Top chef, D.C.

As you may have guessed, one of my top DVR spots belongs to the popular TV series, Top Chef. Hosted by Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi, and Gail Simmons, and guest judged by the likes of Eric Ripert, Anthony Bourdain, and Emeril Lagasse; Top Chef brings together up-and-coming chefs from across the country to battle in the kitchen for fame and glory (and, of course, the coveted title of "Top Chef"). Across the years, several chef-testants have come from/own restaurants the D.C. area including Carla Hall, the Voltaggio brothers, Mike Isabella, and Spike Mendelsohn.

Though Top Chef restaurants appear to be all around the neighborhood, after over two years, I had only been to Spike's Good Stuff and We, the Pizza near Capitol Hill. I checked one more off the list last week with a visiting friend in town for a conference. Offering a variety of beers and even prosecco on tap, Mike Isabella's Graffiato is an Italian-inspired, contemporary American spot in Chinatown/Penn Quarter. I would sum up our experience in two words: crispy and flavorful. Everything, even the pillow-soft gnocchi, had an amazing golden crust.

We started off the meal with (crispy) flatbread and Mike's famous pepperoni sauce that he made for the All-Stars Finale:

 Then we moved on to roasted brussel sprouts with pancetta and maple (the brussel sprouts were so crisp, they were like chips):

Wild mushroom gnocchi with creamy stracciatella:

A baked suckling pig (!) lasagna with rich ricotta and what I swear was lemon:

Wild mushroom bisque with smoky mushroom arancini:

A wildly popular burrata with honey glazed onions:

...And we finished off the meal with a wood oven-roasted striped Atlantic bass with smoked eggplant and pine nut relish:

Definitely a Top Chef experience. The only problem was that I spent a quarter of the time craning my neck toward the kitchen hoping Mike Isabella was in.