Italian-American in Chinatown: Graffiato Gluttony

Photo courtesy of Greg Powers on Graffiato.com. Top Chef Grad Mike Isabella’s Graffiato.by Adam Wesolowski, 2L

Competitive cooking shows such as “Top Chef” can get a little silly:  “Take these fresh eel hearts, swiss chard, pork belly, and chocolate sauce, and make us an award-winning main dish in one hour!”  However, they often serve as a great launching pad for up-and-coming young chefs.  Mike Isabella, formerly of Jose Andres’ Mediterranean small-plates restaurant Zaytinya, is one of those rising stars; and his new Italian-American restaurant Graffiato in Chinatown is worth a try.

Like a good number of the new restaurants that have opened in DC in the last several years, Graffiato focuses on small plates, with several larger pizza and pasta dishes available.  While I think it’s high time for an exclusively “big plate” restaurant to open in this town, Graffiato does a good job executing on dishes that Isabella says were inspired by growing up in New Jersey and cooking with his grandmother.  The menu rotates based on season and the availability of ingredients:  a current look at the menu reveals crispy brussel sprouts with pancetta, maple syrup, and a bit of egg—a delicious combination.  Graffiato has a wood oven, which produces some very tasty roasted octopus, along with chicken, hanger steak, and glazed pork cheek, which will be on my ordering list on a future visit.

I was not as impressed with the pizza that I tried on a recent visit.  “The Jersey Shore,” (which I was hoping would come with a complimentary Jagerbomb) features fried calamari, tomato, provolone, and a cherry pepper aioli.  The crust and the calamari were a bit soggy, and the spice of the cherry pepper aioli was overwhelming.  On the plus side, the pizzas are one of the better values on the menu, being large enough to share comfortably among three to four people as part of a larger meal of several of the smaller plates.  I’ve not tried the pastas at Graffiato, but I have heard from friends that the potato gnocchi is quite good.  The desserts, including the warm pistachio cake, are all pretty tasty.  Most of the beer is pricey—don’t bother paying $6 for a Peroni, which is basically Italy’s version of Budweiser or Miller, but the cocktails are creative and a *relative* bargain.

Graffiato has some neat, but slightly gimmicky attractions—a ham bar and a Prosecco tap (apparently one of the only ones in DC, according to our server)—but I think that the regular menu items stand on their own.  Look to see what other tables are ordering for the best value of the small plates.  For being open for a relatively short period of time, the service is prompt, competent, and friendly.  Graffiato is recommended as a good alternative to the other small plates restaurants in the area, such as Jaleo, Zaytinya, and Oyamel.

Graffiato gets two and a half gavels for good food and service and is located at 707 6th Street, NW.