave me the wrong order of Salmone (I ordered the medium rare variant).  It’s an easy enough mistake (did you say steak?) to make when there’s three orders of it at the table, but it stands out in my mind after reading numerous review of how the service is lacking at Kora (apparently the leased space has a bad service curse attached to it, Bebo was plagued with similar problems).  It’s a simple error though, and really I’m just pointing out one minor mixup.  Our server was pretty good for the rest of our meal, always keeping our drinks filled (correctly!) and always popping in to serve the food or check on us at exact the right times.   I just swapped plates with the person sitting next to me (who also ordered the Salmone) and all was right again in the world.  Birds were singing.  Clouds were clouding.  Western Michigan still sucks.

So what next?  If you happen to be a bargain hunter, your 3 course power lunch included a dessert, which on the menu, all look delicious, decadent, and likely to cause temporary blindness.  Much like a half gnudi of Bea Arthur.

Except…except I couldn’t decide.  That, and I didn’t order the power lunch special.  So I went with my gut and ordered the Tiramisu.  The tiramisu here is an espresso laced caked, layered with mascarpone cheese, and a heavy dollop of zabaglione.  Then the chef knocks over a giant shaker of cinnamon and voila!  Edible art.

Tiramisu with espresso laced sponge cake, mascarpone cheese, and zabaglione cream

Two thumbs up on the presentation again, and this time, the taste delivers.  Nothing about this dish is overwhelmingly sweet, and it’s the perfect cap to an Italian meal.

If you’re a normal person who’s not on a cheat meal.

So I did what I’d normally do in these sorts of situations.  I ordered two desserts.  I opted for the Bongo Bongo.  A quartet of cream puffs, filled with a rich chocolate sauce, topped with a chocolate semi freddo and surrounded by alternating cranberry and almond dipping sauce pools.  Not as good as the tiramisu, but still tastefully done.

Bongo Bongo with chocolate coming out of every orifice

While I think Kora still has a few wrinkles to iron out, and could possibly use some tweaks to their dishes, the restaurant is a great places to get a truly fantastic Italian meal.  The breads and pastas here are great, and I highly, highly recommend the gnudi. It is literally is worth the trip over to Kora for a full gnudi.  None of the dishes are uberheavy, even with butter or cream sauces, so you’ll have room for dessert.  Best of all, the prices aren’t outrageous, so if you’re willing to look over the fact that it’s not downtown in the District, you’ll be happy with what Morou has to offer. View a map of Kora here.

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Dear 8 pound, 6 ounce, new born baby Jesus, don’t even know a word yet, I want to thank you for this wonderful meal of fine pastas and carbonated soft drinks from our unwilling sponsor Coca-Cola, that you have given us on this fine New York evening…

A game time decision for dinner on our last night in New York led Jen and I down to Little Italy. It’s interesting seeing the stark difference in environment when you come out of Chinatown and into the Italian District. Is it even called the Italian District? The Meatball District? What do I know. But the dark, unlit streets of Chinatown at night didn’t seem to invite late night diners as much as Little Italy. We wandered from restaurant to restaurant, trying to decide on a place to eat based on the patronage sitting outside as much as we were from the menus proudly displayed at each establishment.

When we finally wandered to the corner of Mulberry and Broome, we settled on the restaurant on the corner, Grotta Azzurra Ristorante. The host boasted their long history (established in 1908), their exquisitite service, and fantastic dishes, which really is hard to differentiate from the 32904849380 other Italian restaurants pushing the same agenda…bring in the customers. With a reasonably large menu and perfect people watching from the corner, we accepted a table outside almost right on the corner.

I started off with the Carpaccio di Manzo, delicately sliced raw beef, topped with argula, thick shavings of parmesan, and topped with a lemon vinaigrette. The ingredients were fresh, but for my next visit I’d opt for one of their other antipasta dishes.

Carpaccio di Manzo, photo courtesy of Grotta Azzurra Ristorante

The real stunnahs of this meal were their pastas. I ordered the 4 Cheese Ravioli, and Jen ordered the Gnocchi Al Telefono. Holy crap on a stick, this pasta is good. I really can’t think of any place in the U.S. where I’ve had such fresh pasta. I can’t recall the exact combination of cheese in my ravioli, but I do remember it at least having ricotta and marscapone cheese in it. The raviolis were absolutely enormous. The liferafts from the Titanic weren’t as big as these things. I’d guess they were somewhere around 5″x5″ big, and not completely overwhelmed by the accompanying sauce. Jen’s Gnocchi was ridiculously good, with large chunks of fresh mozzarella infilitrating the gnocchi ranks. The texture was soft, slightly chewy, and not at all gritty like you experience with many mass produced versions you’d get from even the highest quality of grocers. The pasta is made fresh daily, on site, and well worth the visit.

Four Cheese Ravioli, photo courtesy of Grotta Azzurra Ristorante

Be aware that the restaurant policy is to automatically include a 20% service charge to all checks, so if you feel that your service was exceptional, you can always add more to the coffers of your server, but you should’t be obliged. Thin of it as an bonus for those of you who did horribly at middle school math. Just leave room for cannolis and gelato across the street!

On a side note, make sure to check out the street vendors, and pick up a baby Jebus magnet for your refrigerator back home.

Amen.