Dining at Tosca: DC Restaurant Week Summer 2011

1st day of the Summer 2011 edition of DC Restaurant Week (RW), & felt compelled to take my dining group to what I feel is the restaurant that implements the best approach to RW: Tosca.

One of my favorite deals during Restaurant Week. This places is always popular & reservations fill up super-quick.

• Ranked #33 : 2010's Washingtonian Magazine's 100 Best Restaurants
• Editor's Pick in the Washington Post

FOOD: Modern Northern-Italian. Executive Chef Massimo Fabbri produces very good food here using seasonal ingredients. LOVE the housemade pastas (past example from Winter 2011: Black ink tagliatelle with jumbo lump crab meat ragu, artichokes and roasted garlic) & other main entrees here.

For Restaurant Week, Tosca's one of the few restaurants that in my opinion "gets-it". They typically showcase the entire menu as part of the RW deal, with only 1 or 2 items that may have upcharges.

And another nice Tosca RW feature is they allow their in-house pasta dishes to be either your main Entree OR (as a smaller portion) your Starter (this way if you really want to try a pasta & entree & are willing to skip the normal starters, it's a win-win).

During the last few RWs periods, the Steak (type changes each RW period) & a Rack of Veal (the Veal is WINNER btw, if willing to pay another $12 extra for $62 total) were +upcharges & likely will be the same for this RW too. And when normal entree pricing is usually in the $30+ range, RW diners are definitely getting value.

SPACE: Sophisticated and understated, very nice but not splashy-looking space. Dress code is business casual (not a big deal for most of us as this event is on a worknight), but I've schlepped here before in nice dark jeans & shoes (but you'll feel a tad underdressed by the other parties around us).

Here are some of the dishes I tried tonight:

Carrot flavored pappardelle with a rabbit ragu in a white wine sauce and fresh thyme

Roasted Mediterranean sea bass with a balsamic vinegar sabajon and sautéed spinach with pine nuts and raisins

Grilled boneless lamb strip loin in a rosemary crust, black kale timbale and olive oil mashed potatoes

Chef’s modernized Tiramisu

Warm chocolate cake with figs poached in port wine and stracciatella ice cream

Overall Opinion? Excellent meal with no reduction of food quality and service. Upscale Italian, should be on your regular 'short list' of places for RW periods. Also, a very nice meal anytime throughout the year (i.e. dress up, have a nice night out).