Osteria Elisir

Bad news, this restaurant’s certificate of registration was seized by the DC office of tax and revenue on 30 Jan 2014. See the picture :(

Visited Elisir with my roommate before heading to the Warner for a concert one Friday night. Incidentally, we went during restaurant week, and they were only serving the restaurant week menu for dinner. But after telling the bartender (we sat at the bar) that we were hoping for a couple of quick bites before our show, he went out of his way to make it happen.
All I have to say about that: AMAZING.
The food we ended up having was very good; flavorful and delicious, and not at all overly filling. But the true gem, for me, was the vodka martinis that the bartender made for me. Honestly, probably the best Belvedere martinis I have ever had ANYWHERE.
Because of the way the treated us, and because the food was very good, I must say that this is really one of my area favorites… and can’t wait to go back.

Osteria Elisir was a wonderful experience, great drinks, delicious food, terrific service and that during restaurant week. We will be back and not only for restaurant week.
I was nice to see the Chef working in the kitchen and to get a thank you from him when leaving.

I came here with my uncle in April when he was in town for business. Even though we came at 5:45 pm on a Friday night (after visiting the house where Lincoln died, which is worth a visit!), hardly anybody was there and we were seated immediately. We both enjoyed our pasta dishes. Our waiter was very nice and even chatted with us. I hope to come back when I have family in town!

I’ve only been here for lunch, but each time I’ve gone, it has been a delight. Wonderful service, and a fantastic menu (which, I believe, is the same as their dinner menu).
Tomato bread soup is thick and delicious. Spaghetti pomodoro is also very tasty, and very filling. Not the cheapest place for lunch downtown, but certainly one of the best.

I visited Osteria Elisir with a colleague on a quiet Wednesday night. We decided to start with the Chicken Liver Crostini and the Burrata with San Daniele. Both were delicious although I will say the Burrata was not as good as what I had on a recent visit to Boston.
After deciding to split two entrees, we decided to have our waiter pick them for us as he seems to have a good vibe with what we would like. He picked the Saffron Tortelli and Lobster linguine. Both were awesome and excellent choices. I think the Tortelli was my favorite but it was really heavy so I was glad to have the other dish to balance it out — eating the whole thing (or even half of it) would have been a really filling meal. We ate about half of each and sent the rest home to my colleague’s husband who had not been able to join us.
Too full for dessert, we had another glass of wine and called it a night! I’ll be back here on a future visit to DC!

Had high hopes for the evening after the appetizers — really enjoyed the Piccante Crostini (crunchy slices of Tuscan bread with extra virgin olive oil, oregano, garlic confit, spicy hot pepper, fried parsley, and Grana). My husband mostly enjoyed his Caesar salad — traditional and nicely dressed, but he found the anchovy fillets to be too overpowering (as there were also anchovies in the dressing). I also mostly liked my Roman Artichokes — which are «deep fried» quartered hearts with the long stem served with lemon, mint, oregano, creamy anchovy garlic sauce — I found the anchovy to be too overpowering and left most of it on the plate, but enjoyed the remainder of the dish (including the mixed greens) … although, the artichokes seemed to have been more roasted that deep fried.
The entrees were disappointing … my Porchetta entrée would have been very good had the focus of the dish, the pork, not been dry and tough (I literally left most of the pork on the plate and ate the potatoes and broccolini with the delicious brothy sauce). My husband’s spaghetti came so hot that he literally had to wait 10 minutes to eat it after burning is mouth with the first bite … and, the accompanying meatballs were dry.
The service was poor — our server was very nice but not well-​trained. It was her third night at the restaurant and when I asked about how the Porchetta was prepared she didn’t know (she did go back and find out) … a restaurant that strives to be of higher caliber should not let any server on the floor who doesn’t know how items on the menu are prepared. In addition, she took quite a long time to bring the wine. And, when she asked how our entrees were and I mentioned that my pork was very dry, her only response was «ooohhh» and she walked away … no «may I bring you another one or perhaps something else» … and while I don’t typically accept a gratis dessert or compensation off the bill, neither was offered. On my way out, I asked for a comment card so I could let the management/​owner know of our experience and was told there was none …
Atmosphere is odd … weird wallpaper (my husband looked at it all night and commented several times on how he didn’t like it) and tv screens on the pillars in the dining room which beam in live the kitchen finishing dishes for delivery … I love actually watching dishes being made and assembled in an exhibition kitchen, but watching it on a tv from my table was … weird. Seems like a bit of a mash up of trying to be upscale and contemporary, but then there are shovels and farm tools hung on the walls …
This would be a 2 star review were it not for the very good starters …

