In a typically forgotten nook of the Union Market district, a brand new fish-obsessed Italian restaurant simply opened on the bottom ground of the Gantry residence constructing. Tarì Trattoria debuted on Thursday, June 19, with a easy menu of dry-aged and entire cooked fish which might be additionally served semi-raw, cooked down in wealthy broths, or distilled into pleasant sauces (300 Morse Road NE).
Not like its low-key predecessor, Marcellino Pane & Vino, Tarì is saying its presence loudly, with a daring black-and-white, two-sided signal, double the patio seating, and outside audio system that may play something however Italian music. Francesco Amodeo, founding father of D.C.’s acclaimed amaro producer Don Cicco & Figli, is behind the intimate trattoria, which he guarantees might be “small however good” (with 32 seats inside and 40 spots exterior).
The modernized Amalfi Coast recipes at Tarì all come from his childhood within the small city of Furore and kitchens throughout Southern Italy. His father labored in an uncle’s restaurant in Positano, his grandfather owned eating places, and his grandmother was the chief chef at a resort for over 40 years. He entered the wine business on the tender age of 14 and have become well-versed within the meals and beverage business and a grasp sommelier by the point he got here to D.C. in 2005. Whereas he’s been constructing his Italian liqueur empire (which you’ll strive on the Don Cicco & Figli distillery in Ivy Metropolis), he’s at all times dreamt of opening a restaurant.
“The idea itself has been for like, 20 years in my head,” he defined. He pulled collectively this model of Tarì inside six months of fellow Italian natives Antonio Matarazzo and Matteo Venini (Stellina Pizzeria) telling him the area would develop into accessible.
“It’ll carry you to the coast and makes you recognize fish like you haven’t skilled earlier than,” says Amodeo. The Northeast neighborhood is present process a seafood growth as of late, which incorporates newly opened Cordelia Fishbar a number of blocks away.
Fish availability modifications nearly every day due to the method of dry-aging and seasonality, with entire fish delivered on ice packs and utterly processed in-house. Fish are butchered, scaled, and divided throughout a number of dishes, utilizing up about 95 % of every fish.
“We’re sourcing from Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, North Africa, we do the mid-Atlantic. So it actually is determined by the freshness,” says Amodeo. Whereas the menu will continuously be switched up, three fish will persistently be on the menu in some kind: kingfish, hiramasa (yellowtail amberjack), and turbot (a flatfish), plus stargazers as typically as they are often discovered. However his private fish purveyor is in search of extra uncommon fish, like scorpion fish, sea robins, and crimson mullets, varieties that you just don’t see at most seafood-focused eating places within the metropolis. He balks at branzino, salmon, and rockfish, and is adamant that working with specialty fish can truly be cheaper than bulk shopping for “common fish.”
The brief menu is comprised of three appetizers, three pastas, three mains, and three desserts. A “scarpetta” bread service can be accessible, which is sourdough from James Beard-nominated Pluma Bakery (proper down the road) with sugar-drenched fennel and olive oils meant for cleansing your plate and cleaning your palate between programs.
Opening appetizers embody a tartare with flippantly seared black-spotted seabream and a smoky sauce made in-house from concentrated canned anchovies. The pastas and mains mirror this dedication to showcasing lesser recognized seafood, together with a show-stopping pasta made with seven totally different fishes to allude to the Italian-American feast of seven fishes on Christmas Eve. 4 totally different fish and fish bones are cooked down in a tomato sauce and served with calamarata pasta, then a second sauce with octopus, langoustine, and cuttlefish is poured on prime tableside. Rotating mains embody a gap particular of kingfish served with escarole, anchovies, capers, and an herb-filled sauce referred to as “salmoriglio.” There are additionally two meat-based dish on the menu, with rabbit comprising a easy ziti dish and cooked down with potatoes, candy peppers, and marjoram for a predominant.
Essentially the most charming a part of Tarì is that the restaurant is constructed for newbie fish-lovers. Symbols on the menu designate what’s dry-aged or contemporary, and Amodeo needs to create an inviting area for experimental fish orders. To open up diners to attempting one thing new, fish is not going to solely be displayed in three dry-aging coolers (with three extra coolers on the best way) however in a custom-made show case on the bar with ice chilly coils. Contemporary fish will stare up at diners, daring them to get them organized cooked entire.
Rey Lopez/Tarì Trattoria
Rey Lopez/Tarì Trattoria
Rey Lopez/Tarì Trattoria
Desserts embody a lemon sponge cake with candied fruit that Amodeo describes as “like a unique leches cake, nearly, however lemony” and a lesser-known dried eggplant dessert dipped in chocolate ganache and topped with preserved fruits and almonds. In fact, there might be loads of cocktails that spotlight Amodeo’s Italian natural liqueurs, Don Ciccio & Figli, plus traditional spritzes, Negroni, and a fennel-spiked gin martini.
Past the specifically curated fish or household favourite recipes, you may see considerate touches all through the restaurant which might be impressed by Amodeo’s life. The font on the menu is definitely his handwriting and the emblem is from a pasta cake store he had deliberate to open in Union Market earlier than the pandemic, representing the spiraling vortex image that’s seen on loads of ceramics across the Amalfi Coast. In fact, ceramic retailers in Italy made {custom} olive oil bottles, shot glasses for limoncello, and salt bowls for the restaurant.
Tarì Trattoria is open for dinner from 5 to 10 p.m., Wednesday by means of Saturday. Reservations can be found on Resy.
