The night before last, I had a great meal at il Pizzico (http://www.ilpizzico.com/home.shtml), a real Italian restaurant in the Maryland suburbs of Washington. The meal was terrific.
I started with an appetizer of Arancine Rivisitate for $9.95. Arancine are Sicilian rice croquettes. These were filled with veal and mozzarella cheese, with a taleggio cheese sauce. They were fantastic.
My second course was a half-serving of a pasta dish, Maltagliati al Ragu di Vitello - maltagliati pasta in a veal ragu - $8.95. (They do half-servings of their pasta dishes.) This dish was incredibly delicious. The pasta was home-made, as are all their pasta. Maltagliati pasta is flat pasta made from scraps of other pastas. The name means something like "bad cuts" or "badly cut."
For a second course, I chose Tagliata di Manzo Boscaiola - grilled Hereford steak with wild mushrooms in a Barolo wine reduction sauce - for $25. This dish was very tasty, but not incredible like the first two.
For dessert, I had Torta di Mele, an apple torte, for $7.25. It was very tasty.
After dessert, I had a nice espresso for $2.75.
The wine I had was a half bottle of Lamole di Lamole Chianti Classico for $19. It was very nice. The wine list was excellent, and included wines by the glass and half bottles.
The ambience was very warm and friendly. The dining room was full of patrons who were clearly enjoying their meals.
The Maitre d', who is from Palermo, was the perfect maitre d' - constantly overseeing every aspect of the dining room operations.
The service was terrific. Although my server was from Latin America, he spoke excellent Italian, which he had learned on the job. He was very professional.
Il Pizzico is located in a small strip mall at 15209 Frederick Rd. (Rockville Pike). It is one the east side of the road just below Gude Dr.
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