Bertucci's Ristorante, Washington, D.C.

The forecast yesterday was for rain all day. Well, it didn't rain. It was beautiful and sunny out. At least until dinnertime.

Around 6:30 or 7:00 or so, dark clouds began rolling in from the southwest. Right about that time, Leo decided he wanted to go to dinner at Bertucci's, just across the GWU campus. As we walked out the door of our building, the deluge started. Fortunately, we'd brought umbrellas for just such an eventuality.

We soon discovered that this was a pretty major downpour, and the winds were really whipping the rain around. Nevertheless, we arrived at Bertucci's none the worse for wear, and only soaked from the knees down. Fortunately, I was in shorts and flip-flops.

Leo started with a tiramisu martini. I tried a little sip and it was way too sweet for my tastes. For his appetizer, he had portobello al forno, a portobello mushroom cap covered with melted mozzarella cheese and broiled. A ring of marinara dotted with little bits of pesto sauce surrounded the mushroom. He had the lobster ravioli for his main course. Looked like just ravioli on the plate with no vegetables, but there was this great big hunk of orange, and I couldn't figure out what it was for.

I had their new Firenze salad with grilled steak. A cold, barely medium rare steak was sliced and laid on top of a bed of mixed greens that were rather scant, but interesting. I saw radiccio, chicory, and Swiss chard amongst the usual salad culprits. There were crumbles of somewhat mild gorgonzola cheese and a light dressing that tasted of orange. All in all, a pleasant salad, though to be consistent with their competitors, they should throw in an extra handful or so of greens.

We didn't do dessert at the restaurant, since Leo had frozen miniature cream puffs and hot fudge sauce at home that he used later to make profiteroles.

As usual, the food at Bertucci's was pretty good, but the service—always their weak spot—needed a lot of work. After the waiter had been by a couple of times and not noticed my empty water glass, I had to ask for a refill; on his second trip back by after that, I had to ask again for my water. Leo tried to order a limoncello martini—their featured drink on the menu—and the waiter had to come back to tell him that they were out of limoncello. Leo's appetizer had been on the table for maybe one minute when the waiter returned with his main course. After our main courses, the waiter came by with the check and didn't even ask if we wanted dessert. Now, the waiter was friendly enough, but, given my long history here with these kinds of issues, I have to chalk it up to poor training and incredibly poor management.

It was still raining when we walked home, though much more gently.