Our Review of Arcuri in Glover Park

DC, like most large metro areas, is a land that see’s many restaurants come and go- more go than anything honestly. Very few stand the test of time and remain open longer than 24 months- just think of your favorite spot; if you can name the previous four restaurants that occupied that space, you get my point. So the eternal question for restauranteurs is – what can I do differently to make it? Well, for starters, don’t reinvent the wheel. Hone in on a food concept and stay true to it, make good food, have a well thought out and inviting (not intimidating) wine and beverage program and make your prices approachable for all. That is exactly what the team at Arcuri, a new Italian themed space in Glover Park have done. And they’re doing it quite well.

Salumi

Italian, I know, I know yawn right? Wrong. This isn’t Olive Garden nor is it over priced Italian small plates that have become the norm in “modern” Italian restaurants around town. The team at Arcuri inherited an Italian pizza oven from previous tenants Facia Luna and Kavanaughs, and they seamlessly integrated inventive pizzas onto their Americanized Italian menu. There are plenty of dishes you’d expect dotting the menu, like the house made salumi with pickled vegetables and mustard. Its sopresata and prosciutto were savory enough to make you crave one of bar manager Bryce Gerlach’s house made lemoncellos to wash it down with, and was complimented nicely by a sweet and tangy mustard and house pickled vegetables. Also present were staples like house made pasta (the tagliatelle) with Bolognese ragu that was delicate yet deliciously meaty with a hidden clovish or perhaps fennel spice to it. And no Italian restaurant worth its salt would be without meatballs, and Arcuri’s don’t disappoint and in fact might have been the all-star dish of the evening (with the perfectly cooked scallops a very very close second).

Scallops

meatballs

With the oven dominating the kitchen’s outward appearance, it would have been foolish not to try a pizza. The smokey, true to its name, came with smoked mozzarella and smoked peperoni and was thin, delicious and is great for cold evening comfort food. Something you might not expect, but would be well advised to try, would be the roasted beets with ricotta and pistachio – and despite being a light healthy dish tasted almost like a desert with the sweetness of the pistachio and creamy ricotta making you forget the beets almost all together. The portions were spot on; not small plates but not a dish from Outback Steakhouse either and satisfy palates and wallets equally.

Beet salad

The smokey Pizza

What really blew my mind was the wine list and its prices. With 6 DOCG wines on the glass list, all ringing in at under $10 a glass (with most hovering in the $7.50 range), Arcuri’s wine list could stand up to many of the better restaurant wine lists in town. With a nice mix of quality, affordable Italian bottlings and appropriate representation from the southern hemisphere, the old world and California, Arcuri has successfully created a small, neatly organized and unique list that truly has something for everyone. You don’t see many Gavis on lists around town, and theirs is not to be missed. One of my favorite summer whites, the Araldica Gavi is chocked full apple, citrus and cream with well balanced acidity and a nice, easy light bodied finish. Contrast that to the Montepulciano D’Abruzzo Rocca with its deep purple color and meaty, red fruit and earth notes. Its super dry with nice tannins and I picked up a little cotton candy on the palate that lingered into its longish finish. But the super star wine was paired with the super star dish on this evening, and the Purato, Nero D’Avola would be that wine. Its balance was exceptional with a full mouth feel complimenting medium tannins and acidity. It displayed dried red fruit, oak, vanilla and a bit of clove and was an absolutely awesome and pleasurable wine to drink. Sparkling? Check, in the form of what else- Prosecco. Brunello fan? They’ve got you covered with Brunello’s little brother from Langhe. Rather have an aromatic German Riesling with your scallops? You can make that happen too.

Something that truly sets Arcuri apart is the house made lemoncello. In its simplest form, lemoncello is grain alcohol, sugar and lemon peel. In its two-step process to create cellos, the sugar is introduced to the fermenting batch to offset the burn of the grain alcohol. But beyond the standard lemon flavor, Arcuri will be offring different flavors on a regular basis; continually experimenting but not to the point of alienating traditionalists. On this night, the batch included mulled raspberries and tasted more like raspberry lemonade (with a noticeable kick!) than the rot gut lemoncello found more readily at other restaurants. This is not your momma’s lemoncello!

My colleague, Shawn Keely, said it best when we left, “if I was in an upscale Italian restaurant and the same food was served, to me it would seem right at home.” Keep in mind you’d pay double or triple for it thought! Stated by four partners who boot strapped the majority of the funding for the startup themselves as opposed to seeking a loan, Arcuri is the type of neighborhood spot that we don’t see enough of and the kind you root for. Italian restaurants are more plentiful in DC than Starbucks, and Arcuri, with its straight forward, well prepared and excellently priced menu, manages to be different from the masses. Different and good, good enough that it’s a spot that likely won’t be changing names four times in the next decade. No, Arcuri seems like its got the right stuff from ownership, to food to wine to make it for the long haul, and here’s hoping it does.

Do yourself a favor and stop in, try one of the old time favorites or new experiments with an excellent, well priced glass of wine and wrap your experience up with the week’s cello. Then repeat this process.

Arcuri in Glover Park

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