The gf enjoyed Elisir so much after dining there with a girlfriend; she bought a Gilt City deal for its 5-​course tasting menu with wine pairings for two with the intent of taking me. Not long after purchasing the Gilt City deal, Elisir changed its name to Osteria Elisir and its concept from an Italian fine dining establishing featuring tasting menus to a more casual Italian, a la carte menu concept, which no longer offered tasting menus. Undeterred, we made reservations for a mid-​week dinner at Osteria Elisir at 6pm.
I have little context on how the dining room looked prior to the concept change. However, the white tablecloths are gone leaving bare wood tabletops and wine barrels now adorn the walls in the attempt to give it a more rustic feel. The menu, obviously, has changed greatly but several of the more popular/​signature items from the old menu made the cut and are on the new menu. Our server, Nick, was very attentive throughout our meal and knowledgeable about the menu, highlighting the specials and the items that were holdovers from the old menu. A bowl of sliced Italian bread was brought to our table. We ordered the Salt and Olive Oil Tasting Tray as its accompaniment, which featured Ligurian, Tuscan and Sicilian extra virgin olive oils with in house infused black olive, red wine, and basil salts. Next, we had the Branzino Carpaccio in a Cigar Box, one of the holdovers from the old menu, which consisted of thinly sliced branzino smoked at the table with applewood, with mushrooms, citrus, and scallions. The delicately flavored raw branzino was beautifully presented in an actual wood cigar box and was nicely accented by the smoke and citrus. Even better than this dish was the Venison Carpaccio, which consisted of porcini dusted, thinly sliced venison topped with blueberries, Portobello mushrooms, grana, sherry vinegar, and arugula. It was earthy yet possessed a hit of sweetness from the blueberries. It was a winner! The Burrata and San Daniele Prosciutto with Frantoio extra virgin olive oil, basil, and green olive spread was simple but delicious and what you’d expect from a fine dining Italian restaurant.
Following the strong start with antipasti, we had high expectations for the pasta and secondi. We ordered the Spinach Tagliatelle, a presumably house made spinach pasta topped with a savory Duck ragu’ with porcini, grana, and red wine. The sauce was quite flavorful, but its richness overpowered the duck making it somewhat indistinguishable. The Grilled Octopus Steak topped with oregano, mint, garlic, over sautéed broccolini and cherry tomatoes was nearly perfect. The tentacles were somehow kludged together into a «steak». It was then slow-​cooked to perfection leaving the octopus amazingly tender with a mouth feel akin to biting into a swordfish steak. If there was an item to critique with the dish, it was that the octopus was straddling the line of being too salty. Finally, we had the Porchetta, a wonderful slow roasted pork roast seasoned with fennel seeds, black pepper, served with broccolini, and roasted potatoes. It was moist, tender, and savory goodness. By this point in the meal, we were very full. We took most of the porchetta home with us. We washed our meal down with a bottle of the 2008 Altesino Brunello di Montalcino. It was an enjoyable complement to our delicious food.
I wish I had gotten to try Elisir for comparison purposes. That said, Osteria Elisir showed enough glimpses into its past as proof that the food in its present incarnation has maintained its quality, creativity, and execution. I recommend Osteria Elisir.

