Garden Cafe Italia at The National Gallery of Art, menu by Fabio Trabocchi

"Garden Café Italia
In honor of the exhibitions Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals (February 20–May 30, 2011) and Italian Master Drawings from the Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, 1525–1835 (May 8–November 27, 2011), as well as the Gallery's renowned collection of Italian masterpieces, Chef Fabio Trabocchi will transform the menu in the Garden Café from February 11, 2011 to March 20, 2012. Returning from New York to DC to open the highly anticipated restaurant Fiola in Penn Quarter, Chef Trabocchi has created a menu of signature Italian dishes for the Garden Café, including a buffet as well as à la carte selections.

Located in the West Building near the 6th Street and Constitution Avenue entrance, the Garden Café is open for lunch Monday to Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 4:00 p.m. It offers a special preconcert menu on performance Sundays, October to May, 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. For more information or to make reservations, please call (202) 712-7454 or visit www.nga.gov/dining.

Garden Café Italia is presented in partnership with Restaurant Associates and Executive Chef David Rogers at the National Gallery of Art."

The exhibitions are impressive and the original Gondola they have at the Mezzanine level is unique and worth viewing. We are proud to be working with The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, such a remarkable institution!

Fiola Week 1

Demolition complete! Fiola started construction on Friday despite the snow and the freezing rain.

we are still on target for opening at the scheduled date in April.

The space is really big and we can clearly see now the different designated areas for bar/lounge, bathrooms, dining room, private room.........if I could only start cooking!

Lots of work in the office, getting all the suppliers, accounts, looking at resumes, staff interviews.

It is fundamental to find the right team.

Today we met with John Redmon who will be doing our website. Him and his team did a brilliant job with my fabiotrabocchi.com website, it was only logical to have them follow with Fiola. Must add that it is very easy to work with them since John was one of our regulars at Maestro and has great and impressive knowledge of food, wine and the restaurant industry.

It doesn't feel so bad to have a birthday today, a new restaurant, productive day, and little celebratory Private dinner tonite.

Sunday Suppers Fundraiser for the Hungry

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/all-we-can-eat/sunday-suppers-and-sips.html
and this is what I will be doing next Sunday, cooking for a great cause that benefits our community.
Hope to see you there.
Fabio

Monday, another week

It is Monday again, and that means that we are closer to Fiola time!
Another week has passed and lots has been achieved. Demolition set to start any moment now, and though it will be dirty, messy, somehow confusing....it is welcome!
Feel bad for interrupting the day to day operations of our building tenant, but hopefully the result will be well worth it for all.

Checking the news, here we are on BizBash as one of the top 10 new Venues in Washington DC to visit, what an honor! Thank you BizBash!
http://http://www.bizbash.com/washington/content/editorial/19748_2011_preview_washingtons_10_most_anticipated_new_venues.php

we also have a new twitter account, please follow us on @fioladc for faster updates.
Back to work now. Illy espresso coming up!

January 2011!!!

Happy New Year 2011.

2011 is here and so the construction of Fiola begins. In a couple of days we will have the dumpster in place and lots of dust and bricks will be going in there. We are excited about it, can't wait to see the new Fiola face.

Griz, our architect, my partner and I have been working non stop to get the required paper work, utilities, design final touches, ordering kitchen equipment, plates, glasses.....and the list does not stop, with one goal in mind, the opening of Fiola by Fabio Trabocchi sometime in April.

It is unbelievable to see how expensive everything is and how much attention to detail is needed.

We have a lot of inquiries, you can send those to fabio@fiolarestaurant.com or if it is media related to maria@fiolarestaurant.com we will be happy to answer any questions or concerns.

On another note, The National Gallery of Art will be featuring my menu at the Garden Cafe Italia (on the West Building), their restaurant starting in February 12, 2011 to March 20th, 2012. You can find the information at www.nga.gov/dining. Chef David Rogers from the National Gallery has been a great allied making this happen.

If you come across a DC Modern Luxury magazine for January, it is their Power Edition, and I am featured along chef Mike Isabella as one of the Top Chefs.

More pictures will be uploaded soon regarding the construction as well as our soon to come website, twitter and facebook.

back to writing menus....

ciao

Fiola

Fiola, which means "little girl, sweetheart", is what I affectionately call my daughter.
The concept of Fiola is that of a modern Italian Trattoria with emphasis on fresh local ingredients from our farms and markets. The menu will change constantly focusing on seasonal ingredients. It will not be fine dining like Maestro, and the setting more casual, beautiful and comfortable.
We are now working on the design of the space at 601 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, and hopefully construction first week of January.
Architects: GrizForm Design Architects (http://www.grizform.com/)
Griz and his team are working hard with us to make the vision come true.
It will be a great and big restaurant with a fantastic bar/lounge area, outdoor seating and a large Private room to hold any party or event.
We are also starting to put the "team" together, let me know if interested in working with us fabio@fiolarestaurant.com
will post some pictures every now and then.

Back in DC

As of last week I am back in Washington DC, this time for good. New York has been a great adventure and has given me the opportunity to see the restaurant business from a different angle. Now, more than ever, I am ready to open my very own restaurant.
It has taken a while to make it happen, but yes, "Fiola" will open in April 2011 (or so we hope!).
The location: 601 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC. Entrance on Indiana Avenue between 7th and 6th.
I will be posting weekly about the progress and development.
Thank you for all the support and for those who insisted along the way that I come back to DC, being here feels like home.