Fiola is a one Michelin stared Italian restaurant in Washington DC. They recently opened another location in Miami.
They have a tasting menu or you can order a la carte. We went with the later. Reading the menu is exciting. They list the sources of their products, give a story about the farm, and also list what was fresh that week.
We started with Culatello which you do not find on many menus outside of Italy. If I remember correctly, our server was mentioning that Fiola had some role to play in being able to bring it into the USA as the FDA initially did not approve of it. In any event, it is a far superior product to prosciutto.
Although the presentation was beautiful, I was disappointed that it was not served with Gnocco Fritto (GF) like in Emilia Romagna. It was served with some other type of bread that did not really go well with the meat. As an aside, I appreciated the presentation of the cocktails.
After this we were presented with a very elaborate amuse. Which was interesting preparations of vegetables from the farm. It was delicious and very fresh indeed.
For my pasta course I had the tortellini with broth. If I remember correctly, the broth takes the chef hours to make. It was delicious.
For my main, I had the crab with red prawn “essence” from Sicily.
…and dessert.
Overall all it was a nice meal. The service is very good and the dining room is nice. The servers take time to chat with each guest which some people may not like. I always enjoy talking about food and travel with people. I think the food was good but not the best Italian I’ve ever had. If I lived in DC, I would probably go back.