I visited during restaurant week with two friends.
One friend and I had the endive and radicchio salad to start. I found the chocolate shaving garnish a bit misplaced, and the broken vinaigrette should have been on the greens to tie the flavors together rather than drizzled around the plate. The other friend tried the chestnut soup, which she enjoyed.
I had the saffron pappardelle with eggplant ragu (offered as a veg alternative); I didn’t get any saffron-​ey-​ness from the pasta, and the ragu was quite salty (and I am usually generous with the salt). Also the pasta seemed to have been cooked and then sat around for a while before being sauced and served – it was stuck together in clumps. One friend had the pappardelle with sausage and bean ragu, and said it was also salty; the other friend really enjoyed her giant ravioli with filled with mushroom and smoked mozzarella.
Dessert was probably the best part: chocolate cake for two of us, apple strudel for the third.
Service was… polite but intermittent. Waited a long time for water, olive oil, etc, to be refilled. Portions were definitely small, but we were all full afterwards.
I would say that I wouldn’t go back, but I’ve heard that they’re changing to a lower price point and more home style menu, so in reality I might… someday after they’ve worked out the kinks.

Came here for Restaurant Week on a Thursday.
Arrived about 20 minutes earlier than our reservation, and the hostess actually asked if we wanted to be seated right away rather than wait. Good start! The place wasn’t packed, and I’m assuming that’s because every cover was reserved for RW. In fact, they didn’t have a non-​RW menu to offer, as far as I could see.
Our server came to introduce himself promptly and offered drink service. Took a bit long to get the drinks menu to us (5 minutes while running around to manage other tables as well), but apologetic about it when he did. We decided to go against the grain and order some Italian beer (pun intended?).
I am assuming Elisir does complimentary bread service, but we decided to go for the olive oil and sea salt program for a couple extra dollars. It’s a nice small tray of 3 oils with 3 salts (multicolored to help you differentiate) from differing regions. Our server explained the differences to us, so that was helpful. Also, another FOH person replaced our breadbasket without us needing to track them down.
The RW menu offering was sufficient, with 4 choices of starters, 4 entrees, and 2 desserts. There are also «a la carte» sides that you can order if you need more food to supplement your meal. Oh and on that same note, there are supplements to several dishes that you can opt for if you want to ball out (such as foie gras or smoked tuna prosciutto).
My friend and I both decided to start with the chestnut soup (upon reading reviews of other Unilocalers), and it was very good! A nice, creamy consistency that wasn’t too thin and not too thick. The pickled vegetable and watercress on top helped to balance the richness and gave some texture to the soup that might have otherwise been too sweet if unadorned. I too recommend this dish.
For the entrée, I asked the server’s opinion between the Saffron Pappardelle or the Pork Loin, and he said absolutely the Pork Loin, so I went with that. A great choice, if not a bit small (this is to be expected with RW portions at higher end places). There was a really nice crust/​bark on the pork which was unexpected, almost like it was barbecued. Very nice. The tempura maitake mushroom accompanying the plate was not bad, but I believe it needed to be fried a bit more since the inside was still a tad mushy. Either that or it had sat on the pass for longer than intended (which I doubt). Overall, a decent dish that was really held together by the pork. My friend got the scallop (literally one big scallop) with smoked tuna prosciutto on top. He said it was really good and worth it.
For dessert, there was no typical Italian tiramisu or panna cotta to choose from. Just either a triple chocolate cake with white chocolate gelato (I got this) or an apple strudel with vanilla gelato (friend got this). Tasted good, very solid, but not blown away.
Overall, this was a good RW experience, and the service and food quality at Elisir lives up to expectations. The staff is polite and professional, and the food preparation and presentation matches the aspirations of the restaurant. Elisir would be great for a special occasion or a luxe date night.

It’s definitely a restaurant I’m glad I tried during Restaurant Week, but not one I’d return to.
The portions were definitely small, but I was full by the end. We tried the chestnut purée soup, which I enjoyed. The radicchio salad was layered and a little complicated to eat. The addition of chocolate in the salad threw my friends off. For the entrée, I enjoyed my giant mushroom ravioli with smoked mozzarella. The pappardelle, both the vegetarian version (eggplant ragu) and the sausage and tuscan bean version, was salty. I enjoy salt probably more than I should, but it was a bit much. We also added a side of truffled mashed potatoes, which were delicious. Both desserts were good: the chocolate cake and the apple strudel.
Our server was nice but a bit long-​winded. At one point I got up and refilled my olive oil by myself because I hadn’t seen him for a while. He did bring more bread before I even asked for it though, so that was definitely a plus.
They have this weird system where you can see the food being expedited on several screens throughout the restaurant. Interesting, but do I need to see it? I don’t know. It became kind of game before our food came out to try to figure out what dish was what on the screen.

