I had the pleasure of attending the very first 'soft opening' night at Casolare in DC on Saturday. This is the newest of Michael Schlow's DE-area restaurants, which number close to a half-dozen now. It turns out our own Lumo (Luis) is one of the master puppeteers for the restaurant group.
Casolare is primarily coastal Italian, with a hint of Italian-American thrown in. So the menu is heavy with seafood dishes, but also has a few non-seafood items like chicken fra diavolo, pork shoulder and a lamb dish. Being the very first night, we went into this expecting to see a scene out of 'Restaurant Wars', but everything was so solid I decided to write about it even though I know the very first night is not the best time to judge a new place.
My dad and I put them to the test by starting with a couple apps that included tomato sauce. Because, well, you better damn when have a good tomato sauce if you are going to be an Italian restaurant that wants me as a customer. And what do you know, their sauce was really, really good! It was not a heavy, long-simmered-with-meatballs-and-sausage texture/ flavor, but a really tasty fresh sauce with great acidity balance and good depth of flavor. And the first dish it came on was eggplant parmesan because, well, see what I mentioned a couple sentence ago... Well, the presentation was on the dressy side (looked nice), as the eggplant was presented in three cubes. So did it taste like some fancy restaurant's modern interpretation of eggplant parmesan? Thankfully NO! It tasted like the eggplant parmesan my dad's mother used to make, which is better than the version my mom made and better then mine (okay, if Travis is reading this he likely things my eggplant parmesan sucks, as the one time I served it to him the sauce has a burnt flavor :O ). So that was an absolutely great first-impression of the restaurant.
The eggplant was followed closely by some meatless meatballs (polpette) that were reminded me of a light version of falafel. I'll admit to being not the craziest about them, although the tomato sauce, pine nuts and grated cheese (don't remember if pecorino) were tasty. And we let a few sit for a good 15-20 minutes, after which they absorbed a bit of the sauce and the fried exterior softened, so those last few were much more like meatballs to me. Honestly this dish is pretty decent if you know/ understand what you are getting, as the 'meatless balls' are light and a little crispy when they are delivered to the table, making for a nice light starter. But I'm a 50 year old Italian-American/ Hungarian, and if it is round, my brain is hardwired to expect meat
The first two apps were followed by a breaded shrimp appetizer and a pizza. The shrimp were well prepared, and the dish had a nice brightness from lemon. They were also garnished with some thin pickled pepper slices. I wished for a little heat, but that craving was satisfied by other dishes. Which included the pizza -- it was one of the better ones that I have eaten. The crust was reminiscent of a NY pizza vs a Neapolitan, and had a great depth of flavor. The sauce and cheese were excellent. And it was topped with a spicy spreadable sausage very similar to Andouille (the name is almost identical as well), except it has a pronounced smoky flavor as well. So it turns out Luis started his career at a pizza place, spent time in Italy, and worked for Bob Kinkead for a year. That makes him the 4th person I know of that worked for Kinkead that either recently or currently is in charge of pizza-making, and all of them are known for the flavorful crusts the developed and top-quality toppings. And Kinkead is a French-trained seafood guy -- who knew he would spawn a pizza dynasty?
Of course we were stuffed by now, but in the name of research and a sense of duty to KKF, we continued on down through the menu. Since neither my dad nor I like much in the way of shellfish, we skipped over the dishes containing clams and mussels. So we tried a ravioli dish and the chicken fra diavolo. The ravioli was frankly a show-stopper. They were stuffed with potato and mint, and topped with pecorino and a butter sauce. The pasta layers were nice and thin, and the pasta was cooked perfectly. This dish could very well make the 'last meal' request if I ever get sent up the river and face the electric chair. The mint balanced the strong bite of the cheese, and the potato hung out in the background, mixing with the butter sauce. Truly a don't-miss dish.
We tried the chicken dish for a couple reasons. First, we used to go to a restaurant years back that had this as a staple, and I haven't come across a decent version of it since. And it is a dish where there is nowhere to hide if anything is amiss. The old 'Simple, so everything has to be perfect'. The chicken was moist -- although not the moistest - and had a good level of heat. It seemed like it needed some seasoning, or better distribution of the seasoning, but we ate it immediately after the ravioli so our taste buds were still searching for more of the savory level that we had just enjoyed. But I think if a spoonful or two of a pan sauce were added to the dish it would allow swabbing the forkfuls of chicken so they would pick up a small additional amount of moisture and seasoning. The chicken pieces were on a bed of broccolini that was well-prepared. All-in-all a solid dish that I would definitely eat again, and I suspect with a small tweak or two it would be a chicken dish to seek out.
