Bertucci's, Washington, D.C.

After Epiphany Mass tonight at St. Paul's K Street, I wandered on down M Street to a restaurant called Bertucci's for dinner. I started with an "insalata" of iceberg lettuce, tomato, shredded mozzarella cheese, a couple of very very good black olives, and three unusual long, thin pepperoncini peppers in a rather ordinary Italian dressing. My main course was their scallop and shrimp Rossini, which is a fettuccine dish in a cream sauce enriched with a little tomato puree and enlivened with a little cayenne, and with the scallops and shrimp tossed with some chopped tomato, snipped parsley, sliced mushrooms, and capers, liberally doused with freshly grated parmesan cheese. The scallops were ever so slightly over cooked, but on the whole, I liked the dish a lot. The service was rather sucky, though. The floor was understaffed, with only two waiters trying to cover twenty-two four-top tables (only about a third to half full, but still!).

At the table next to mine was yet another of the "multi-generational" gay couples which seem to be so prevalent in Washington. I'm beginning to wonder if any of the college-aged boys in this town date boys their own age! Seems like everywhere I look is a college aged boy with a middle aged man. This one seemed to be undergraduate (he was too young to drink) and the man was 40-something; judging from their conversation, they were definitely a "couple" and not family or business colleagues.