This was a total Restaurant Week success story! I had the chestnut purée starter and after just one bite, I immediately felt sorry for everyone who ordered anything else. Fortunately, I was seated in front of the TV broadcasting the food pass at the kitchen, and saw that most people ordered the chestnut purée as well.
Elisir offers quite a few add-​ons to their restaurant week menu, so you can have a slightly more customized meal. I elected to have the $ 12 goose liver added to the purée and it was phenomenal — sweet and buttery and an outrageously decadent addition to the appetizer.
I had watched the cook set up my plate at the pass on the TV screen, and then saw my waiter’s hands gesture quizzically at my plate on camera, followed by the cook’s hand gesturing forcefully in reply. So I was amused when my server (Joseph, who was gracious and thoughtful throughout the meal) brought the plate to me and mentioned he thought the kitchen had prepared my appetizer wrong (several of the garnishes were hiding under the goose liver), but was reassured by the cook that it was made correctly. It’s really sweet to have proof on camera that my waiter fought so gallantly for me at the pass. :)
The chicken was good, but I might encourage future diners to try one of the other mains instead. In the end, it was (tasty) chicken and mashed potatoes, but you know what that tastes like already. Of the desserts, the quince was delicious but the rice pudding was al dente, which I think might have been an error. I’d recommend the cherry mousse with bavarian crème as an alternative, even though I don’t think the mousse had a strong enough cherry flavor.
Though I suppose some people reserve five stars for meals where they can’t quibble with the main and desserts, I’ll remember my meal there for a long time because of the beautiful dining room, excellent service and vivid, delicious chestnut purée, and that’s enough to get five stars from me.

