Sportello, Boston

An Evening at a Fine Dining Cafeteria

So I came back to Chef Barbara Lynch's @Sportello, after all these years. I had last been here when I was workign for Reading Is Fundamental and I was in town for an IRA convention event at the Children's Museum that is practically next door. I'm remembering having a cocktail hour with Peter Reynolds. He and his twin brother had been the M.C. for the annual RIF gala, and I was in Boston reveling in the afterglow at his spectacular offices. 

High-end Cafeteria Luxury

At any rate, I recall coming back the next evening when my hotel concierge suggested a dinner spot called Sportello. This suggestion turned out to be a terrific idea. While Boston prices do make you wonder if D.C. is a cheap city to live in!

When it comes to ordering, I always try to get something I wouldn't either be able to make at home or be willing to make. Looking at the short menu, I'm thinking the braised rabbit with Picholine olives and rosemary and ricotta-stuffed melanzane looks like something I'd never make but would kill to eat. Getting through a menu full of excellent options is easy when these choices are included. There is nearly nothing on this menu I wouldn't love to eat.

@SportelloBoston , part 1: An "Open Table" at the Bar, Really? 

1960s cocktailer at the ersatz wine bar 

OK, so I had set up a reservation on Open Table, but the second the guy sees that I'm a table for one, he scowls and gives the two-top to a couple and tells me I can sit at the bar. Urgh. I'm all, "For chrissakes, I've got a reservation for an OPEN TABLE, not a seat at a bar..." But turns out this bar is a little bit different. They sat me at the "wine bar"...seriously, this is the most down market wine bar ever. And that's intentional. Your rear pays extra for the incredibly uncomfortable 1960's Mrs. Robinson's lanai cocktail stools, think "The Graduate." 

"Oh Benjamin...stop complaining..."

No seriously, these cocktail stools are a mesh specifically designed to turn your seat into a flesh waffle. I have friends who would kill to be sitting here—Scott, I'm looking at you! But me? I was just sitting there ready to kill...

Thankfully my server came along and walked me through a terrific wine by the glass list. Now, say what you will about wines by the glass (and many have: namely, they're a terrible waste of money, you should just get the bottle), I do not relish sitting with an entire bottle of wine as a single diner and (a) looking as if I have a problem, and (b) seeing most of it go to waste because I'm in town working.

This wine list was exciting because they found "affordable" ($9-$15/glass) fine wines that they could serve by the glass. more on that in a moment

@SportelloBoston, part 2: Fava Beans and a Lovely Chianti?

Fava bean "hummus" and a delightful fenneled bread
for the sybarite in all of us.

As I cast my eyes down the menu, I came upon a fava bean puree. This is something that back in my vegan days, specifically when I was a student in Bristol, England, I would consume every Sunday night with a coterie of likeminded souls escaping Thatcher's England for something a little more delicious, We gorged on it.

Short but Special Menu
Just try finding something you won't eat here. Dare ya.

But at Sportello, there is no gorging. Portions are for adults, not college students, and this particular treat would be meaningless without an order of the smartly portioned house-made bread (required, but most certainly not complimentary here). The u-shaped fennel bread provides a truly amazing opportunity; it's just a thing of beauty. The round walnut bite has a non-yeasty mouth feel, so it's peculiar but also was servicable even if it clearly did not go with the starter I'd ordered. However, the spiadinni is just a crisp of sorts, so it's a little odd as well, but at least worked with the silky fava bean glory that coats the mouth. 

Hannibal Lecter was right about the fava beans, but wrong about the Chianti (see link above for explanation of that quote), however. My server steered me to the blended white from Mt. Etna. High-altitude whites from Sicily? Who knew? Strange and special. The time I took with the waiter was well worth it; he guided me with little effort to this terrific white and sturdy red also from Italy.

A Seat Looking Out Onto Boston

But no sooner had I looked up while I waited for my breads to join my fava bean puree, then the braised rabbit came out. It was waaaay tooo soon. 

From my FB page, where I was live-posting my dinner:

"I'm now sitting in front of a starter and an entree. Very annoying. The tastes all work together terrifically well. Great servers, too. But ultimately, they clearly cannot control the kitchen. Bostonians eat early I'm guessing. It's only 8:34 p.m. What gives? So, I've sent back the rabbit. Oh god...what will happen? Chefs hate that sort of thing. Stay tuned to find out. I'm as unsure as you, i assure you."

My Seat at the "Wine Bar"

@SportelloBoston , part 3: the Returned Entree.

Ultimately, my server assured me there'd be no problem holding my entree. Frankly, I'm paying a small fortune for the entree, so "holding" it didn't sound like anything I relished doing. However, hold it they did.

By the time I'd slowly poured through the white and my starter, the rabbit resurfaced. The melty shaved ricotta salata or parm or whatever it is is a sign that they do have heat lamps even in high-end restaurants; they're somewhere around here. It's a caf, after all, right?!

