Acqua al Due—A Valentine’s Day Dinner revisited
Acqua al Due
212 7th Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003-4311
(202) 525-4375
It’s perhaps no surprise that since this is Washington, D.C., and I’ve lived here for like forever, that I just couldn’t leave the house until the NEWSHOUR report on the mid-primary caucuses had conclude.(yes, this blogpost is from 2012!)
Jeez, I’m no more impacted by the results than anyone else, but I’m assuming most folks would just leave and wait to read it on their smart phones or for the 11 o’clock news or something. Yet simultaneously, I’m all concerned about being late for the 7:30 p.m. reservation not only because I want my 100 points on Open Table, but also because the three folks joining me had offered to be critics with me as we evaluated Acqua al 2, the American transplant from Florence, Italy. So I grab my keys and drive from downtown to Capitol Hill in 15 minutes flat. Which given the vagueries of the L’Enfant-designed city in which I live is quite an achievement.
“Oh the drama has already begun! You’re late, you know that, right?” Lady O said, as a young girl approached the stand next to the really quaint little bar front of the store. “So you missed it, but wait, wait, I’ll tell you in a minute when she leaves again. Ssssssh! The maitre d’ is coming back. Ssssssh!”
A bit flummoxed, I turned to the right and saw Kimmie with her new man, Timmie, a former bartender now turned Legal Man. Lady O had warned me that Kimmie had a Timmie in her life now, and that I’d be pleasantly surprised in part because he had been a former restaurant and bar man. So he could give us some solid insight into how Acqua al 2 performed.
Wow, well, after yesterday’s review from Firenze, it’s a bit of fun to find three friends who were willing to make the comparison. Timmie introduced himself and informed me that first impressions were not good, “You aren’t going to believe this, but I said to the bartender, two glasses of wine. What have you got that’s big and robust!” The bartender gave him exactly what he asked for…at $30 per glass. With tax and tip, two glasses of wine ran well over $70.
Kimmie chimed in, “Well, you see, Timmie bought me flowers for tonight, and I’d put them on the bar and in no time, they’d offered to put them in the freezer while we ate. Isn’t that nice? And then we got the wine bill.”
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| $30 Super Tuscans by the What? By the glass??? |
By the time we ended up getting seated, they placed us in the coziest corner in the place–the same one where my cousin and I had sat comfortably earlier in the month. But this time it was four people in a nook meant for about 2 1/2 or 3 people. Not comfortable. But directly next to the kitchen and ideal for people watching.“Yeah,” said Timmie, you don’t screw the customer on the first drink. I cannot believe this happened to me! And I’m a bartender!”
The decor was a cross between kitsch with all these “signed” plates all around the office (some from CNN people, some from Hill people, some from sports folks), and cozy (a really nice bar area when you enter on the left and a really nice seating area by the kitchen. But those plates: we were seriously doubting these had been signed by the famous people whose names appeared on them.
At any rate, we had to prod our waitress to get beyond the specials, which she knew like the back of her hand. She had a terrific grasp of all the details of the restaurant and Timmie pronounced her a stellar waitress. I had to ask her, however, what the heck is an assagio plate? She wasn’t forthcoming with something for which the place is renowned. So like I say, after she explained what guest blogger New York Jetsetter Jon told us about yesterday regarding their assagio plates, we settled into like thirty minutes of debating what the hell we were going to get and what we could actually afford after the gouging at the bar.
We settled on LA VALENTINA D’ABRUZZO red for $48 a bottle. For a bottle that normally runs $12-$18 in boutiquey stores, this didn’t seem completely off the charts. Two bottles of that later…we had a lovely assagio d’insalata and capped the starters off with the sensational burrata with grapefruit, fleur de sel, honey, and pine nuts. The firm exterior and soft interior made for a very special treat; combined with the sour/salty/sweet/nutty flair from the added touches, Kimmie exclaimed, “Is anything not better with Pine Nuts sprinkled on top?”
The entrée steak choices we made could have been better presented and thought out. As I say a couple of weeks prior, I’d eaten here and had a simple pounded chicken breast grilled and the flavors were amazing. I am not a chicken fan, and combined with the arugula and cherry tomato salad, it was a truly strikingly memorable meal for $16. But these steaks were in the $30 range, and they were absolutely fine. There was nothing memorable, except for the cloyingly sweet balsamic glaze on Kimmie and Timmie’s and the overly creamy green peppercorn sauce for Lady O’s New York Strip.
With a couple of nice, but pricey sides of spinach and potatoes, we rounded out an otherwise expensive meal. We felt that we really couldn’t afford to each purchase an entrée. And after spending $90 each and having only two entrées, well, you get the picture. There were no lunchworthy leftovers from Acqua al 2.
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| Sweet Balsamic Steak |
With a couple of nice, but pricey sides of spinach and potatoes, we rounded out an otherwise expensive meal. We felt that we really couldn’t afford to each purchase an entrée. And after spending $90 each and having only two entrées, well, you get the picture. There were no lunchworthy leftovers from Acqua al 2.
By the time a dessert plate came to us to split four ways, I think we’d more or less forgotten why we’d come. It was a splendid time with good friends, and a swell experience to boot. But the food was on the perfectly adequate side. With a couple of bottles of expensively cheap wine and the blot on the record from the top, I can safely recommend with obvious caveats:
- Pre-game before you arrive, and sip tap water with lemon slices. (I find the lemon slices do a great job masking D.C., water treatment facility weaknesses.)
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