Thursday night was the 15th Anniversary of our commitment ceremony and Will and I chose to celebrate at SPEZIE (www.spezie.com at 1736 L St, NW) where our friend Cesare Lanfranconi is in charge. Well, Cesare was in absentia as he had hurt his back, but the staff, as always, did a great job, and we were thrilled to be with our friend Karen, who has truly been the hostess with the mostess around town for so long, and our server Luciano, who hails not only from all the Galileo's of the past but back to Tiberio!
It was a great night to reminisce and eat and drink, starting with a glass of prosecco and the most divine Portobello Arrosto con Polpetta di polpa di granchio e burra alla erbe. This is truly the perfect Italian-take on our local crab cake, but here on a portobello mushroom with a yummy herb butter sauce. The entire creation is indeed a new revelation in the crab department. The winning touch to this dish was the simple microgreens on the side.
We were virgins to the Fiano grape with a FIANO di AVELLINO from Terradora di Paolo 2006 in Campania which was very rich, yet totally crisp as well. A great white for the crab and the pastas that followed. Stefano, the manager and sommelier hails from Sicily (we talked lots about that too) and he really introduced us to two star wines.
Our pastas were a split portion of FETTUCINE al SUGO di CONIGLIO al Verminto, Carciofi e maggiorama--a superb Vermentino (white wine) braised farm rabbit ragu with artichoke, parmeggiana and marjoram. The other half of the plate was perhaps the winning star with a TRENETTE al PESTO alla GENOVESE, which doesn't get much simpler, but was a divine linguine with a Genovese basil pesto, green beans, potato cubes and aged pecorino that all combined just made one of the best pasta dishes around.
We moved to our red wine, a GRAVELLO LIBRNADI from Val DiNeto in Calabria 2004 which is a blend of Gaglioppo and Cabernet, the first obviously being the new varietal to us. It opened up after a bit and we enjoyed every last drop.
The main courses were a Roasted FENNEL Dusted PORK CHOP with Cannellini Beans, Acorn Squash, Rosemary Mash, Balsamic and Braised Cipolline Onions that was not too fennelly at all and was a perfectly cooked chop to boot not to mention everything else. Will savored the CARE d'AGNELO Arrosto con Carciofi, fave e pancetta brasati ala menta, salsa alle olive liguri which was a divine Rack of Lamb (huge as well) roasted with Artichokes, Fava Beans, Pancetta and a bit of mint with a Ligurian Olive Sauce.
We were full, but the staff insisted we have a celebration dessert, which was a light and delightful PEACH & BLUEBERRY COBBLER with Vanilla Ice Cream. A creamy way to end a wonderful anniversary dinner.
