Graffiato
Kabocha Squash – Persimmon, Vanilla, Arugula
Potato Gnocchi – Pork Ragu, Whipped Ricotta, Crisp Rosemary
White House – Mozzarella, Taleggio, Ricotta, Prosciutto, Black Pepper Honey
Grilled Flatbread with Pepperoni Sauce
Pumpkin Bread Pudding – Cinnamon Gelato, Caramel, Spiced Pepitas
Chocolate Budino – Olive Oil Gelato, Pine Nut, Dried Cherry
Zeppole – Salted Toffee
A substantial day of eating behind us and the main event of the evening, dinner at Rogue24 yet to come it was largely a matter of weather and a lack of anything else to do during the government shutdown that led us through the doors of Mike Isabella’s Graffiato for early evening snacks on Friday evening and unfortunately I think the same could be said of our server, Shannon, a young woman so incompetent and neglectful of our table that no matter how good the food there was no way to avoid her as the focal point of conversation or memory. Obviously a trendy space given the Chef’s celebrity status and fanciful location it was just after 4:00pm when we arrived at the largely empty space and seated swiftly juxtaposing the pizza oven the night started harmless enough with water filled and menus presented just as the bar began to fill and dancing plus flirting became the priority over customer service – the latter left to the back servers who had to be asked about nightly specials and depended upon when our second course was inexplicably absent 45 minutes after the aromatic, creamy gnocchi and tender, sweet squash were finished because our ‘primary’ server had forgotten to enter the items in the computer. Thankfully in no rush to leave and with Shannon in no rush to apologize, but rather to make “darn computer” excuses as we’d watched her hang off the neck of one of the bartenders to the tunes of 311, both the pizza and the flatbread would again show great work from the kitchen as the lightly leavened dough came through smoky with a lightly fermented note plus great chew and moving on to sweets all three proved competent if not particularly memorable aside from the fact that we actually had to order them from another waiter working the bar as ours, like her tip, was nowhere to be found.
