Carluccio's Caffe, Restaurant & Italian Market - Old Town, Alexandria, VA

100 King Street
Alexandria, VA
Tel: (703) 566-5293

The first Carluccio's restaurant has finally arrived in the U.S. and it's right here in the popular Northern Virginia destination of Old Town, Alexandria!

Antonio Carluccio is a well-known restauranteur with franchises around Europe (mostly UK) and the Middle East. His brand new U.S. restaurant Carluccio's Caffe, Restaurant and Italian Market debuted here nearly four months ago, in June 2015, offering the type of simple wholesome Italian food that Carluccio himself refers to as mof mof - Minimum of Fuss, Maximum of Flavor.  Originally from the Italian Amalfi Coast, Antonio Carluccio, has traveled extensively throughout Italy, visiting hundreds of wineries and individual food artisans. As explained to us by the wonderfully congenial Director of Operations of U.S., who himself hails from Calabria, all the delicacies, such as jams, pastas, cookies, cheeses, cured meats, olives and olive oils used in food preparation and available on the market shelves were hand-selected by Carluccio himself and imported directly from the artisans who make them.  In other words, there is no large distribution center from where Carluccio procures his products - each item comes directly from its birth place... in limited quantities. Once this batch is gone, it's gone.

Antonio Carluccio is quite a personality! From their website: Who is Antonio Carluccio? Acclaimed European cook. Award-winning writer. TV personality. Our founder, Antonio Carluccio, has been celebrated by his nation receiving a Commendatore OMRI (the equivalent of a British knighthood) by the President of Italy for services to Italian gastronomy and was also awarded an honorary OBE from Queen Elizabeth II.

The restaurant is elegant, beautiful, and spacious. Its contemporary architecture and decor style is very easy on the eye, simple and inviting.  There is ample lighting both in the upstairs more formal dining room, as well as on the first floor for more casual dining.

Chef Alfio Celia clearly is a master of presentation. Amazing attention to detail for each dish and the food composition on each table, where plates complement one another to create a visual symphony.  Bellissimo! It is no wonder he was one of 16 Top Chefs Chosen to Compete in The Mason Dixon Master Chef Tournament in 2015.

Oh, and by the way, everything goes great with a delicious Mimosa!

As its name suggest (no, Caffe is not a misspelling of Cafe!), Carluccio places a heavy emphasis on the importance of good quality coffee and the coffee culture, as it is done in Italy. Delivered on a small coffee tray with a glass of water, like in Italy.

We came to Carluccio's to try out its newly-launched breakfast and brunch menu, particularly appropriate in September - National Breakfast Month!

We were treated to a bread basket with several kinds of bread, our favorite being the walnut cranberry bread, and two jams - one fig and one clementine. The Fig Jam was delicious, but the Clementine Jam was out-out-of-this-world! We will definitely be coming back to pick up some of the Clementine Jam in Carluccio's market to bring home. It's worth a trip to the restaurant just for the Clementine Jam! Delizioso!

The fruit bowl came with a side of plain white yogurt. All the pieces were plump and fresh, great start to a morning meal!

One of our favorite features of Carluccio's is the open kitchen upstairs, where Chef Alfio's staff churns out their mouthwatering dishes.

Over our brunch, we were lucky to have a great conversation with Sebastiano Legato, Director of U.S. Operations at Carluccio's. No one is more perfect for this job than Sebastiano, who is just as passionate about Carluccio's approach to simple Italian food as he is about Italian food in general. Anything you want to know about how Italians eat and drink, he will relay personal experiences with many interesting details. He will tell you everything about Italian Coffee Etiquette, too, in a most friendly and knowledgeable way.

The Eggs Benedict in Carluccio's includes two poached eggs with a thick cut of roasted Italian ham, topped with hollandaise sauce on a toasted Italian bread. $9.00

Eggs Florentine is two poached eggs and steamed spinach topped with hollandaise sauce on a toasted Italian bread. $10.00

Ketchup available upon request, even though, let's face it, that's not a typical Italian way to eat eggs.

The Colazione consists of scrambled eggs, grilled smoky pancetta (ham), sauteed mushrooms, tomato and a slice of toasted Italian bread. $10.00

Finally, for delicious dessert, a sampling of sweets imported from Italy.