At this point we had to say 'no mas'. Well, except for dessert. We tried three out of the 4, with a pistachio semifreddo beating out the other two. It had a nice texture, and was not very sweet -- which is how we like to roll for desserts most of the time these days. Second place went to the cannolis, which had a delicious filling with a good level of sweetness, but not over the top. The shells looked like pizelles; they had a nice texture but had a little different flavor then what I am used to. They were pretty solid, and can compete with most that I have seen around town. The third dessert was a chocolate panna cotta. To me the flavor was okay, but the texture was more like pudding then panna cotta. When I ordered this it was so I could vet it for my wife, who is a fan of both panna cotta and chocolate, but due to the texture/ set issue it would not be on the 'must try' list. The fourth dessert was a tart with cherries and rosemary; the server said it was the dessert she liked the most, but we did not try that one because we did not want to be pigs :biggrin:
Throughout the whole evening the staff was attentive, even though we were in the 'lounge' area and not the main part of the restaurant. The server was well-trained, and the rest of the service team was good about keeping water glasses full, asking before removing plates, etc. And the bar was putting out pretty tasty cocktails. There was an assistant manager who knew the wine list pretty well. And the wine selection was great -- there were close to a dozen and a half red wines from southern Italy and Sicily, as well as a pretty large assortment of higher-ends reds. They even had a couple Amarones, which will appeal to my wife.
The décor was well-done. It was designed by one of the DC-area companies that has really taken over the last year or so.
In the 'saved the best for last' category, I have to mention Luis. He was very gracious, and is a very nice guy. He's spent quite a bit of time in the DC area lately with the various restaurant projects -- I wish I had met him sooner. He hung out talking with us for about 2 hours after dinner service started winding down.
All-in-all, the evening was a very memorable experience. It was way, way better then we anticipated since it was the very first night. But the combination of the restaurant largely firing on all cylinders, the couple of dishes (i.e., eggplant, pizza and ravioli) that were so exceptionally good, the good cocktails and Sicilian wine, and the time we were able to spend talking with Luis made it a memorable dining experience versus just a night out for dinner. Frankly it made the list of my Top 10 restaurant dinners.
Thanks, Luis! And I look forward to checking out more of the Schlow restaurants in the area.
Casolare is primarily coastal Italian, with a hint of Italian-American thrown in. So the menu is heavy with seafood dishes, but also has a few non-seafood items like chicken fra diavolo, pork shoulder and a lamb dish. Being the very first night, we went into this expecting to see a scene out of 'Restaurant Wars', but everything was so solid I decided to write about it even though I know the very first night is not the best time to judge a new place.
My dad and I put them to the test by starting with a couple apps that included tomato sauce. Because, well, you better damn when have a good tomato sauce if you are going to be an Italian restaurant that wants me as a customer. And what do you know, their sauce was really, really good! It was not a heavy, long-simmered-with-meatballs-and-sausage texture/ flavor, but a really tasty fresh sauce with great acidity balance and good depth of flavor. And the first dish it came on was eggplant parmesan because, well, see what I mentioned a couple sentence ago... Well, the presentation was on the dressy side (looked nice), as the eggplant was presented in three cubes. So did it taste like some fancy restaurant's modern interpretation of eggplant parmesan? Thankfully NO! It tasted like the eggplant parmesan my dad's mother used to make, which is better than the version my mom made and better then mine (okay, if Travis is reading this he likely things my eggplant parmesan sucks, as the one time I served it to him the sauce has a burnt flavor :O ). So that was an absolutely great first-impression of the restaurant.
The eggplant was followed closely by some meatless meatballs (polpette) that were reminded me of a light version of falafel. I'll admit to being not the craziest about them, although the tomato sauce, pine nuts and grated cheese (don't remember if pecorino) were tasty. And we let a few sit for a good 15-20 minutes, after which they absorbed a bit of the sauce and the fried exterior softened, so those last few were much more like meatballs to me. Honestly this dish is pretty decent if you know/ understand what you are getting, as the 'meatless balls' are light and a little crispy when they are delivered to the table, making for a nice light starter. But I'm a 50 year old Italian-American/ Hungarian, and if it is round, my brain is hardwired to expect meat
The first two apps were followed by a breaded shrimp appetizer and a pizza. The shrimp were well prepared, and the dish had a nice brightness from lemon. They were also garnished with some thin pickled pepper slices. I wished for a little heat, but that craving was satisfied by other dishes. Which included the pizza -- it was one of the better ones that I have eaten. The crust was reminiscent of a NY pizza vs a Neapolitan, and had a great depth of flavor. The sauce and cheese were excellent. And it was topped with a spicy spreadable sausage very similar to Andouille (the name is almost identical as well), except it has a pronounced smoky flavor as well. So it turns out Luis started his career at a pizza place, spent time in Italy, and worked for Bob Kinkead for a year. That makes him the 4th person I know of that worked for Kinkead that either recently or currently is in charge of pizza-making, and all of them are known for the flavorful crusts the developed and top-quality toppings. And Kinkead is a French-trained seafood guy -- who knew he would spawn a pizza dynasty?