And still, even after the 20 minute wait to return the entree to my place setting, the slightly salty, braised rabbit proved a strong entree.

But wait, in the tradition of Frank O'Hara, a digression, I went to my Bethesda, Md., butcher the other day and asked him to de-bone a rabbit for me. 

• But no. 
• No phone call back. 
• Silence. 
• No rabbit. 

Even my butcher abandons me in times of culinary need. And people, this is Bethesda, for chrissssakes. And so ordering rabbit when out for dinner is almost a must for me. Grateful I was. 

Braised rabbit in Strozzapreti, the Priest Strangler

The rabbit was in a salty stew of gentle, not overpowering rosemary and olivey goodness. The final (de-boned) result was then folded into spaetzle-like pasta, apparently called "Strozzapreti." This particular hand-made pasta—also something I won't make at home—is just incredibly satisfying. The Picholine olives and rosemary lend the dish a joyful sweetness, combined with an herbaceous quality, and again that saltiness you begin to crave mid-way through.

But it's that al dente, spaetzle-like pasta thing that I keep coming back to....what is it? It's almost German. Is this a pasta from where? Trieste? Pasta from northern eastern Italy? At any rate, like I say, apparently it's called "Strozzapreti." It's apparently Umbrian, but I swear to god they're making it in a spaetzle-style, rather than traditional pasta methods. 

Sold!

Tonight's dinner out: a success. And a lesson is learned: Make friends early with your server. If you need to return food, it comes back without the spit and anger! And the wine by the glass? Unique, impressive, affordable. Final bill, not so much. But at least with the guidance from my server, I wasn't raked over the financial coals!

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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.

Assaggio d'Insalate

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.”

$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.

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.)
• 
  

Insert smiling emoticon here.

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Middle Eastern “Chipotle”

The Part That Still Frustrates me is That 

It's Always Romaine, not a Field of Greens

Blog photog Alex and I struggled for weeks to find time to meet up with the brains behind Cava, Brett Schulman, Managing Partner, and his new fast food spot in Bethesda.

Open since January 2011, Cava's been a huge hit thanks to the owners, a trio of Greek guys who grew up watching their parents in the Greek restaurant biz, making gyros and whatnot. Their vision far exceeded their parents, though.

A View from the Street

Cava Mezze Grill
4832 Bethesda Avenue

Bethesda, MD 20814

(301) 656-1772

I found out about Cava one random day back at the beginning of 2011. I got a job here in Bethesda, and after about three months in the position, I was strolling down Bethesda Avenue, and I saw their shop. I thought…can it be? Middle Eastern Fast Food. I mean, I guess it’s probably available all over the well, the Middle East, but really? Here? In the Washington DC, area? We get the odd gyro shop like Dupont Circle’s Zorba’s, or well, we used to, but I cannot recall the last time I had great Greek food that wasn’t a sit-down restaurant like Murayo (again in Dupont). And now Cava in downtown Bethesda no less; in the land of yuppie cupcakes, gelato, and faux French restaurants, comes sensible fast/casual dining where everything, even your bowl is compostable.

Happiness is a Cava Rice Bowl

It’s a Chipotle-take on Middle Eastern fare that rumor hazzit was good enough to place the three chefs behind it on the cover as 2010 Washingtonian restauranteur of the year. The truth appears to be just as surprising, and thankfully, long-lasting.

After 4 months that included running out of money during construction, the restaurant finally opened in the fall of 2006. A year later with the help of word of mouth they made Washingtonian’s Top 100 Restaurants, and the rest is history. There are now 3 Cava locations, and a fast casual spin off called Cava Grill.

Harissa, Crazy Feta, Hummus, Eggplant,
Red Pepper Spread Oh My!

The chefs, long-time friends, Ike Grigoropoulos, Ted Xenohristos, along with chef Dimitri Moshovitis first opened full-service, sit-down restaurants on Capitol Hill and in Rockville, Md. The day Alex and I dropped in on Brett. Cava had just opened its latest “fast/casual” effort in Tysons Corner, Va., on March 19, 2012, next to the American Girl shop. They seem to be sensing that the money is in selling themselves as a family/kid-friendly food place.

Prior to arriving at the interview, I had put out an all-call at work to get feedback prior to interviewing Brett, and here’s what I got from Jo in Production:They are filling in an already tight market with the likes of Panera, SHOPHOUSE, Noodles and Co., etc.

An experience at Cava is marked by the consistency of the food, the freshness of the ingredients, and the variety of choices allowing you to vary your meal in so many wonderful ways. Add that to the staff efficiency and great attitude, and walking into Cava is always a pleasure. The speed of service at the height of lunch time rush is a testament to an efficient system of service conducted by folks who are genuinely pleased to be working at Cava. The staff takes the time to let you know that management treats employees right.