Despite being new to the area (and to the U.S.), Carluccio's is quite busy on a typical Saturday morning, so reservations are DEFINITELY recommended.

Our brunch was more than wonderful, it was mof mof! Indeed simple and indeed flavorful. We will definitely be back for lunch and dinner to try the food that looked so great in the plates carried by this waiter!

The delicious baked goods in Carluccio's are not baked on premises, but they come from local bakeries, including Lyon in DC and LeoNora in Arlington, which makes the phenomenal croissants.


DO YOURSELF A FAVOR: Pick up a Banana Nuts Bread to take home with you on your way out. Thank us later. We know you will. Yumm. We would have taken a picture of it to show you.... but it's all gone.... 

We loved the atmosphere and the food at Carluccio's. We will definitely be back! In fact, sign up for the restaurant's mailing list and you will receive special offers, such as, for example, a free bottle of red wine with two adult entrees, which is good through the end of September 2015!  What's not to love about that!  And here is our favorite song to enjoy and get into the mood for a true Italian feast!

Teriyaki Madness - Fresh Asian Grill - Fairfax City, VA

10692 Fairfax Blvd,

Fairfax, VA 22030
Tel: (703) 273-3600

Who ever heard of fast food Teriyaki? Healthy, at that? Teriyaki Madness, a newcomer to the Washington, D.C. Metro Area offers just that with its first location in the City of Fairfax, VA.  

Following the trend sprearheded by Chipotle - 1. Choose a Protein; 2. Choose a Starch; and 3. Choose Veggies - Teriyaki Madness adds Japanese Yakisoba noodles and Stir-Fried Vegetables to the menu with a small, but sufficient, assortment of Pan-Asian appetizers, such as Chicken Eggrolls and Shrimp Tempura. 

Of the seven meat selections, five are - you guessed it! - TERIYAKI flavored.  

This is a meal for the health-conscious eater and, seriously, WHO DOESN'T LOVE TERIYAKI?

The restaurant is new, small and clean, seating only 32 people at booths and tall table tops. We ordered the Crab Rangoon starter, a Chicken Teriyaki Bowl with Noodles and a Yakisoba Veggie entree.  Food was fresh and veggies were plentiful.  PLENTY OF TERIYAKI AND SRIRACHA SAUCES on the tables to add that extra kick to your meal!  

The cheerful and friendly owners, husband and wife team Akhilesh and Tejal Patel, are recent California transplants to Northern Virginia.  They describe their first experience eating at a Teriyaki Madness restaurant in the Mid-West.  They were looking to open a restaurant, and fell in love with the flavors of Teriyaki Madness, the freshness of its food's ingredients and the simple approach of putting together a meal with proteins, starches and veggies.  You can often find Akhilesh and Tejal on hand at the restaurant greeting the customers and making sure everyone is happy.

We are glad we stopped by! Will return next time we are in the area!

 Opened this summer!

 Simple and practical approach to a fast healthy meal

Healthy fresh ingredients

 Low-key decor

 Chicken Teriyaki Noodle Bowl ($6.99) (Top Left) and Yakisoba Veggies ($7.49) (Front Center)

NOTE: When cooked "extra spicy"you will be charged $0.50.

 Seems like a great catering option for the next office party

Proud and delightful owners - Tejal (on the left) and Akhilesh (on the right) Patel

Yayla Bistro - Turkish / Greek / Eastern Mediterranean Cuisine in Arlington, VA

2201 N Westmoreland Street
Arlington, VA 22213
Tel: (703) 533-5600

We were thrilled when our friends asked us to join them for dinner at Yayla Bistro because not only are we fans of Eastern Mediterranean cuisine, but we also really like the convenient, quiet, uncrowded neighborhood of East Falls Church, recently showcased in the Washington Post.

The East Falls Church area is quite special. It is smack dead on the border of Arlington and Fairfax Counties with a wonderful walking / biking trail. It is both a quiet place to live and a historic area with old large beautiful homes and smaller homes built for soldiers returning from WWII. As an added bonus, it offers a short walk to much of the City of Falls Church, recently rated by Forbes Magazine as the wealthiest "county" in the United States. One of the main attractions here is the famed State Theater. Most recently, however, like much of Northern Virginia, East Falls Church has been the construction target for swanky new mid-rise hyper-modern condominiums and a few new restaurants that cater to the residents in the new condos.

