Graffiato

The simple menu

Brian and I recently ate at Graffiato for an early Valentine’s Day dinner.  Graffiato is Mike Isabella’s restaurant located in the Chinatown area of DC.  You may recognize his name from Top Chef.  Whether you are a fan of him from Top Chef or not – this place is definitely worth checking out.  We thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of our meal.

We were seated in the upstairs dining room, but as we walked up the stairs I noticed a large bar area downstairs which would be a great place to stop for a bite to eat or a few drinks before a concert or caps game.  *Mental Note*

When we were seated at our table, I noticed that the room was small, yet comfortable.  I also noticed that it was a lot more casual than I expected, which was nice too.  Some people were a little bit dressed up, but a lot of people wore jeans and were dressed pretty casually.

Our server promptly brought water and a small dish of spiced pistachios to our table. It was a nice little treat to snack on while we looked over the menu.

Our yummy glasses of Prosecco

She started out by telling us about the Prosecco they have on draft and the flatbread and pepperoni sauce, which was only $5.  She said, “You HAVE to get it”.  She then explained that most of the dishes were small plates and that she recommends we each get three to four different dishes, and that the pizza counts as 2 dishes.  

We started out with a couple glasses of the Prosecco and an order of the flatbread.  The flatbread was grilled and warn and the pepperoni sauce was served in a small cup right next to it.  The sauce was smooth, thick, and warn, and tasted just like pepperoni.  Since the cup of sauce was pretty small, we finished it quickly.  We were thinking how good it must be to have some to put on top of pizza!  

Next we ordered the lobster risotto with mascarpone.  O. M. G… It was to die for.  There were large chunks of juicy lobster mixed into the perfectly cooked risotto.  The flavor of the risotto was just so perfect and lobster-ey (yes I just made that word up).  Seriously though, it was good.  Like close your eyes while chewing good.  I wish I had taken a photo of it, but that still wouldn’t do it justice.  You just have to try it.

"Papa Smurf" pizza on top, "White House" on bottom

Then we each ordered a pizza.  Brian got the “Papa Smurf” which had speck (a meat that looked and tasted like prosciutto), gorgonzola, caramelized onion, and potato.  I got the “White House” which had mozzarella, ricotta, prosciutto, and black pepper honey.  I wasn’t so sure how I would like the “Papa Smurf” pie because it had potato on it and that seemed like a lot of starch, but they were very tiny pieces, and the pizza dough was very thin.  The caramelized onions were really sweet and a perfect contrast to the salty meat and cheese.  There was just so much flavor in that pizza, I really enjoyed it.  The “White House” was very good too, but was a little milder in flavor.  I enjoyed it too, but not as much as I did with “Papa Smurf”. 

Photo of Pooh's Lost Honey Pot. Source.

I don’t usually order desert, but since this was our valentine’s celebration and all, I decided to throw my diet out the window and order something off the desert menu.  If you know me, you know I absolutely LOVE honey.  There was a special desert called Pooh's Lost Honey Pot, in honor of Disney on Ice.  Girl Meets Food blogged about it here.  It is a small honey walnut cake with mascarpone cream in the middle, with honey mascarpone gelato on the side.  We pretty much inhaled that along with two more glasses of Prosecco.  I have to say this was one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time.  Everything was perfect and I had some nice company too :-)

I can’t wait until the next time I get to go to Graffiato!  It will definitely have to be before next Valentine’s day.