Chef/owner Pietro Polles pops into the dining room to air-kiss regulars at this snug restaurant where pasta is al dente and sparingly sauced in the Roman style. Standouts are pappardelle with mushrooms and white-truffle oil, rigatoni Bolognese, and lasagna di crespelle, in which an Italian-style crepe fills in for noodles. And though the thin-crusted wood-oven pizza Margherita may have a tad more cheese than those scantily clad Neapolitan pies, it’s satisfying nevertheless.
-March, 2008
Executive Food Editor/Critic
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
