Yahoo! - washingtonian

Very Best Restaurants: Vincenzo Al Sole

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

Vincenzo Al Sole **
Washington, $$$

What started in 1980 as Vincenzoan Italian restaurant so devoted to authenticity that it refused to serve butter with bread or grated Parmesan with its seafood-sauced pastashas gone through so many changes in the mid-1990s that it defies accurate description. To discourage the American habit of eating pasta as an entree, the old Vincenzo raised pasta prices to astronomical heights. Then, when business fell off, it changed its name to Trattoria al Sole, covered its tablecloths with squares of brown paper, replaced its crystal wine glasses with tumblers, and lowered its pasta prices to $8 on a menu where the main courses were all under $14.

Predictably, the restaurant filled up; unfortunately, it filled up with what management viewed as the wrong kind of people. As a waiter complained at the time, "Some were coming in and ordering just a salad." Obviously, this was too much to put up with, so the restaurant changed its name once againfor the moment, it is Vincenzo al Soleand raised menu prices precipitously. Recently, owner Vince MacDonald talked of getting rid of the few meat dishes on his mainly seafood menu.

What has remained unchanged over the yearsand earns this exasperatingly quirky restaurant its starsis the consistent excellence of a kitchen that still cooks the sort of food you'd enjoy at a seafood restaurant on the outskirts of Rome.

Vincenzo Al Sole , 1606 20th St. NW, Washington; 202-667-0047. Open Monday through Friday for lunch and dinner, Saturday for dinner. MapIt!

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

Return to Restaurant & Entertaining Directory