One of these new restaurants is Yayla Bistro.

Yayla Bistro calls itself an Eastern Mediterranean bistro that serves Turkish and Greek food with a Lebanese flare.  It has a snazzy modern website and offers an atmosphere quite apart from other dining establishments available within walking distance in this neighborhood, which are mostly older and divier, not the kind of places that offer small plates (Mezzes) or Flat Breads (Pideler) offered at Yayla.

We came here for dinner on a Sunday night with a small group of friends. The restaurant was empty for the most part and the waiter, who did not manage to crack a smile throughout out our entire dinner, coming off confused and less than friendly, tried persistently to convince us to order off the Restaurant Week's menu, as it was the last evening it was available.  A few of us did; most did not.

The complimentary bread basket arrived first with a dense braided round bread accompanied by a ramekin of black olive tapenade. We ordered the Halloumi cheeese appetizer, which in some restaurants comes out of the kitchen aflame for dramatic presentation. Here, fortunately, that was not the case. However, the only thing with any remote flavor on this platter was the orange marmalade, which we bet was not made on premises. We had to keep asking for more bread because almost everything we ordered needed bread, so we were going through it very quickly.

One of our entrees was the Grilled Kofte, which was a combination of ground beef and lamb served as a doner kebob, even though the menu specifically called it "patties." The menu also said that it is comes with Cacik, a yogurt prevalent in most Turkish dishes, alas, it was missing. The Rice Pilav that accompanied the Kofte was a plain white rice; nothing that resembled a Pilav, which is usually rice with seasoning, typically containing other items, such as carrots, raisins, pine nuts, or any additional flavors. The Kofte was served with a grilled tomato, some shredded fresh carrots and pickled shredded red cabbage. EVERY SINGLE THING ON THIS PLATE WAS BLANDER THAN BLAND. Even for one of us who doesn't like spicy, it was way too bland.

The other entree we selected was a trio of spreads. This seemed to be a good way to taste several things. On its own, each spread was priced at $7, so a trio priced at $12, seemed like a good value. There was no pita or any additional bread served with the spreads, only the same dense braided bread round. Out of the spreads, the Baba Ghanouj was quite garlicky and good, while the others were BLANDER THAN BLAND.

By the way, if you order the Turkish wine, stay away from the Doluca Klasic Turkish wine unless you like very tart and heavy wines.  Even for someone who is a fan of Shiraz, like one of us, this was seriously heavy.  It is the least expensive wine on the menu, but since it is Turkish, we ordered it wanting to taste a Turkish wine. Seriously, the tartest most sour wine.

Tyler Cowen, whose opinion we usually respect, said he would recommend this restaurant, but we were disappointed.  If we had friendly, welcoming service, our experience may have been more pleasant. But that was lacking, also.

Despite this, we had a fun evening out with friends and that's all that really counts!

In short. we would not return here, it's just not our sort of thing. However, on a nice day, the patio would be a fun place to meet friends for happy hour if you live in that area and want modern, new setting.

Yayla Bistro has been around for 15 months, will be interesting to see how long it sticks around.

 Patio seating at the entrance

 Nope, did not know....!

 Additional outside seating if you don't mind pebbles on your shoes

 Modern romantic setting

 Simple pleasant decor

Braided round bread accompanied by a ramekin of black olive tapenade

We kept asking for more bread, as everything we ordered seemed to need bread

 Pan-seared Halloumi cheese served with orange mamalade garnished with tomatoes and parsley can be either an Appetizer or Hot Mezze ($10.00)

KOFTE Grilled ground beef and lamb patties with garlic, onions, cumin and spices. Served with Cacik, but actually it isn't served with cacik, but it does come with pickled shredded cabbage ($14.00)

Trio of Spreads from left to right Baba Ghanouj (Pureed roast eggplant with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic), Htipity (Roasted red peppers with feta cheese, olive oil, garlic, and mint) and Ezme (Fine chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, mild peppers, parsley with olive oil) ($12.00)

PIZZA RANKING IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA! TOP THREE PICKS!!! WINNER: The Italian Store; FIRST RUNNER UP: Ciro's New York Pizza in Centreville, VA; SECOND RUNNER UP: Tony's NY Pizza in Fairfax, VA

We are both from the New York - New Jersey area, so needless to say the only pizza we acknowledge is New York pizza. Other well-known pizzas, like Chicago, may place high in the pizza hierarchy, but New York pizza rules undoubtedly rules, in our humble opinion.

