graffiato

graffiato
707 6th street NW, washington, DC 20001
tel: 202) 289-3600
hours: monday-friday 12pm-5pm, sunday-tuesday 5pm-12am, wednesday-thursday 5pm-1am, friday-saturday 5pm-2am

what was consumed: fresh fennel vegetate (with stone fruit, hazelnuts, moscato), green salad (with apple, radish, mint, ricotta salata), ham plate (with prosciutto di parma, porcsalt holiday ham, and a prosciutto of the day ... i think), pork & beans pizza (with pepperoni, sweet peppers, white bean puree, arugula), prosecco "on draft", tony starr cocktail, and ff coppola 'sofia' can (with straw)

what is it about local 'top chef' cheftestants that i can't seem to get enough of?!?!

i really anticipated the opening of mike isabella's new restaurant in the dc/metro area. and then, when k sent me an article that said that graffiato had prosecco "on tap," i needed (not wanted. needed.) to go. immediately. fresh ingredients, great flavor combinations, and wonderful things to drink? no need to twist my arm.

k and i met up after a long day of work. when k arrived, she tells me, she had the pick of seats. when i got there (soon after! i wasn't that late!), the place was bubbling with people, and in the middle of our meal, i looked around to see the place pretty packed with people. good sign!

the graffiato bar is well stocked, including prosecco on tap! what a genius idea, one that totally makes sense and that i think should be more common (imo, of course). we sat on the other side of the restaurant, at the part of the bar that was in front of the woodfire oven. i love that the kitchen is exposed and works well with the exposed brick that adds to the decor of the restaurant. seeing all of the food being prepared also was an inspiration as to what we would ultimately order - it was really neat to see ingredients go into the oven and come out cooked, then to have the cooks plate the food using all sorts of different sauces with a variety of different colors and textures. i could barely contain my growling stomach.

k and i initially had a hard time deciding what we were going to order. pizza or pasta? veggies or not? yay or nay on the cured meats? everything looked really good and we were starving. we opted for a some veggies and cured meats to start. the server made sure to let us know that all of the starter dishes are served at room temperature. we weren't really sure what that meant, but we went with it. and, in the end, it didn't really matter. the fennel salad was delicious. the light dressing covered all of the salad's components just right and the roasted hazelnuts were a delicious addition to the dish (in fact, i would have enjoyed more!). the cured meats came out on a platter, all 3 kinds. each had a bit of a distinct flavor, all delicious. of the 3, the porcsalt was my favorite - salty and meaty. the meats were drizzled with honey (which we only later realized. i know. too much prosecco already - hahaha).

we also ordered a salad, which came out later than everything else (slight mess up - no biggie), but it was totally worth the wait. the light, citrus dressing , the small cubes of fruit, and the crumbled cheese made this simply salad simply delicious.

and the pizza! our pizza was delicious. you know me, i love pizza. the pizza at graffiato are made "for one" (i.e., one person could probably eat the entire thing, neopolitan (is that right?) style). i like my pizza with arugula on it (and k was totally cool with going along with it). the 'pork&beans' pizza used bean puree instead of tomato sauce, making the crust really crispy and flavorful. coupled with the salty pepperonis and the sweet peppers, along with the fresh arugula, each of the slides of pizza were quickly gobbled up.

graffiato also had a series of desserts, which we politely declined as we opted to drink our dessert calories (haha). graffiato, we will be back. and soon!

online: http://graffiatodc.com/