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Very Best Restaurants: Luigino

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

Luigino **
Washington, $$

If you go to Luigino toward the end of the week, check the rotisserie at the left of Carmine Marzano's kitchen: If a crisp-skinned suckling pig is glistening on the spit, you may not want to bother looking through the menu to order a main course. At other times, the stars at this handsome upscale trattoria are Marzano's grandmotherly stews. His stufatino of baby goat with artichokes is splendid, as is rabbit simmered to moist tenderness with potatoes and black olives.

As with the best of our local Italian restaurants, the way to begin here is with a half order of pasta. Try the commendably light fettuccine with a rich ragu of either venison or quail; the linguine with a spicy seafood sauce; or trofie, pleasantly chewy little spindles of pasta tossed with string beans, potatoes, and pesto. For a stuffed pasta, hope "pinched" ravioli is on the list of daily specials. Resembling Chinese pot stickers in shape and size, they are filled with a well-seasoned forcemeat of chicken and veal and moistened with a light, briefly cooked tomato sauce.

Luigino , 1100 New York Ave. (entrance near 12th and H streets) NW, Washington; 202-371-0595. Open Monday through Friday for lunch, daily for dinner. MapIt!

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

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