Capital Spice

Good news, Eastern Market!  At 11 AM tomorrow, Pitango Gelato will open its third DC location next door to the original Peregrine Espresso.  Damn – now I’m craving an affogato.

When we got word that tomorrow would be opening day, we immediately took a walk over to Eastern Market to check out the space.  We had been watching the construction with interest, but the news that they were ready still took us by surprise.  What we saw when we got there was a Pitango shop that was just about ready for business.

A few more shots of the interior after the jump. (more…)

If you’re looking to quickly stand out on the Washington dining scene, Italian cuisine may not be the best way to go.  Even before the restaurant boom of the past fifteen years, DC has had its share of quality Italian chefs and restaurants: Roberto Donna and his various incarnations of Galileo, the “pasta mamas” of Filomena and Fabio Trabocchi’s Maestro are just a few that readily spring to mind.  The field is even more crowded today, with newcomers like Casa Nonna, Carmine’s and Roberto Donna’s newest Galileo competing with long-time favorites.

Ari Gejdenson and Ralph Lee knew all that – they both grew up in the area before making their separate ways to Florence.  They have since returned, bringing with them Acqua al 2 (the 2 is pronounced in Italian as “du-ay”).    This is the second American outpost of the Florentine original – the first was in San Diego, naturally – and it’s a welcome addition to the restaurant options around Eastern Market.  I recently had a chance to check them out with a coworker and a friend who is already well on her way to becoming a regular despite the fact that the restaurant has barely been open six months.

Mural painted on the wall outside the window

We knew we wanted to experience a broad range of dishes – apparently Acqua al 2 knew it, as well.  The first few items on their menu are assaggi, sampler platters featuring varieties of pasta, steaks, and even desserts.  The Assaggio di Primi gave us a chance to try five of their vegetarian pasta options in portions scalable to fit the number of diners in our party.  All we had to do was sit back and enjoy the ride.

Details on the dishes we tasted after the jump. (more…)

It’s a big week for pizza lovers here in Washington.  In case you haven’t heard already, Pizzeria Paradiso has officially made the move from 2029 P Street to 2003 P Street in Dupont Circle.  First announced by the Going Out Gurus on Friday, the news was quickly picked up by Mike at DCBeer.

We swung by to check out the new space and will be putting up our first look tomorrow.  For now, just know that everything you love about the M Street location has been carried over to this newer, larger P Street space…including the Birreria concept that has made Paradiso a destination for beer lovers as well as a pizza afficionados.

But that’s not all!  Wood-fired pizzas seem to be cropping up in restaurants all over town, and the next location is slated to open this week.  SeventhHILL, a concept from the folks who own Montmartre on Seventh Street, SE, is just about ready to start turning out their own version.

Though nothing is ever certain when it comes to final approvals and restaurants’ timelines here in DC, there’s a very good chance that Chef Stephane Lezla’s new restaurant – next door to Montmartre in the space formerly occupied by Ben & Jerry’s – will be open for business on Tuesday, September 1.

I stopped into Hill’s Kitchen one day last week and was rewarded with a bite of a pizza that owner Leah Daniels was sampling.  The vegetables that topped the blistered crust were bright and crisp, with strips of fresh zucchini and sweetly caramelized onions as well as briny Italian olives (like Kalamata olives).

The menu she showed me listed a variety of pre-set topping combinations as well as a ‘top-your-own’ selection.  No word on prices or delivery options yet, as their website (www.seventhhill.com) has not yet gone live.  We’re going to be watching for more information on SeventhHILL as it develops.

Two years and $22 million later, the historic South Hall at Eastern Market is just about ready to reopen.  In fact, the temporary East Hall, where long-time vendors like Bowers’ Fancy Dairy Products, Canales Meats and Market Lunch have been operating since August of 2007, closed its doors at 4 PM on Sunday and the tenants have begun the process of transferring their equipment, their supplies and their inventories out.

Last month, the Mayor’s office announced that the Market would officially reopen on Friday, June 26th with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10:30 AM.  The next day, June 27th, will be an “all day celebration with music, face painting, food, entertainment and the newly remodeled historic market!”  With those dates quickly approaching, we decided to poke our heads into the South Hall to see how things are progressing.

As we headed down 7th Street from North Carolina Avenue, we were more than a little impressed with the renovated streetscape outside the Market.  Cobblestones in alternating colors give the block a feel that’s much more like a plaza or a pedestrian zone than a car-friendly thoroughfare.  It should come as no surprise that the city is pushing to keep 7th Street closed to vehicles on weekends (a program that has been in place since the Market reopened post-fire, and one that has plenty of adherents and critics).

From the outside, little has changed about Eastern Market.  The brick structure was largely unscathed by the fire, so the crews were able to address some minor cosmetic repairs without having to recreate the historic facade from scratch.  Inside, though, quite a few things have been updated and replaced.  The result is a modernized structure that retains its authentic character.

More photos of the work in its final stages after the jump. (more…)

Toward the end of last year, Elizabeth and I were walking through Eastern Market when we noticed a new vendor.

Okay, ‘noticed’ is kind of an understatement.  I believe my exact words were, “Ooooh!  Pickles!”

I’m starting to realize that I say “Oooh” a lot more than I would have thought…

Be that as it may, what stopped me in my tracks was something that Washington had been sorely lacking for quite some time – a source for good, old-fashioned, deli-style pickles.  Don’t believe me?  Check out the number of pickle-related threads on Chowhound that read like dill-soaked cries for help.

When I stopped bouncing up and down like a six-year old, we I decided we would check out what the stand had to offer.  Sure, they might say they had old-world, handcrafted pickles…but were they worth buying?  If you remember my attempts at homemade half-sour pickles last summer, you know how eager I was to find out.

Relishing the results of our visit after the jump. (more…)