Eating around Town is a new series written by a number of PoPville contributors. Today’s review of Al Dente was written by dcreba. dcreba is a big apple transplant and enthusiast of all things edible. she lives – and often eats – in Logan Circle.

The ever controversial Roberto Donna (Culinary tour de force! Embezzler! James Beard winner!) recently won accolades from Esquire magazine, lauding him as Chef of the Year in their listings of Best New Restaurants in 2012.

This Best New Restaurant is Al Dente. And prior to the Esquire review, I was unaware of its existence. A quick perusal of the literature tracks Donna’s circuitous history: Chef rises to glory with his Italian behemoth, Galileo, which undergoes three different inceptions – and locations – over 16 years. Chef falls from grace with reports of embezzlement and failure to pay his employees. Chef opens La Forchetta in a nondescript building in Wesley Heights, relegated to the kitchen and relieved of financial involvement, leaving this management to owner Hakan Ilhan. Restaurant changes name to avoid litigious goings on with a similarly named Adams Morgan restaurant, La Fourchette. This brings us to present day, where Donna is hoping to rewrite history – or at least change the course of things, moving forward – at the helm of Al Dente.

We visit Al Dente on a chilly Monday night. The restaurant is brightly lit and awash in Valentines decorations. My dining companion, with an excellent eye for design, did a calculated 360 sweep of the restaurant and pronounced its aesthetics distracting. “I’m not sure I can take the food seriously, when its decorated like this,” she said warily. As our meal unfolded before us over the next few hours, there were some clunkers, yes, but very pleasant surprises as well, and it became possible to lose sight of our surroundings and focus on the food at hand.

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The menu is far too large, offering up nearly three full pages of cold and hot appetizers, housemade pastas and risottos, pietanze or main courses, and chef specialties. We were immediately overwhelmed. And then took a deep breath and got down to the business of ordering.

The cicchetti caldi and freddi, cold and hot small plates, were some of the loveliest offerings of our meal. The Baccala Mantecato, a whipped salt cod puree, was airy and immensely flavorful. Served with warm bread, it would have been a perfect first course on its own. Also excellent: the Sicilian Caponata Eggplant salad and the Prosciutto Wrapped Dates. Both were beautifully prepared and left the table wanting more. Less successful: the pork belly served with cloyingly sweet apples (“this would be delightful in apple crisp,” marveled one at the table) instead of an acidic bite that would have only enhanced the tender belly meat. The handmade pickled vegetables were not sharply pickled at all, and were a soggy disappointment.

Our pastas were also hit and miss. The agnolotti was a standout. Tiny pillows of veal, beef, and pork, perfectly cooked, resting in butter and sage. My dining partners were impressed. “Now this,” said one, with her mouth full, pointing meaningfully at the dish with her fork, “this is profoundly good.” The calamarata pasta, a seafood dish with pasta rings resembling squid, was simply enormous. The pasta rings themselves were large, and overwhelmed the more delicate clams and mussels hiding in the basil scented broth. The ragged strips of housemade pappardelle with wild boar ragu might have been perfectly cooked but had been left to sit a few moments too long in the kitchen. The wild boar lacked depth and meaty flavor, both lost in the waves of gummy pasta ribbons.

The service through the meal was gracious if not a bit too attentive. Servers tried several times to remove dishes before we were done with them. Our waiter had an excellent grasp on both the menu and predominantly Italian wine list alike and we welcomed his suggestions. The wine list is quite reasonably priced.

The spacious and brightly lit dining room, though, continued to detract from our meal. The food, we all agreed, deserved to be showcased in a more intimate setting where it could shine. It was hard to forget about the almost garish surroundings and on a quiet weekday, with many tables empty, we were at sea in the cavernous main dining room.

“Al Dente” is an Italian term that literally means “to the tooth” and refers to the doneness of pasta. Al Dente the restaurant lacks a certain doneness and could use a bit more consistency within its dishes – as well as an aesthetics overhaul – to really succeed. In an area with a paucity of restaurants, I’m confident it has been welcomed for variety alone. There is talk of a second, more youthful Italian outpost in the Mt. Vernon triangle still to come – perhaps with version 2.0 will come improved ambiance and more point-your-fork-at-them-while-your-eyes-roll kind of dishes.

Hipchickindc is a licensed real estate broker. She is the founder of 10 Square Team and is affiliated with Keller Williams Capital Properties. 10 Square Team is a princeofpetworth.com advertiser. Unless specifically noted, neither she nor the company that she is affiliated with represented any of the parties or were directly involved in the transaction reported below. Unless otherwise noted, the source of information is Metropolitan Regional Information Systems (MRIS), which is the local multiple listing system. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Featured Property: 4600 49th St NW
Legal Subdivision: American University Park
Advertised Subdivision per Listing: American University Park
Original List Price: $739,000.
List Price at Contract: $700,000.
List Date: 08/31/2011
Days on Market: 172
Settled Sales Price: $695,000.
Seller Subsidy: $10,000.
Original List to Net Sales Price Ratio: 97.86% in relation to final listed price
Settlement Date: 06/29/2012
Bank Owned?: No Short Sale? No
Type Of Financing: Conventional
Original GDoN post is: here.
The listing can be seen: here. The photos can be seen by clicking on the listing link, then scrolling through the pictures starting with the main photo.

