this past weekend cavin's bro, brent, came to the dc area. it was the first stop on his month long driving adventure across the country (more or less).

so saturday during the day, we decided to do some touristy things and then go out to dinner. it was fun because we ended up going to places that cavin and i hadn't gone before, even though we've lived here for a year and a half.

the first place we ended up was the national archives. i was always curious about this archives place. i'm like the opposite of a history buff, so i really never had a strong desire to go there. but saturday was a good excuse to finally get my butt over there.

so what is there to see at the archives? well, first, i should say that when you get inside, there is minimal light, and no flash photography is allowed (i guess so that the documents could be preserved as long as possible).

like i said, i'm not into the whole history thing, but it was kinda cool to see the magna carta (in latin), the constitution, the bill of rights, and of course, the declaration of independence. i saw the large john hancock signature, and i also overheard some foreign tourists comment on the louisiana purchase:

ew. they didn't even FIGHT for most of their land. they just BOUGHT it.

after leaving archives we headed over to the national portrait gallery, which just opened less than one year ago. it was actually really cool to go there. the place is really huge, which we realized when we walked up a set up stairs and it was like teeny hallway after teeny hallway of art, similar to being in the stacks at the pattee library. i think cavin and i will have to go back in the near future, because we didn't even get a chance to see half of the art in there. and the fact that it's open until 7pm (11:30am-7pm) is pretty awesome.

we left the portrait gallery a little early, but decided we would press to dino an hour early, and sit at the bar. i was completely excited to be going - we've heard so much about dino on dr. but when we got there, many others also had the idea of sitting at the bar as well. and we didn't realize that it's a small 6-seater bar. but dean, the owner, was very gracious and said he could seat us right away if we wanted, which turned out to be a blessing because all three of us were already hungry.

one of the other reasons i was excited to eat at dino was because i knew brent didn't necessarily have any money restrictions either, so we would be able to order lots of stuff (and wine!) and not have to worry about money.

we ended up asking the waiter for advice on wine, and we ended up ordering a bottle of collemattoni (sangiovese) rosso di montalcino 2004. it was a full-bodied red wine from italy (dino's speciality). we tried to pick our dishes to go along with the wine we chose, so we first ordered a cheese plate (which we selected the cheeses): caseficio dell’alta langhe "la tur" {sheep, goat, cow} cuneo, piemonte, pecorino foja di noce {sheep} toscana, and guffanti provolone 28 mesi {raw – cow} valpadana, lombardia.

along with the cheese plate came out the salumi artigianali (cured meats: bresaola, speck, petit jesu, spanish choriso), as well as the burrata (bufala cheese air freighted from campania every sunday and thursday; essentially it's really fresh mozzarella wrapped around fresh ricotta). everything was completely fantastic, and the burrata was one of my favorite things that i ate that evening.

our second course (yes, we ate a TON of food! it was awesome!) consisted of calamari fritti (fried calamari) and the fritti di mare (fried sardine and baby anchovies). the calamari came out perfectly fried and tender. the fritti di mare was excellent. the sardine was fried enough so that you didn't have to worry about the tinik getting stuck in your throat. the anchovies were fried to a crisp and really went well with the rustic tomato sauce that accompanied it.

at this point in the meal, we ordered another bottle of red, alma rosa (pinot noir) santa rita hills 2004. i have to say that i don't know if this was on purpose, but our 3rd course (entrees) came out after some time. i actually thought of this during the evening, but was glad that our entrees had not come out immediately. we had eaten the hell out of the bread, the cheeses, the cured meats, and the fried fish that i was getting a little bit full, and i needed the welcomed break before getting our main. later, talking to cavin, he mentioned to me how he liked that there was a gap between when we finished the fried calamari and sardine and when we got our entrees. it really was great timing.

when our entrees arrived, they looked fantastic. to compliment the wine, brent ended up getting the pappardelle ai cinghiale (wild boar pasta), cavin the cervo (venison with roasted mushrooms & madeira sauce), and i the pepposa (braised beef short ribs served on 3 cheese polenta).

i tasted cavin's venison and it was quite delicious - i had never had venison before. but to be honest, i thought my dish was the best of the two (i did not taste the pasta). the beef was cooked to the point of falling off the bone tender, though no bone was presented on the plate. but i didn't need a knife because it literally just came apart with your fork if you even tried to move it around. it was so delicate! oh, and the 3 cheese polenta? omg. i had never tasted anything like it in my life, it was outstanding: very creamy, with a slight cornmeal texture. i'm going to have to replicate it at home, i think.

finally, while brent ordered cognac, cavin and i opted to stuff ourselves even more and order dessert. cavin got the macedoine di fruitta (winter fruits marinated in prosecco with sorbetto) and i got some sort of lemon tart with a sorbet on top. we both also ordered the moscato, a sweet grape wine that complimented our desserts. my lemon tart was not too lemony and not too sweet, so it really did end my night perfectly (since i'm not into sweets and chocolate too much).

because we got there early, we ended up being seated around 6pm, and when we were finished and leaving, it was about 9pm! woah! we stayed for 3 hours ordering and drinking whatever our hearts desired (~$270 pre-tip). it was fantastic. we didn't feel rushed, and cavin noticed as we were leaving that we weren't holding up a party waiting for a table, though, the restaurant was definitely full of other patrons having a great time.

we'll definitely be going back to dino (i'm going to push for once or twice every two weeks!) again. on sundays and mondays they have a great wine special: 1/3 off all wines above $50. i have to admit that i'm very ignorant in the wine department, but after a quick search online, the wines that we ordered at dino were not at the wine store we frequent. so we'll have to just go back and order them there (and eat the fantastic italian food)!

dino
3435 connecticut avenue nw
cleveland park, washington dc, 20008
202.686.2966

Labels: pork, restaurant, wine