Full review blogged, specific notes below:
The Service and Setting: I’ll start off by saying that my reservation was made late on the day of the meal, but happy to take the earliest seating in a restaurant that only started to fill around 8:00pm the first seat offered, behind a pole (interestingly featuring a video stream of the pass,) was still terrible — especially for the first guest to arrive during dinner service.
Moving next to the service, with my new seat directly in front of Chef Fargione and the chef coming out to say hello more than once during the meal things definitely improved as time went on — my primary server Luke competent and friendly while the ancillary servers were still seemingly undergoing monitoring and training, something I’ve never experienced in fine dining in the past.
Bread and Olive Oil Tasting: A great concept; amongst the best I’ve seen anywhere for such a low price ($ 5 a la carte, or included with tasting) Elisir’s bread program and paired olive oils feature Ligurian Olive Oil with Celery Sea Salt, Tuscan Olive Oil with Chianti Sea Salt, and Sicilian Olive Oil with Basil Sea Salt plus Focaccia, White, Raisin Walnut, Black Olive, Grissini, Garlic and Anchovy Breads with which to experiment. Each baked in house and the Black Olive amongst the best I’ve ever tasted I particularly loved the ability to taste the different oils as they related to the particular salts.
Sweet Roasted Baby Onions: The first proper course of the tasting and the one which gave me the most pause on ordering would actually prove quite impressive, a tower of sorts with the onions tossed in Grappa vinegar before roasting and layers of licorice in between sitting atop a stone ground mustard base. A bold shock to the palate to say the least and even more poignant with the addition of a briny Caper Corn Chip, Shaved Smoked Bottarga, California Caviar and Chives this was one of those dishes where ‘more is more’ actually worked, the flavor indescribably savory yet full of nuance with the licorice actually serving to balance the other hefty flavors quite well.
Torcione di Fegato D’Oca E Fantasia Di Nocciole: Apparently a bit of a signature dish and deservingly so this supplemental course entitled «Fantasy of goose liver torchon» featured a dense torchon of Foie Gras custard studded with cocoa nibs, hazelnuts, and sundried tomatoes paired with a salty hazelnut tuille, balsamic gelato, cremona mostarda, basil oil, corn tendrils, green apple gelee, and sweet red wine caramel sauce. Sweet — almost enough so to be a dessert course — yet balanced and well composed this was another excellent example of Enzo’s ability to make something consisting of many discrepant parts work in harmony.
Uovo D’Oca Bazzotto Nel Nido Di Funghi Croccanti Al Porto: Another supplemental signature and another overwhelming success this dish featured a «poached duck egg in a nest of tempura fried hen of the wood mushrooms with a port wine reduction, crispy pancetta, black truffles and crispy sage, preserved truffle shavings.» For those who know me it’s pretty obvious that this dish had no chance to fail and while the two preceding courses were good this was one of those dishes that had me debating a return to Elisir the following day.
Tomato Cavatelli — Tomato Pasta, Capers, Crispy Sage Leaves, Castellino Olives: Moving on to the pasta courses I have to say I really disliked everything about this dish — the salinity, the texture, and especially the overall lack of tomato taste all entirely underwhelming. Sure I’d like to think that the fact that my mind had been blown by the three previous dishes had something to do with it, but in reality this was just poorly conceived — the sort of dish a protein may have helped to level out, or at least a dish where leaving off the capers might have tempered the imbalance towards brine.
Gnocchi Patate Con Aragosta Affumicata Piselli Porcini E Crema Di Tima All ‘Aglio Arrosto: In the great tradition of ‘if you can’t make good gnocchi at least pair it with superlative ingredients these overcooked potato dumplings arrived with smoked Maine lobster, English peas, and porcini mushrooms in a roasted garlic and thyme infused mascarpone cream. With each ingredient delicious and well prepared this was a good dish that could have been great if only the pasta would have been up to snuff.
The Verdict: Still relatively new during my visit Elisir is a tough restaurant for me to evaluate based on a single visit largely because the highs were so high while the lows were so very low. A superb setting to say the very least and very interesting to the sort of person who enjoys watching the kitchen at work the service most certainly did not live up to what is expected at this price point and while the first half of the evening presented dish after dish of stunning cuisine the pastas were actually quite poor while the later savories were good but not overly so.

3.75 Stars
Service & décor — 5 stars
Food — 3 stars
Ever since reading about his signature «smoking cigar box of branzino carpaccio» while at Teatro Goldoni, I’d been wanting to try Enzo Fargione’s cooking. Well, now that he’s got his own restaurant, why not give it a try? Elisir is a nicely appointed space with an interesting musical selection (Reggae in an Italian place? Not what I would have expected, but it worked).
I went in for lunch, and unfortunately, even with the a la carte menu, they don’t offer the branzino at lunch, so I opted for the $ 19 lunch special at the 12-​seat bar. Service was outstanding and started with a nice, ample bread basket that included anchovy, black olive, and garlic breads. I had the braised pork sausages with a ragout of cannellini beans over polenta accompanied by a glass of a super Tuscan whose name I can’t recall. The sausages were good, but the polenta and beans were overpowered by the saltiness of the sauce.
The bar does have quite a nice selection of tipples, both Italian and other. As you’d expect, there’s a great selection of wines, primarily, but not exclusively, Italian, including 24 by the glass. Three draft beers, including Nastro Azurro (blue ribbon, by Peroni), plus Matilda and Sophie beers from Great Lakes in the bottle. In addition to the expected grappas, they also have Japan’s Yamazaki whiskey just to go along with the eclectic nature of the place. I had a glass of Vin Santo to accompany the chestnut crème brûlée that came with the lunch.
Although lunch was a bit of a disappointment, I would definitely go back and give dinner a try to see the chef’s full range of talents.

