Every winter, we make a point to take advantage of DC Restaurant Week, and this year was no exception! Metropolitan Washington Restaurant Week, commonly referred to as DC Restaurant Week, is a great occasion to visit pricey restaurants for a steal or try a prix fixe menu at one of your favorite spots for a reasonable price. Typically, restaurants participate in Restaurant Week for one or more of their meal services (brunch, lunch, and dinner) for around $22 to $35, and offer guests an appetizer, entree, and dessert. DC Restaurant Week happens twice each year---winter and summer---and both seasons offer an awesome opportunity to catch up with friends, try new restaurants, and enjoy amazing food. Several counties and cities throughout the DMV also have their own version of Restaurant Week as well. In fact, Damien went out to dinner with friends a few days prior to our adventure and it coincided with Howard County's Restaurant Week.
It's always a tough choice deciding what restaurant to go to during this amazing week, but we ventured out on a mild and rainy Sunday morning and the final day of DC Restaurant Week to a fantastic spot. For this adventure, we had special guests join us for the first time since starting our #HappyTummyList blog. We invited one of our college friends, Ishanah, who enjoys a good meal, restaurant, architecture, and kicking ass year round, and Simone's hubby, Joe, who loves Italian food! It always seems to rain when we go out with Ishanah, but the food is usually great when she's around---maybe the universe is making the day rainy so we truly appreciate the restaurant and food? If so, thank you, universe.
The four of us dined at Ghibellina, located on 14th Street NW in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, DC for brunch. Ghibellina is an Italian gastropub restaurant best known for its Neapolitan pizzas and fresh, seasonal dishes. Due to our crazy schedules, our best option for DC Restaurant Week was brunch, and Ghibellina's brunch menu spoke to us. The interior aesthetic of the restaurant is "modern meets rustic"---it makes this cool restaurant a great option for warmer weather, a romantic night out, or an inmate get together with those closest to you. The fixtures and features throughout the restaurant, including the lights, trim, and decorations, were all beautiful. And one of the coolest features of the space was a large wood stack by the open-air view kitchen. The service we received during our visit was interesting. Our server was polite but forgetful at times, and had an accent that none of us could place. Ishanah didn't get the salad she actually ordered (none of us noticed the error until we finished our salad course), and we felt very rushed at the end of our meal for no good reason (the restaurant was not full by any means as we were finishing up our meal and no one likes to be rushed). Nonetheless, we drank, ate, and enjoyed our time.
We all had mimosas as our drinks during our meal. Ghibellina's brunch offers Mimosas and Blood Mary's for $5, alongside a host of other cocktails. The mimosas were cheap and perfectly crafted. Sadly, if you enjoy day drinking, Ghibellina does not offer a bottomless option. Simone also had the Sole Distante cocktail when we first arrived, and it was very strong. The server indicated that it was a well-balanced drink that wasn't overly sweet. It definitely wasn't too sweet, but it was slightly overwhelming, so Simone will try a different drink in the future.
Ghibellina's brunch menu for DC Restaurant Week featured items from their normal brunch and dinner menus with some slight modifications, so if this food sounds yummy to you then you can check them out and have what we had! For our first course, Damien and Joe both had the Insalata Di Lattuga, and Simone and Ishanah both had the Insalata Ghibellina. The Insalata Di Lattuga was outstanding. It was creamy and rich because of the gorgonzola cheese, and contained a nice amount of saltiness. It was definitely a well dressed salad thanks to the maple rosemary dressing, though, possibly a tad overdressed for some palettes. The shaved onions were a wonderfully sweet and delicate addition, and the pine nuts were hands down the best part and added great crunch to the salad. It was a truly delicious salad course, and both Damien and Joe really enjoyed it. The Isalata Ghibellina was dressed in olive oil, which was a great combination with the emmenthaler cheese. The salad was mildly salty, but was balanced out well with avocado. The Insalata Ghibellina would have been slightly better if there was something crunchy in it though, such as an onion, crouton, or nuts. But after this first course, we knew we were in for even more joy.
For our entree course, Simone and Ishanah both had the Disossata Con Uova, Damien had the Tagliatelle Al Ragú, and Joe had the Pane Tostado. The Tagliatelle Al Ragú was incredibly rich, hearty, and delicious. Ghibellina used fresh, homemade pasta, and the tagliatelle was perfectly and expertly cooked. And the sauce? If there was a grade higher than an A+, it would easily have earned it---it was wonderfully rich and had delicious harissa spice in it. This dish is exactly what it should be when you think of a ragú. To be honest, this was truly one of the best dishes that Damien has had since starting this blog. The Disossata Con Uova consisted of steak, potatoes, and eggs. At medium temperature, the steak was very moist and juicy, and created a party in your mouth when paired with the runny egg over the potatoes. The dish was well seasoned and left nothing to the imagination for improvement. Ghibellina deserves a second trip solely for the Disossata Con Uova. Simone's hubby decided to share one bite of his Pane Tostada with her and it was amazing. The Pane Tostada was sweet bread gently coated and cooked in maple butter, topped with a delicious fried apple compote and whipped cream. Simply put, it was a grown-up French toast. The Pane Tostada could have had more slices of bread, but it was Restaurant Week, so this will be a good thing to investigate if (read: WHEN) we return in the future. And for our dessert course, Damien and Joe had the Gelati e Sorbetti, and Simone and Ishanah both had the Panna Cotta. The Gelati e Sorbetti dessert was a chocolate paradise---it was unbelievably decadent and rich. And the accompanying cookie was crispy, sweet, and delicious. The Panna Cotta was a gentle, cheesecake-like dessert covered with a mildly sweet vanilla sauce that had a caramel-like thickness to it. The Panna Cotta would have been a tiny bit better with a wee bit of chocolate somewhere on the dish. But without a doubt, these desserts were incredible and worthy of a visit just for this course.
Overall, we would give Ghibellina a 5 out of 5. Every bite of food that we had was simply out of this world. We really enjoyed our brunch, and especially our time together. We had a great time over lots of fun conversations and laughs about 90s TV and movies, vacation dreams, and wondering about Ishanah's salad's whereabouts. And did we mention how delicious the food was? The table behind us ordered a pizza and we contemplated robbing them for it on our way out---the smell was that intoxicating. Ghibellina is a great restaurant and we would love to visit again! And thank you Ishanah and Joe for joining us! Holler at us if you want to join us at one of our #HappyTummyList adventures. Until next time, we hope you are able to get out and enjoy an outing during the next Restaurant Week near you! And if you venture to Ghibellina, then mangia bene!
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| Insalata Di Lattuga |
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| Insalata Ghibellina |
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| Tagliatelle Al Ragú |
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| Close-up shot! |
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| Disossata Con Uova |
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| Gelati e Sorbetti |
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| Panna Cotta |
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| View from our table to the open kitchen |
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| Ghibellina's brunch menu for DC Restaurant Week! |
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| Damien and Ishanah! |
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| Joe and Simone! |
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