If you perused our last blog, you'll know we're on the subject of the best New York pizza in Northern Virginia right now, which we believe to be The Italian Store in Arlington. Hands down, period, end of story.  See our previous post for a detailed description.

Out of all the pizza joints we tried this summer, we followed friends' recommendations and carefully sorted through the criteria for a true New York pizza to find those that come close. After numerous taste tests, our two runners up: Ciro's New York Pizza in Centreville and Tony's NY Pizza in Fairfax.

OUR RANKING AS IT STANDS TODAY:

1. The Italian Store

2. Ciro's New York Pizza

3. Tony's NY Pizza

Unlike The Italian Store, which is our #1 choice for as-close-as-you-get-to-real New York pizza in our area, Ciro's and Tony's are primarily restaurants, with a large carry-out business.  They offer large seating areas with staff who bring out the food to your table once you order and pay at the register.

Other than the location (only 4.5 miles between the two), there isn't much difference between Ciro's and Tony's in quality, service or price points.  BOTH ARE VERY GOOD AND OFFER GREAT VALUE. We have eaten pizza and subs at all three of our ranked restaurants, as well as others, so this ranking is for food only, since we have never eaten AT The Italian Store, only taken out, we are not rating service. The only thing we can say about service is that for the most part, we have not had any issues at any of these places, other than a small hickup at Tony's, which we will write off as an anomaly.

Here are our dining experiences in photos. We'd love to know YOUR ranking! DO YOU AGREE? DISAGREE?  Drop us a line via email, leave a comment on our blog, Tweet us or leave a comment on our Facebook page!

Ciro's New York Pizza

Centreville Crest Shopping Center
6067 Centreville Crest Lane
Centreville, VA 20121
Tel: (703) 830-0003

 Separate entry for Pick-Up

The cute "Eatalian" take on Italian seems to be trademarked to Ciro's

 Business is booming here, both at the Pick-Up area and the large two-level "Eatalian" Eatery

 Don't let the few empty booths fool ya, the place is crowded and turnover is quick

 Clean dining room with simple, but attractive artwork

View from our booth

 Cashiers are also servers

 Nice fresh pies just out of the oven

Garlic Knots ($.75 each),  Slice of Green Pepper, Onion, Sausage, Pepperoni and a Slice of Margherita Pizza $3.25), all fabulous with a perfect dose of garlic for sure!

 Tender and juicy, very good Chicken Parmigiana Sub $7.95

 All Veggie Pizza Extra Large 18" is $26.95 and their 16" is $19.95 - VEGGIES GALORE!!!

 Nice crust, not too thick, but not flimsy, either.

Their extra large cheese pizza is an 18", which costs only $15.95 - good value, delicious pizza, if you want a 16" that's $11.95, slightly cheaper than Tony's

Tony's NY Pizza
13087 Fair Lakes Shopping Center

Fairfax, VA
Tel: (703) 502-0808

 Nice outdoor sitting area

 Nice large modern no-frills dining room

 Clean booths, well as clean as they can be in a kid-friendly restaurant

 Ceiling-to-floor windows make the dining room bright and open

 Different shape and thickness crusts, take your pick

 Pies behind the glass on the counter to choose from

 Great selection of non-pizza food

 Can't go wrong with one of these

Delicious Garlic Knots galore!

 Just sit down and wait for your food to be brought out to you

 Plenty of space, but DON'T LET THE EMPTY BOOTHS FOOL YA, this place is PLENTY BUSY

 Large parties easily accommodated

 Chicken Parmigiana Sub was delicious $7.25

 Veal Parmigiana Sub was very good $7.95

 Large cheese pizza carryout 16" $12.50

A simple selection of wines available with your meal, not knocking it, since there is wine available!