This place if fantastic! I was there with a party of 6. Our server, Daniel, was incredible. He recited the menu from memory, but more importantly, he really knew the subtle details of each dish which only comes from tasting that dish multiple times.
I had the white asparagus salad and the Reginette D’Antra. The Reginette has to be one of the best pasta dishes I’ve ever eaten. The entire table agreed with that assessment after tasting the amazing duck filled pastas.
I can’t say enough about this place. It is definitely worth a visit if you find yourself in DC.

On the cusp of a 5 — very expensive but the inventiveness of the kitchen and highly polished service are clearly a 5 — how good is the food?
We were started with a cold soup amuse bouche. Several breads are offered — we went for an olive oil and salt plate with oils and salts from Piedmonte, Liguria, and Sicily.
We started with «hand cut cubes of veal filet on a marble tray, citrus dressing, poached cardoons, foraged mushrooms, micro greens, toasted Piemonte
hazelnuts, shaved black truffle and a parmesan cheese tuile». Wow. Could never remember all that. It was a very elaborate and whimsical plate. Also, pappardelle with a ragu of braised lamb and pancetta. A much more basic plate but rich and flavorful.
Entrees were brqanzino with a fennel purée and a marinated Guinea fowl roulade stuffed with house made sausage and cabbage. The fish was perfect. The roulade was highly inventive, but perhaps not as tasty as one might hope for.

I would probably go closer to 3.5 stars if I could.
I’ve been here twice now, once by myself for lunch and once with a larger group for dinner.
My lunch was very good. I sat in the bar area. They have a bar menu that includes a number of fixed price lunches — non-​alcoholic drink, entrée and dessert. I think the price was about $ 20, which is pretty reasonable.
I really wanted to try the porchetta, which was only on the main dining room lunch menu. It was really phenomenal — I would definitely give 5 stars for this item and highly recommend it. Service was very strange and seemed forced. Of course the bartender was serving me. The place seemed very empty during lunch.
When we returned a few days later on my recommendation, we sat in the back dining room (about 10 of us). Initially the service was pretty good, though it was very hard to get suggestions from the waiter as to recommendations, which was a drag.
We had some recommendations for wine from the wine steward, and they were pretty tasty.
Interestingly we had 2 amuse bouche from the kitchen (they asked us if we had any particular allergies or dislikes ahead of time). The first one we got was really actually pretty terrible, it tasted and looked like a bit of vegetarian canneloni that had been prepared the day before, cut into small pieces and popped in the frig. It was cold and actually pretty gross — it didn’t seem to bode well for the rest of the meal and really wasn’t the first thing I wanted to taste. Oh well it was free and a nice gesture. Since it was cold out I would have preferred something warm perhaps.
We got the 3 olive oil and salt tasters for an extra $ 5. This was pretty cool and it was a nice touch. The bread selection was also very good.
Another amuse bouche followed. I unfortunately can’t recall what it was at the moment, a spoonful of something. Whatever it was, once again this was not a very popular item and I was really starting to get nervous.
I got the house special smoked branzino (white fish) in a cigar box as an appetizer «four minute apple wood smoked branzino carpaccio served in a cigar box with citrus dressing, scallions, shaved mushrooms, pea tendrils, roasted garlic chips and blood oranges». This item has had quite a few write-​ups and they have a stack of cigar boxes for serving them in the open kitchen.
Unfortunately this was a disaster in my opinion — first the roasted garlic chips, I’m not sure I was in love with them, they tasted a bit burnt and overpowering but maybe that was not the big problem. The way this works is they put the fish in the cigar box, then a bit of burning charcoal, then close the lid and it smokes a bit while they bring it to the table. Sounds brilliant. PROBLEM IS my cigar box had a painted paper decoration attached to the upper inside of the cigar box. The charcoal burned into the paint and paper and gum base and made the entire dish smell like burnt paint/​plastic. So that sucked. If you get this make sure to ask for the boxes without the decal inside.
A service problem began to arise when one of the 10 of us proved to be a slow eater (more of a talker). But the impression I got was that they weren’t going to say anything to us or take away any of the plates or fire the rest of the food until that person was finished with their salad. This can be a tricky issue for wait staff in a fine dining situation I know but I’ve definitely seen it handled better in the past.
This timing issue might have been resolved by the wine service. The service was slow to start with (we had 2 bottles 1 white 1 red for the table) and no one ever came back to re-​pour the wine or check if we wanted any more wine during the entire meal (we eventually poured our own). We are pretty big wine drinkers and would have happily ordered more wine while we waited but never had the chance.
The entrees themselves ranged from pretty good to very good. A non-​foodie thought his sea bass was the best fish he ever had. The beef cheek risotto was pretty good. The duck was very good.
Although we wanted dessert we had waited so long for the entrees that we ended up passing, which was a drag as we normally would order dessert and it did look good. They did provide a pretty tasty free batch of dessert snacks — meringues and jellys which was nice.
Anyway, parts were very good, parts were terrible, lots of it was just middlin’. Hope this helps.

