Good Italian in the U Street Area

Early Thursday evening I made plans with Shrek to meet him at Al Crostino (http://www.alcrostino.com/) on U between 13th and 14th for dinner. I glanced at the menu and it looked very interesting with tons of vegetarian items I wanted to try. I debated whether to go in but decided to quickly check out the menu of Creme next door, another new place in the U street area. Creme, a wine bar with low seats and a bar area seemed to be thriving and looked quite interesting. I made a mental note to go back for brunch at least, if not to meet up with friends. It so happened the chef of Al Crostino, a nice Italian man was standing outside and could see my dilemma. He charmed me into giving him a chance, assuring him that I would be pleased inside. He then escorted me to the bar where he asked the bar tender to entertain me so I would return! The flavoured martini list looked delicious but I just drank water to rehydrate myself after my gym work out and walk while I chatted with the young Italian bartender. He told me business had been good especially on weekends. Apparently all the restaurants in the area were doing well. There were three partners including Luigi Diotaiuti who still owns Al Tiramisu along with two brothers one who was a chef and the other the manager who had persuaded me to give him a chance.

When Shrek did arrive we were escorted upstairs where there were additional tables including one long table in the middle set up to seat 10 people (a good thing if you have a large group). We got some delicious red wine. We shared the Buffalo mozzarella and roasted redpeppers ($6.5) which was was the softest cheese and simply melted in ones mouth. For our entrees Shrek was pleased with his chicken breast, milanese style ($12.50) although we agreed that my spinach and ricotta gnocchi in the gorgonzola cream sauce ($12) was a far better choice. Since the gnocchi was not made with potato, it was much lighter. All in all a dinner for two would cost $60 which is quite reasonable for the meal.