Paolo's Ristorante, Georgetown, D.C.

After the symphony concert last night, we wandered over to Georgetown to find something to eat. After Ian vetoed several restaurants because they reminded him of something or because he had a tradition of only going there with specific people or because he wasn't in the mood for certain ethnicities, we finally found a place he hadn't been that was marginally acceptable to him, Paolo's Ristorante.

For a Thursday night at 10 p.m., Paolo's was pretty packed and loud. They fairly quickly got us a table, though it was a small round five top and a little awkward for conversation what with all the background noise.

Laurent got the pizza marquez, featuring lamb sausage and pine nuts. The hand-tossed crust was covered with cheeses and fresh snipped herbs



I got the cayenne and espresso steak salad. Hot, medium-rare slices of steak previously marinated in espresso and cayenne pepper, halves of fingerling potatoes, and crumbles of gorgonzola cheese sat on the plate with mixed European salad greens on top and caramelized onions on top of the greens. The dressing included portabello mushrooms and what they called dragon honey. I liked my salad, but I would have preferred a dressing that wasn't so sweet.



Ian started off with a plain pizza margherita. It turned out to be quite large, certainly enough for two to share. It had a very, very thin crust topped with mozzarella cheese, basil leaves, and diced tomatoes (instead of the usual tomato sauce). The waiter actually cut the pizza on the table for Ian.



Even though Ian was already complaining about how big the pizza was, he was in a soup mood, so he ordered the tortellini in brodo, a huge bowl of chicken broth with gorgonzola cheese-stuffed tortellini. The soup looked really really good to me. Ian only ate half of it, though, and half of the pizza. He took the remaining half of the pizza home in a doggie box, but I think I'd have taken the soup, not the pizza.



Laurent and I split a great big piece of tiramisu for dessert. I was a bit more blasé about it, but Laurent thought it was the best tiramisu he'd ever had. Ian abstained, since he hadn't finished his soup and pizza.



We got out just in time to get Laurent to the subway stop to catch the last train home.