Chef Enzo Fargione has scored a super Tuscan home run!
Four of us went to dinner, and one of my guests was not a huge fan of Italian food, but Fargione’s menu transports Italian into a gastronomic experience all his own. No big red sauces here, or big tastless bowls of pasta here. This is haute cuisine from an Italian seasoned chef.
We had a table directly in front of the open kitchen, and Chef Enzo was front and center all night making final touches on every dish that went out. It’s a great set up, as the chef can see every table in the dining room as he works. Talk about quality control — he can supervise the kitchen AND the dining room from one place. Great idea.
We all decided on the 10 course tasting menu, as it was our first trip here — we wanted to experience everything! Before we even had to worry about what we were ordering, the chef sent out two amuse bouche courses which sent our tastebuds on an adventure. We couldn’t wait for the actual courses!
To add fun to the meal, get the olive oil and artisan homemade salt course. It’s a blast to dip the assortments of breads that into regional olive oils that are paired with chianti infused salt, black olive salt, and a fresh green basil sea salt.
The smoked branzino carpaccio with is actually smoked in a cigar box on its way to your table, complete with burning embers! This is the signature dish of the season — spectacular! Tasting menu should be renamed TEASING menu, as you are begging for more while you finish your last bite.
Speaking of carpaccio, the porcini-​dusted venison carpaccio with shaved reggiano and black truffles will transport you — close your eyes and you are in the Italian countryside!
The wine list has great variety — you are not forced into a bunch of Italian wines if you want to venture out. The sommelier is attentive and gives great advice. The Shiraz-​Viognier blend was a perfect choice for the tasting menu — so we ordered a second bottle!
The service was a bit off at times. Silver mise was not on top of game, as I had to ask for a fork a couple times — but this can be worked out. The restaurant is still new, so I look forward to this improving. This place is worth having the best staff in town. Everyone was very professional, and it was nice to have Enzo come out to the table at the end of the meal for a chat. A great guy. Happy birthday, Chef! I’ll be back!

Another great Italian restaurant.
Inside feels much more spacious than how I imagined from outside. So many wine bottles on the walls. Reminded me of ‘Proof’ restaurant.
— Complimentary bread basket is filled with 3 different kinds of bread, olive bread, foccacia and bread with herb (sage?). Butter comes with purple salt on top.
— Mushroom cap appetizer was great. Rustic flavor of mushroom blended very well with nuttiness of pine nuts and pesto.
— Cannellone pasta stuffed with cheese: This is heavenly creamy pasta dish. If you like cheese and cream sauce, Try this! A touch of mushroom ragu enhanced flavor of this dish perfectly.
— Tiramisu: One of the best tiramisu I’ve had. Creamy and a hint of espresso and sweetness made this lovely dessert so delectable.
Service was great!
PS: Bar lunch menu offers entrée with dessert or non-​alcoholic beverage for $ 19. I say this «MUST-​DO Lunch». You’re welcome :)

I really wish I had taken a pic, the presentation was wonderful. I came in for a late lunch and sat at the bar. The bar tender was nice, food came up quick and was delicious. I had the saffron fettuccine with bolognese ragu. So yummy, and very similar to central’s pasta bolognese but like use of different noodle types. This one is topped with thin square slices of parmesan cheese. Very good, I will come back.