Diving for Pearls
Washington's La Perla Serves Original, Traditional Italian Dishes
by Rachel Hunt and Stephen Qualiana

We remember a time in our childhood when fine dining almost certainly meant an Italian restaurant. That's when the only ethnic restaurants were Italian and Chinese, and California cuisine had not even been invented.

Now most Italian restaurants are the neighborhood pizzeria joint with a small dining room. So we jump at the chance whenever a "fine dining" Italian restaurant opens and comes to our attention, such as Ristorante La Perla of Washington.

Upon our arrival one cold evening, we admired the warm interior of La Perla on Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. It seems to be housed in an older, spacious building with high ceilings and plenty of architectural detail. The décor is elegant-not especially Italian-and looks more federal than anything else. The walls are off-white with lots of heavy crown molding. The windows are dressed with ruffled aquamarine Venetian curtains, with the chandeliers picking up the same color tint. The tables are well spaced and the seating is very comfortable.

La Perla's main dining area is split. There is a room on the left, which is small, cozy and more private, and a dining room on the right, which is large, L-shaped, noisier and brighter. Along the long part of the L is a handsome marble-topped bar, and next to the bar is a large tile mural of the "Birth of Venus," which is also the logo for La Perla. Unfortunately, in front of it is a rather gaudy water fountain that detracts from the tile mural.

Also at the entrance is a glass pastry case showing off the desserts, which looked very tempting. Behind the pastry counter is a wine collection with a collection of Italian pottery on the top of the wine rack. Large potted plants and vases of flowers are scattered in the corners and on the tables. It's a very charming and comfortable place with Italian folk music playing in the background.

The waitress certainly seemed friendly enough, but she was a novice at most things having to do with wait service. She even seemed unfamiliar with the food, so perhaps she just started working there. She seemed to not know in what order the appetizers or the salads were served, but she was prompt and attentive.

The presentation of the food was attractive but not ostentatious. The gamberoni borgo pio ($12) and coconut shrimp were lying on two slices of oranges and a pool of sauce with a parsley garnish. The shrimp had a thick batter crust of coconut, which may have somewhat obscured the taste of the shrimp, which were large and tasty but seemed a bit rubbery. They were served with a snappy orange sauce for dipping.

The mozzarella in carrozz ($11) are Italian bread sandwiches with mozzarella that are deep fried, so that the bread is toast-like and the cheese melted. You dip them in either an anchovy or caper sauce for a unique appetizer. The toast has a satisfying crispy texture that goes well with the chewy melted mozzarella in the middle. The sauces give it the zing needed to whet your appetite.

The insalata borgata ($13) was a crispy combination of fresh garden vegetables that included broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, cucumbers, Romaine lettuce, croutons and crumbled pecorino cheese topped with a great-tasting house dressing. The crema regina del mare ($7) was a creamy soup with generous chunks of lobster and shrimp and angel hair pasta-a notably rich creation.

The kitchen's rich way of cooking also extends to the entrées. We were impressed with the vitello marianna scalfaro ($25), which translates to "first lady of Italy." The menu lists this as an original creation of chef and owner Vittorio Testa. This rich dish mixes some rather unusual ingredients: lengths of asparagus-covered crabmeat and thinly sliced veal with melted mozzarella cheese topping everything. It was sitting in a pool of lemon, butter and white wine sauce.

The rigatoni imperia ($21) also used a slightly offbeat combination of ingredients. The rigatoni pasta was tossed with homemade Italian sausage chunks, mushrooms and shrimp in a light tomato cream sauce. The pasta was firm but supple, and the shrimp stood out on its own. The Italian sausage was superb and made us want to try it in a dish of its own. A light-brown creamy cheese sauce united the various textures and flavors of the dish.

For dessert, the strawberry-kiwi key lime pie ($7.50) was a charming variation of the traditional key lime pie. Not only did it have the typical smooth, sweet and tart key lime filling, but it also had a thick layer of strawberry-kiwi mousse over the upside-down key lime pie. Topping the entire concoction was a dollop of mascarpone.

The black-and-white mousse cake ($7.50) was a thin exterior shell of dense, chocolaty ganache. Inside were layers of chocolate mousse, white chocolate mousse, chocolate cake and white cake. It gave the effect of being very light and silky, yet chewy.

We still long for those Italian restaurants of our youth, with red-and-white table cloths, a basket-laced bottle of wine with a candle in it, black-and-white celebrity photos on the wall, and Enrico Caruso playing in the background, but if we found one it would probably be a pizza joint now.

Ristorante La Perla of Washington is located on 2600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW. The telephone number is (202) 333-1767, and the e-mail address is [email protected]. Dress is business casual. All major credit cards are accepted. Lunch is served Monday to Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Dinner is served Monday to Friday from 3:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 4 p.m. to midnight.

Rachel Hunt and Stephen Qualiana are the restaurant reviewers for The Washington Diplomat.