All this effort was so that we could eat a late lunch/brunch at the Georgetown edition of Papa Razzi Trattoria, a large Italian restaurant which is a part of a northeast coast chain. It wasn't bad for a franchise place.
As we waited for our food to arrive we were given a basket of warm foccacia bread and a basket of pencil-thin breadsticks. Svet had a Seven-Up and grenadine cocktail and his mother had a glass of pinot grigio. Eugene and I drank water; the staff tried very hard to sell us expensive bottles of mineral water but we said we'd be content with tap water; their tap water has to be some of the worst tasting water I've had in D.C.; I detected plastic—could it have been a ploy to sell acqua minerale?
The food, however, turned out to be much better than the water. Svet's mother had the risotto del giorno, which happened to be a mixed seafood, and a glass of pinot grigio. Svet ordered his traditional standard, the agnolotti al'Arragosta, a lobster and ricotta ravioli in lobster cream sauce. Eugene had smoked salmon with crispy leeks and crostini, plus a big insalata di Charles, a mixed green salad including bitter greens, fennel, and parmesan cheese. I had gnocchi di Sorrento, a bunch of small potato dumplings in a pomodoro sauce and baked with a heavy dose of mozarella cheese. Gnocchi, which sometimes can be heavy or doughy, was actually fairly light and quite nice here.
Svet and his mother both opted for dessert, a tiramisu and a pannacotta. I sampled both. The tiramisu I thought was rather ordinary and lacking in mascarpone cheese flavor, though it was sweet and had plenty of whipped cream as Americans tend to like. The pannacotta was really pretty good and had a very attractive presentation with a tall mold forming the pannacotta and an artistic drizzle of caramel sauce decorating it and the plate.
It was an okay lunch, I thought, and we had a nice table by the front windows. Service was adequate, though Svet hated our waitress for some reason.
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