I have eaten nearly every lunch at Cava since they opened well over a year ago and I can tell you the quality of the food has taken inches off my waist line by making lunch both tasty and healthy.

Here’s the cool part: I mentioned Jo’s tale to Brett and he knew exactly who Jo was. This guy is a managing partner, but he has bothered to get to know his customers. I was duly impressed, especially since the sum total of his knowledge about running a restaurant comes from a Wall Street job for 12 years. Yup…that’s right, he has no experience running a food shop at all.

However, he’s got eyes. And when I mentioned the “Chipotle Middle Eastern” thing, he says, “Well, if you are going to imitate someone’s food line approach, imitate the best. You know Steve (the guy who created the Chipotle “Line”) actually came in here and checked us out. I was really pleased that he was impressed. We’re doing a great business here and it shows.”

Simple Menu Simple Line Terrific Meal

Brett hadn’t set up a tasting for us, but from my past experiences, I will say that the food has a lot of great touches. It can get a bit same-y for my liking although, but if I want a healthy bowl of rice with lamb or chicken, hummus, an eggplant and roasted red pepper dip, or harissa, this is the place. Cheap too! It’s affordable, and the environment is chic enough for a lunch on your own, a date night, or an outing with co-workers.

I think eventually, Brett may be right, “Mexican and Italian food has matured in this country now; it’s everywhere.” he says. “But middle eastern/Greek food hasn’t really made its way into the mainstream, so parents don’t think to take their kids here, yet. But it’s a really kid-friendly cuisine. Children love humus and the other dips we make. There’s no reason to pass this place up because your kids will only eat fish fingers,” says Brett. There is a whole ‘nother cuisine out there, and it’s Cava.

A Coda

CAVA sells little pots of hummus, red pepper spread, and their terrific harissa at Whole Foods throughout the mid-Atlantic.

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PIada! Piada! Piada!

This is the Italian Street Food, but for me,
it was all just Rolled up Pizzas

In a land of fast food and FAST/CASUAL restaurants, those that can marry the familiar with the novel and chic win. As Chipotle is to Mexican and CAVA is to Middle Eastern, so Piada is to Italian. But Columbus, Ohio’s Piada isn’t just any chain lunch joint.

Brushing the Piadas with Olive Oil

Piada

Upper Arlington

1315 W. Lane Ave.,

Columbus, OH 43221

(614) 754-1702 

It’s a place that draws lines out the door, particularly in Upper Arlington, a pretty fine area near the Ohio State University campus. I was really impressed with the set up and the artwork, the details and the “line” of food service folks that make your quick bite experience feel special.

“Piada” means Italian street food at this place and for this place, it makes a rolled thin calzone-like instant cheesey bread with or without pepperoni that everybody seems to order. For my money, it wasn’t all that.

But the larger concept behind the food makes this a must-eat-at for me, whenever I’m in Columbus. I may have already mentioned this in previous blogposts, but Columbus is a place where restauranteurs come to try out their dining concepts.

Italian Soda Machine, Objet d’art, or
Fountain of Tivoli?

If this one doesn’t take off and well, take America by storm, I’ll eat my hat. And well, I’m bald, so my hat is important to me!

The choices are a salad or a pasta bowl with all the toppings you could possibly want for about $7.50 – $10.00. Because this is fastfood, when you order the wine, they just give you an 8 ounce plastic cup and fill it up. There is no propriety there. They do have delicious looking Italian sodas, though, and they are probably better for you.

But the angel hair pasta bowl I had was perfectly al dente, the toppings were seamingly endless and made eating vegetarian here a breeze. And having the option of getting a small bowl and a small salad, rather than just the big bowl of pasta was a godsend on my list of perfect lunch options.

On Saturday nights, it’s jammed with every good looking college student in the area. Said the hot college boy next to me, “Yeah, it’s trendy, so everyone brings their dates here. And the girls are really pretty here.”

I Walk the Line

I would guess all the ugly ones are told to return either during the day or during the work week. One particularly stunning couple became fast friends. The pregnant wife told me “I eat here at least once a week, and the entire time I’ve been pregnant I’ve been eating here.” Her particularly hot husband was so great, seeing me sitting alone and coming up to me after they had finished and asking me my review of the food.

Piada Bowls

Tips for eating at Piada:

• Get the small bowl and the small salad instead of just the big bowl
• Consider NOT getting signature dish–the piada. It’s a greasy, unnecessary extravagance. And it is too filling. But it’s so much fun to watch them make the piadas as you wait in the food line to compose your dinner.
• Look around at the artwork and decor generally–this place creates atmosphere with everything from the napkins to the toilets.
• Get there on Saturday evenings to people watch the hotties.

Seems Like a Bazillion Choices of Fresh Vegetables

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