Top Chef tragedy and triumph.

I don't watch much TV, but one show I never miss is Top Chef. The obvious reason I love this show is that I'm way into food and cooking, but on a more basic level I just enjoy watching talented people compete at what they do best. The contestants on "Top Chef" work under very challenging conditions- they don't get to use recipes or cookbooks, and their time is severely restricted. They also get thrown crazy twists pretty much every episode. Yet, they consistently put out remarkable food. I feel pretty confident in the kitchen, but I'm not sure I could produce something as simple as a batch of cookies with 30 minutes and no recipe.

I've been lucky the past few seasons because some of my favorite Top Chefs have been from the DC area. You may recall that last summer, my friend Katie and I had an amazing dinner at Volt, which is owned and operated by "Top Chef Las Vegas" finalist Bryan Voltaggio. This week, two of my other "Top Chef" favorites crossed my path. One encounter was tragic; the other was terrific.

First, the bad news: My all-time favorite "Top Chef" contestant is Carla Hall, who was on both the "New York" and "All-Stars" seasons. I would have loved Carla simply for her personality and positive attitude, but she also happens to be a friend of one of my favorite relatives, my aunt Michele. Michele is the special events director at Union Station in DC, and she and Carla are both members of the same philanthropic/professional organization. Michele is even busier than I am and watches almost no TV, so I gave her email and text message play-by-plays of both Carla's seasons. Ever since I learned of their friendship, I have been waiting for the call from Michele inviting me to one of Carla's events.

This week, I got that call. Michele has been invited to a special luncheon where Carla will serve a menu based around one of my very favorite foods, the tomato. My uncle is unable to attend, so Michele asked me to come with her. I was giddy with excitement... until I checked my calendar. On the day of the luncheon, I am traveling to PA to speak to a church on behalf of my office. What's worse, everyone else in the office is also traveling to speak at churches, so nobody can take my place. So, for now, my closest encounter with Carla will remain this amazing tin of cookies my friend Corinne ordered from Carla's company for my birthday:

Order your own from Alchemy by Carla Hall. You will thank me!

Now, the good news. Last night, I was able to soothe my Carla disappointment by enjoying dinner at a new restaurant opened by another Top Chef: Graffiato, owned and operated by Mike Isabella of "Las Vegas" and "All Stars." Mike was definitely not one of my favorites on the "Las Vegas" season, but he showed up on "All Stars" with new skills and a better attitude. It was fun watching his transformation, and I was totally rooting for him by the end. In the finale, he made a dish involving a pepperoni sauce, and judge Gail Simmons spent her entire deliberation raving about it. Thus, I was very excited to see Graffiato open in DC and even more excited to see the pepperoni sauce on the menu. Graffiato opened less than a month ago and has been getting a ton of attention, so getting in is not easy, but my friend and I were lucky enough to snag a 5pm table on a Thursday night.

Graffiato is located in a 2-floor space in Chinatown, with a bar and smaller dining area downstairs and the main dining room upstairs. There are open kitchens on both floors, and I spotted Chef Mike multiple times checking on things in the kitchens. The menu is (very reasonably priced) Italian-inspired small plates and brick oven pizzas. There is a $55 tasting menu, but it must be ordered by every guest at the table. My friend is a vegetarian, which can be tricky for tastings, so we just ordered off the regular menu. The staff were very attentive and willing to explain things. At times, they were a little hover-y, but I'm willing to forgive less-than-stellar service in a restaurant that just opened. Here's what we ate:

For first course, we had hand-pulled mozzarella with fava bean sauce (a special) and sugar snap peas with tomato pesto, goat cheese and sesame seeds. The snap peas were delicious, especially with the goat cheese and the sesame seeds. I'm not sure that the tomato pesto added much, and I started eating it with the mozzarella instead (which was a good decision).

After the first course, I had the thing I was most excited about: chicken thighs with the pepperoni sauce. Unfortunately, for me this was the most disappointing course. It was very good, but after watching the "All Stars" finale, I had expected the sauce to be spectacular. Instead, I found it a little weak. The pepperoni flavor was so subtle that I might not have picked it up if I hadn't been looking for it. Good, but just not great.

To quote Gail Simmons, "Pepperoni Sauce!!!"

What was great was the risotto ordered by my friend for his second course. He offered me a bite, and I went back for several more trying to figure out exactly what made it so delicious. I tasted parmesan, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar (all of which are listed on the menu), but I thought I tasted something sweet as well. Risotto is one of my favorite things to cook, so I'm looking forward to spending a few hours in the kitchen trying to figure this out. One thing I definitely learned from this dish is that I need to cough up a little more for better balsamic!

After the chicken thighs and the risotto, my friend had sweet corn agnolitti and I had polenta with pork meatballs and a soft egg. My friend said that the agnolitti was delicious, and it must have been because he ate the whole plate in minutes! The stars of my plate were the meatballs, which were easily the best I've ever had. They were as good as I had expected the pepperoni sauce to be. I was a little confused by the rest of the plate (the egg and the polenta). It was all tasty, but I really did not understand how the three components went together. Also, the dish was served with a fork, which was useless for the polenta and egg. It should definitely come with a spoon! I requested one as I did not want to miss a single bite.

Finally, we tried 3 desserts: a chocolate tart with sea salt gelato, nutella sandwich cookies, and pistachio gelato. The tart was good, but totally overshadowed by the sea salt gelato, which was AMAZING. I have an unreliable ice cream maker at home and getting it fixed never seems to get off the bottom of my "to-do" list. The sea salt gelato changed that in an instant. After my long run this weekend, I think I'll head straight to Bed, Bath and Beyond for another ice cream maker and then to Whole Foods for some sea salt. I must have more of that gelato! While I'm at it, I'll probably pick up some pistachios, because the pistachio gelato was also delicious. Continuing the salty/sweet trend, the nutella cookies were light wafers dusted in salt with the nutella in between. Simple, but brilliant. I could have eaten a whole bowl of them.

All in all, Graffiato was well worth the visit and the cost (which adds up because so many things on the menu sound so good!). It was a very different experience from Volt, where the food was much more technically complicated. Everything I ate at Volt was spectacular, but I would have no idea how to re-create it at home. The food at Graffiato was much more basic, in a great way: simple, straightforward, delicious. It made me want to try it at home, and also come back to try everything I missed the first time. Well-done, Chef Mike!