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Very Best Restaurants: Dolce Vita

Very Best Listing | Very Best by Cuisine | Very Best by Location

Dolce Vita **
Fairfax , $

La Dolce Vita's aspirations are refreshingly humble, yet this unassuming storefront with a green neon sign in the window is much more than a neighborhood trattoria.

The key is the freshness of ingredientsherbs, real tomatoes, good Parmesan, house-made mozzarellaand the finesse of the kitchen.

The look is clean and sparewhite walls with a "pen-and-ink mural" of Roman cafe societyand the food has the same purity. Garlicky clams (ask for the posillipos) with bits of tomato on top of linguine is simplicity itself, while the gnocchi pesto is so rich that it's best shared. Fish specials are beautifully done, too. But the pizzas from the wood-burning oven are the shining stars: crisp-crusted works of art streaked with mozzarella, tomato, grilled mushrooms, pesto, and pignoli. Desserts may not be up to the rest of the menuthey come from outside sourcesbut the cappuccino mousse cake is satisfying enough.

Dolce Vita , 10824 Lee Hwy., Fairfax ; 703-385-1530. Open Monday through Saturday for lunch, daily for dinner. MapIt!

QUALITY: ****Excellent; *** Superior; **Very Good; * Good
PRICE RANGE: $$$= Very Expensive; $$ Expensive; $=Moderate; ¢=Inexpensive

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