By Priya Konings
One of the newest restaurant trends is to have a restaurant within a restaurant. Some places just convert a section at the bar to be a special dining area while others dedicate a whole parcel of their restaurant to be its own mini restaurant. Bryan Voltaggio has done the latter, as he converted a room in the back of his popular Chevy Chase restaurant Range into its own restaurant, complete with a high-end tasting menu menu and modernist décor. Aptly titled Aggio, this upscale dining venue is sleek, private, and formal, with impeccable service and ragingly good food.
While Aggio is one of the more expensive places you can dine in DC, Voltaggio has decided to make the food at Aggio accessible to all on Sunday nights, when he features two incredibly reasonably priced dinner options: a three course menu for $35, or a family style menu for $40 which includes several choices from which you can select three dishes to share with your dining companions.
Of course, BYT went into sample the food on a recent Sunday night, just to make sure it was as good as everyone says it is. And is.it.ever.
The meal opened with crunchy breadsticks, followed with a playful Parmesan “funnel cake.” Essentially, Americana at its best. Next up was breads and spreads, and then salads: one with colorful beets that exhibit an elegant exuberance, and the other with the world’s best ingredient: burrata. Next, a bowl of delicate, earthy mushrooms that crown the silkiest, most decadent risotto you will ever eat. So luscious, it melts in your mouth. So flavorful, even its fragrance tastes good. So delicious, you won’t even be able to talk. You just have to focus all your attention on enjoying every.single.bite.
Finally, dessert: milk chocolate mousse, molded into little cylinders, is served with pistachio gelato, while creamy ricotta cheesecake is topped with fresh, sweet pear sorbet. Wine pairings are perfect, as are the sweet, flawless truffles that close your meal.
