Review of Sette Osteria

If you're in Dupont Circle on a nice day and want a place to sit outside and enjoy a glass of wine and some pizza from a wood-burning oven, Sette is your spot.

That said, there are many places in DC for pizza, particularly wood-fired pizza, and Sette is not even close to the best of them. I went once and won't likely go again. Pizzeria Paradiso and Coppi's are just so much better.

I'm not saying the food is bad, it's fine. The service is fine. The restaurant is fine. Just nothing special.

Review of Pizzeria Paradiso

This is the Georgetown location of Pizzeria Paradiso. There is also one in Dupont Circle. They have a simple menu of wood-fired pizza and panini. They make an absolutely perfect crust, especially when they let the good bubbles form. The pizza is never to heavy on the cheese or sauce. All the ingredients are super fresh.

The Dupont location has a beer and wine list that is very decent. The Georgetown location has an enormous beer list and a full bar. The prices are reasonable, especially by DC standards. It's a great place to hang out with friends or go out on a casual date. I really recommend sitting at the counter so you can watch them throw your pizza into the brick oven. Those guys are focused.

Pizzeria Paradiso, Dupont Circle, 2029 P Street NW, Washington, DC
Pizzeria Paradiso, Georgetown, 3282 M Street NW, Washington, DC

With the Fishes at the Baltimore Aquarium

This fish has some serious personality, not something you hear a lot to describe a fish. The fish resides at the Baltimore Aquarium. Every time someone would go up to his/her tank with a camera, the fish would swim right up and pose. It was hilarious.

I was at the Baltimore Aquarium because, my work decided to spend the day there for our biannual team day. We spent the morning having a meeting in the huge building owned by Catholic Relief Services. When we arrived one of my work mates joked that she was amongst her people. (She's Catholic.) My first thought was that her people liked to put my people on medieval contraptions and then burn them alive, but I figured she wouldn't really want to hear about that.

After what was a boring (and undoubtedly useless meeting that will never be followed up on), we traipsed through the depressed Baltimore streets to gorge ourselves on plates of pasta at Amicci's in Little Italy. I tried not to think about what Chris's friend, the restaurant health inspector, said about Little Italy restaurants. The food wasn't bad in that cheap, plentiful, Americanized-Italian sort of way.

As for the aquarium. It was pretty good, not as good as the one in Monterrey, but worth a trip.

Review of La Tomate

This week I'm taking a break from my quest for a good Mexican restaurant in DC. Instead, I'm going to talk about an Italian place right around the corner from the apartment.

La Tomate is the kind of restaurant where you can go in jeans, but you could also dress up a bit. They have a prime location in dupont and you'll rarely have to wait for a table in the triangular, two-story dining room. They also have a great outdoor seating area in summer.

The service is generally attentive, if occasionally a bit stuffy. The menu is extensive. You'll find a full range of pastas (running about $13 to $18 for the meal or, in some cases, $8 for an appetizer size). Entrees include a pounded pork chop grilled in truffle oil and breast of duck grilled with plum and ginger sauce. I always mean to try new things, but I can never pass up the veal ravioli in tomato basil sauce.

I'm not sure I would travel far and wide to eat at La Tomate, as there are many other Italian restaurants in the city that are just as good or better. But for anyone in the general vicinity, it's a good, reliable choice.