About Graffiato
When it opened, it was mobbed nightly—more club, it seemed, than restaurant. Now Mike Isabella’s maiden venture has settled into life after stardom. The bad news first: It’s prone to unevenness, and the prices can get up there in a hurry. But there are more than enough thrills to make it worth seeking out. From one direction, the small-plates menu looks to be Mediterranean, from another, Italian—more specifically, Joisey Italian, an idiom that supplies many of the best moments, from a plate of chicken in pepperoni sauce to a pizza topped with provolone and fried calamari. No one would ever confuse Graffiato with a pizzeria, even a boutique one, but the pies are among the finest in the area.
Don’t miss: Charred Brussels sprouts with pancetta; pancetta with poached egg, mushrooms, and salsa verde; butternut-squash agnolotti; spinach-and-ricotta ravioli; tagliatelle with short-rib ragu; pappardelle with sausage ragu; gemelli all’amatriciana; Greek pizza; burrata-and-arugula pizza; cannoli.
See what other restaurants made our 100 Very Best Restaurants list. This article appears in our February 2016 issue of Washingtonian.
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.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