Of course we were stuffed by now, but in the name of research and a sense of duty to KKF, we continued on down through the menu. Since neither my dad nor I like much in the way of shellfish, we skipped over the dishes containing clams and mussels. So we tried a ravioli dish and the chicken fra diavolo. The ravioli was frankly a show-stopper. They were stuffed with potato and mint, and topped with pecorino and a butter sauce. The pasta layers were nice and thin, and the pasta was cooked perfectly. This dish could very well make the 'last meal' request if I ever get sent up the river and face the electric chair. The mint balanced the strong bite of the cheese, and the potato hung out in the background, mixing with the butter sauce. Truly a don't-miss dish.
We tried the chicken dish for a couple reasons. First, we used to go to a restaurant years back that had this as a staple, and I haven't come across a decent version of it since. And it is a dish where there is nowhere to hide if anything is amiss. The old 'Simple, so everything has to be perfect'. The chicken was moist -- although not the moistest - and had a good level of heat. It seemed like it needed some seasoning, or better distribution of the seasoning, but we ate it immediately after the ravioli so our taste buds were still searching for more of the savory level that we had just enjoyed. But I think if a spoonful or two of a pan sauce were added to the dish it would allow swabbing the forkfuls of chicken so they would pick up a small additional amount of moisture and seasoning. The chicken pieces were on a bed of broccolini that was well-prepared. All-in-all a solid dish that I would definitely eat again, and I suspect with a small tweak or two it would be a chicken dish to seek out.
At this point we had to say 'no mas'. Well, except for dessert. We tried three out of the 4, with a pistachio semifreddo beating out the other two. It had a nice texture, and was not very sweet -- which is how we like to roll for desserts most of the time these days. Second place went to the cannolis, which had a delicious filling with a good level of sweetness, but not over the top. The shells looked like pizelles; they had a nice texture but had a little different flavor then what I am used to. They were pretty solid, and can compete with most that I have seen around town. The third dessert was a chocolate panna cotta. To me the flavor was okay, but the texture was more like pudding then panna cotta. When I ordered this it was so I could vet it for my wife, who is a fan of both panna cotta and chocolate, but due to the texture/ set issue it would not be on the 'must try' list. The fourth dessert was a tart with cherries and rosemary; the server said it was the dessert she liked the most, but we did not try that one because we did not want to be pigs :biggrin:
Throughout the whole evening the staff was attentive, even though we were in the 'lounge' area and not the main part of the restaurant. The server was well-trained, and the rest of the service team was good about keeping water glasses full, asking before removing plates, etc. And the bar was putting out pretty tasty cocktails. There was an assistant manager who knew the wine list pretty well. And the wine selection was great -- there were close to a dozen and a half red wines from southern Italy and Sicily, as well as a pretty large assortment of higher-ends reds. They even had a couple Amarones, which will appeal to my wife.
The décor was well-done. It was designed by one of the DC-area companies that has really taken over the last year or so.
In the 'saved the best for last' category, I have to mention Luis. He was very gracious, and is a very nice guy. He's spent quite a bit of time in the DC area lately with the various restaurant projects -- I wish I had met him sooner. He hung out talking with us for about 2 hours after dinner service started winding down.
All-in-all, the evening was a very memorable experience. It was way, way better then we anticipated since it was the very first night. But the combination of the restaurant largely firing on all cylinders, the couple of dishes (i.e., eggplant, pizza and ravioli) that were so exceptionally good, the good cocktails and Sicilian wine, and the time we were able to spend talking with Luis made it a memorable dining experience versus just a night out for dinner. Frankly it made the list of my Top 10 restaurant dinners.
Thanks, Luis! And I look forward to checking out more of the Schlow restaurants in the area.
