Primi Piatti, Washington, D.C.

This week is making me feel so international! This afternoon we sat on the patio watching the people and the cars go by while we had a wonderful luncheon at Primi Piatti, in downtown D.C.'s West End, and it felt just like sitting at an Italian street cafe. I can't believe it's taken me so long to go here. It's sort of in the neighborhood, and we've walked by the place many, many times.

As you might imagine, Primi Piatti is an Italian restaurant elegantly serving up some delicious country Italian cuisine. We arrived for a late lunch and were ushered immediately to our table. While we did have to specifically request the Restaurant Week menu (which only had three options per category) when they brought the regular menus, I found the service throughout the meal to be top-notch, with all members of the staff anticipating needs, remembering orders, and serving graciously. There are some significantly more expensive restaurants in town that could take note of Piatti's service!

I began with the agnolotti fatti in casa ripieni di ricotta e spinaci alla salsa di noce, which were little raviolis stuffed with spinach and ricotta cheese and served with a nice, not-sweet, walnut cream sauce.



Rather than moving on to a main course at this time, I asked if they would let me have a second appetizer (a salad) instead of the dessert course and they did. That was great, since I not only didn't need the dessert calories, but their choices were limited to just tiramisu and sorbets, and I've had more tiramisu this summer in D.C. than I've had in all my trips to Italy combined. What I got was quite pleasant: insalatina di arugula con parmigiano. They took arugula leaves and tossed them with a bright, lemony dressing, making a peppery/bitter/sour salad that was mellowed just the right amount with shavings of parmesan cheese. All of these came with Italian breads and a little dish of a black olive tapenade that was good and not as strong as many I've had.



The proprietor and chef, Savino Recine, came to the table for a chat and was quite pleasant. He told us about some of his special events at Primi Piatti as well as his other restaurant on the other side of downtown, Finemondo. He also happens to be a magician, and he has a special chef's table in the evenings where he cooks and does some magic tricks.

My main course was the maiale, or probably more correctly, a controfiletto di maiale. "Maiale" means pig, but what I got were a couple of slices of fork-tender rolls of pork tenderloin with sun-dried figs, gorgonzola cheese, and fennel baked with white wine, the cheese having melted into the wine to make a nice little sauce. The pork was accompanied by some picquant sauteed greens and mashed potatoes.



After the meal, the waiter came over to announce that the proprietor wanted to send over some complimentary limoncello. Limoncello is a traditional Italian "digestivo", a lemon liqueur served after dinner thought to improve the digestion. This particular limoncello was Signor Recine's personal recipe, and he said it was the best in town. It arrived in a chllled, cone-shaped glass. The bright yellow liquid was powerful stuff! It had a special intense lemon flavor that was the result of having been made with lemon peel marinated in vodka, rather than with lemon juice, and after drinking the libation, my tongue had a pleasant numbness. He was right—I haven't had better limoncello in D.C.



In these days when so much of what passes as "Italian" food is merely American creations in the Italian theme, it's great to know that there's a place in Washington where one can get some delicious, authentic food from il Belpaese. Primi Piatti definitely goes on the "regular rotation" list.