• Food Quality
• Value
• Price

Fiola

612 Indiana Avenue, NW

Washington, D.C. 20004

202.628.2888

Hours

Lunch:

Monday – Friday 11:30am – 2:30pm

Dinner:

Monday – Thursday 5:30pm – 10:30pm
Friday: 5:30pm – 11:30pm
Saturday: 5pm – 11:30pm
* Closed on Sunday

The city’s reputation as a welcome environment for diehard foodies continues to grow. Moreover, as a city known to outsiders as having Ben’s Chili Bowl and little else, the existence of Fiola in Penn Quarter is a wake up call to the doubters and non-believers.

Chef and owner Fabio Trabocchi’s creation symbolizes the fertile ground that is D.C.’s high-end dining scene. Born in the Le Marche region of Italy near Umbria, Trabocchi grew up on a farm, and learned from an early age the essence of farm-to-table cooking. Respecting the quality and flavor of prime ingredients was essential to his family’s cooking.

By the age of eight, Trabocchi was comfortable in the kitchen, which explains his decision to enroll in the prestigious Istitute Alberghiero Panzine in Senigallia, Italy. At the age of 16, he was working as a pastry chef at the 3-star Michelin Ristorante Gualtiero Marchese; when he turned 18, management of a 1-star Michelin restaurant in Moena, Italy hired him as a sous chef.

Before coming to the area, Trabocchi won the Carlton Award for London’s Best Chef in 1999 while working at Floriana in London. The acclaim earned him the attention of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, which invited him to design his own kitchen and create the vision and concept for the now-closed Maestro in the Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner in McLean.

His time at Maestro earned him numerous award: Food & Wine’s Best New Chef in 2002, Chef of the Year by Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington in 2005, and James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef – Mid Atlantic in 2006. Trabocchi would eventually leave Washington in 2008 and become the Executive Chef at Fiamma in New York. The awards also followed – in 2009 Fiamma was awarded one Michelin star.

And so, with all the acclaim and pressure, Chef Fabio Trabocchi is now back in Washington, D.C. with Fiola, a modern take on the classic Italian trattoria.

Thanks to the good graces of winter Restaurant Week, I was able to visit Fiola for lunch. The menu was specifically designed for the weeklong event but provided an appropriate summarization of the character of Fiola. Each dish is simple – a combination of the very best ingredients with good techniques to create a menu with traditional and contemporary Italian dishes.

The tenets of Fiola and the mindset of Chef Trabocchi were apparent from the very beginning. The Ahi Tuna Crostini with Roasted Tomato had maybe four ingredients total, with the fresh tuna at the epicenter. Hints of the sea, only found in really fresh fish, were sprinkled through every morsel. Moreover, the tuna retained a meaty solidity that made the small (but appropriate) portion much more filling than it had any right to be.

The main course was traditional in every sense. The Cacio & Pepe Spaghetti with Cacio Cheese and Peppercorn Roman Style was very creamy, with the pepper providing a counterweight to the soft, salty, creamy Cacio cheese. A sheep’s milk often compared to Pecorino Romano, the Cacio’s depth of flavor was expertly developed, giving the fresh spaghetti an enjoyable melted sensation. It should be noted that the sheep’s milk resonating through the Cacio cheese was really gamey – in a good way. Diverse and multilayered, the sheep’s milk was a unique base of flavor.

The dessert, La Zuppa Inglese (Trifle of Raspberries + Granita of Lemon & Basil), was interesting. The granita, a semi-frozen dessert made from sugar, water, and lemon was a strange contrast to the rest of the dessert layers. It was initially a bit unnerving. The flaky, frozen texture on the front end gave way to a sweet + sour juxtaposition. After the lingering nature of the robust Cacio & Pepe, the dessert cooled the senses and ended the meal on a lighter note.

The expertise and clear vision displayed at Fiola bodes well for the continued success of Chef Fabio Trabocchi. Moreover, it is a bold statement of the times. Washington, D.C. is no longer a testing ground for concepts; it is a city growing in stature, commanding culinary respect, and evolving in line with the taste buds of those people that call it home.

–Amendment202

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