Tom Sietsema Awards San Lorenzo Two Stars

San Lorenzo

Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema reviews San Lorenzo, the first restaurant from veteran chef Massimo Fabbri, awarding the newcomer 2 stars (good.). Fabbri previously worked at D.C. stalwart Tosca for 17 years, earning three stars from this reviewer for his cooking there. Sietsema praised the new restaurant’s decor, noting that “the setting oozes style,” including a chandelier made of olive branches. Sietsema is pretty into the new restaurant’s made-on-site pastas, saying that he has yet to find “anything less than very good.” He is sure to mention the pesto gnocchi “that shouts ‘basil!’ in every mouthful” and the “yolk-yellow pappardelle” that benefits from a “delicate, herby rabbit ragu.” The revewier, however, isn’t impressed with San Lorenzo’s antipasti, saying that they “don’t do many backflips to impress you,” calling the arugula salad a “salt lick.” Sietsema also isn’t stoked on how the $126 T-bone steak is presented — on a bed of rosemary. He says for a bill that hefty, “a buyer might expect a side dish to be thrown in.”

Gravitas

Seitsema also visited Gravitas, the Ivy City newcomer focused on fine dining, for his First Bite column. The reviewer immediately praises the new restaurant’s aesthetics, saying that “benefits from the good bones it inherited” with the addition of “a few contemporary flourishes.” He notes that Gravitas vastly differs from the other restaurants in the neighborhood. Sietsema thinks the Gravitas approach to the tasting menu is a smart one — customers can choose their number of courses (and ultimately the price tag.) The reviewer went with the restaurant’s four-course option ($78), which brought to his table dishes like a “a slab of snowy halibut paved with a pale green puree of zucchini, squash and basil, and a sail of fried collard greens” and panko-crusted “soft-centered” sweetbreads. Sietsema was apparently pleased with the garnishes to his dessert, an “elegant: white chocolate buttermilk cake: “Those roasted strawberries! That yuzu sorbet!”

Urban Tandoor

Northern Virginia Mag reviewer Rina Rapuano visited Arlington’s Urban Tandoor, which opened up at N. Quincy St. back in March. The reviewer wasn’t super impressed, called the sal makhni “decent” and the Kerala lamb curry “fine.” Rapuano called the servers “grudgingly accommodating” if you show up during lunch and ask to order a la carte (instead of tucking into the buffet.) The reviewer praised the restaurant’s buffalo momo — Himalayan dumplings — saying that the restaurant “doesn’t stand out as anything particularly special” until she had a taste of these.