The current subject house is of interest on one hand because in a whirlwind market cycle in DC, this property was listed and re-listed a total of three times since August 2011. Bottom line, it took a relatively long time to sell this house given current market stats. Whereas many buyers get to a point where they are focusing only upon newly listed inventory, here is a good example of why it’s useful to continue to check the entire listing inventory. Because the listing days for the property continue to accrue even when the property is re-entered as a new listing, it may have fallen outside the radar of buyers once the price entered into a more realistic zone.

Someone mentioned in the comments that there are similar homes in the Brookland neighborhood for significantly less, which is true. There are actually quite a few neighborhoods in DC that have cute bungalows. Here is a list of bungalow style detached homes sold since the beginning of 2012 throughout DC. The list is ordered by settled price.

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Although often used to categorize any type of small home, a bungalow is actually a specific style of home. Most bungalows in DC were likely built in the 1920’s and 1930’s. I found this brief history from architecture.about.com:

The Bungalow is an all American housing type, but it has its roots in India. In the province of Bengal, single-family homes were called bangla or bangala. British colonists adapted these one-story thatch-roofed huts to use as summer homes. The space-efficient floor plan of bungalow houses may have also been inspired by army tents and rural English cottages. The idea was to cluster the kitchen, dining area, bedrooms, and bathroom around a central living area.

The site emphasizes that the bungalow homes were designed for efficiency, with built in cabinets, shelves, and seats. A number of architects around the country focused on this style of residential architecture. In many cases, these homes were produced from kits sold through the Sears and Roebucks catalog. Although I couldn’t tell you the prevalence of Sears kit houses in DC, it is rarely a detail that is mentioned in a listing. In some parts of the country, these homes are quite sought after.

“Dear PoP,

Any idea when the new restaurant, La Forchetta, in AU Park is opening? I walked by this weekend and it looks almost done.”

I went to snap some photos on Sunday and a guy out front told me they would be opening April 2nd. He also said they were finalizing the menu and it should be complete later this week. Late last month we learned that Roberto Donna would be the chef of La Forchetta coming to 3201 New Mexico Avenue, NW (in the same complex as Chef Geoff’s.) The paper has also come off most of the windows:

This house is located at 4228 Butterworth Pl, NW:

View Larger Map

The listing says:

“CHARMING WHITE-WASHED CAPE ON 7200 S.F. LOT COMPLETE W/WHITE PICKET FENCE. HARDWOOD FLOORS, W/B FIREPLACE, SEPARATE DIN/LIV AND FAMILY ROOMS. FINISHED LL W/BR AND FULL BATH.SCREENED SIDE PORCH. EXCELLENT FLOW. ONLY 2 BLKS TO METRO! RESTRICTED TIMES, SUPRA 11-4 M-F, OTHERWISE CALL LA FOR APPT.OPEN SAT/SUN 3/3 AND 3/4 1-4 PM. OWNERS REQ RENT BACK FOR HOC.”

You can see more photos here.

This 4 bed/3 bath is going for $795,000.

In late Jan. 2012 a reader told us that La Forchetta, formerly Al Forno Pizza coming to 3201 New Mexico Avenue, NW near American University hoped to open in March. More details about the space were revealed yesterday.

The Washington Post reports:

Hakan Ilhan, the owner of the local Pizza Autentica chain, has signed a one-year contract with the James Beard Award-winning Italian chef to head up the kitchen of a 116-seat restaurant called La Forchetta (formerly Balducci’s) at 3201 New Mexico Ave. NW. The restaurant, which will feature a wood-burning pizza oven and two open kitchens, is expected to serve fresh fish and house-made pasta and sausage – “Italian country, family-style,” says Donna — as early as the end of March.

This house is located at 4600 49th St, NW:

The listing says:

“Charming Bungalow sited on large corner lot in sought-after AU Park! Inviting front porch, spacious LR w frplc, DR, Kit, 2 BRs & updated FB on main. Large master suite up w FB & sitting area. Fin LL rec room, FB, au pair suite, kitchenette & laundry. Enjoy the privacy of the large fenced side & rear yards, sited on 2 lots w tree swing & flagstone patio. Det gar converted to artist studio”

You can find more info here and photos here.

I wanted to post this one yesterday but decided to wait a day for the house porn post – and it already went under contract. The 3 bed/3 bath was going for $685,000. Was that a good deal or do you think it got bid higher?