Where To Find The Best Italian In DC
Lifestyle
Craving a comforting bowl of pasta to warm you up as the temperatures drop? Luckily, DC is host to an appetizing selection of Italian outposts — from welcoming trattorias to trendy pizzerias. What are you waiting for?
Grab a spoon and sample your way through all the hottest spots on our list today!
#1 Capa Tosta: Angelo Ciotola brought his childhood growing up in Naples, Italy, and his love for family-style Italian cooking to Columbia Heights around this time last year. And when you’re here, you are indeed family. That’s probably because his parents, Porzia Ciotola and Antonio Ciotola, are the restaurant’s chefs and bakers. “Mamma” makes all the pasta by hand, and she even came out of retirement to help the rest of the Ciotola family in the kitchen.
#2 Caruso’s Grocery: Modeled off a classic “red sauce” joint, this restaurant features Italian-American dishes you might order in The Bronx or Brooklyn. From handmade pasta dressed up in dishes like rigatoni alla vodka and five cheese ravioli to hand-pulled mozzarella with basil-marinated tomatoes, both the vibe and menu would make Tony Soprano proud.
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#3 Alta Strada: Alta Strada is a favorite neighborhood hangout with a menu of simple but delicious thin-crust pizza, pasta, and entrees. From meatballs and tagliatelle with Bolognese to the famed chicken parm that has a loyal following, this spot nails the classics. The dessert menu from chef Alex Levin features inventive spins on Italian essentials like cannolis with lemon ricotta filling or bombolonis served with Nutella dipping sauce. On Sundays, it’s half-of wine bottle night, and happy hour runs every day from 4 to 6 pm.
#4 Filomena: This 33-year-old restaurant may seem like a tourist trap at first glance. But beyond the seasonal decor and traditional undertones, it serves up some of the best Italian food in Georgetown — with dishes as nostalgic as what mom used to make. Think gnocchi rolled out by an ideal grandmotherly figure, three kinds of ravioli, a beautiful, traditional lasagna, and so much more.
#5 Red Hen: Comfort food and Italian personality collide at Bloomingdale’s landmark restaurant, The Red Hen. While the rustic menu changes seasonally, chef Mike Friedman knows there are dishes that can never be retired — like the burrata with a liquid center, a big bowl of rigatoni that quickly catapulted to signature dish status, or one of the most sought-after desserts in the District: panna cotta with hazelnut crumble.
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