Deviled Eggs (6/5 NOMs)
We are flipping out, and these must be the best in town Vadouvin Deviled Eggs from Dino’s Grotto, an amazing Italian restaurant with Jewish spices on U Street/Shaw in Washington DC. Pure mastery and uniqueness make this by far one of the most amazing dishes we’ve ever had. A dish so good that it almost broke our NOM score completely. We were very excited to finally make our way to Dino’s new location in DC. It’s Friday night, so we started with a few strong drinks and couldn’t pass up a few appetizers, especially after reading this description. It’s the crispy prosciutto with anchovies!!! First, bite in, and it’s just like someone just smacked you around with some bold flavors, and you liked it! I liked it so much that you asked for more. Plus all that creamy egg goodness combined with Sriracha aioli and salsa verde. Ah, just thinking about this dish again makes my mouth water. Price-wise it’s not overly too expensive for just $8, but you know it was so good that we would totally pay double that. While anchovies might not be for everyone, we sure love this addition and think it is worth a try, and you might fall in love with it. We are already salivating when we can come back for more of this and any other good dishes. What are some of your favorite Deviled Eggs?
Grilled Brussels Sprouts (5/5 NOMs)
Get ready for a gateway drug of amazing food with an appetizer like Grilled Brussels Sprouts from Dino’s Grotto, an Italian restaurant on U Street/Shaw in Washington DC. This is defiantly a must-try dish while waiting for the rest of your food. It looks relatively simple on the menu, but there is nothing simple about this dish when it comes to flavor. Grilled to perfection brussels sprouts with perfectly caramelized big onions, crispy walnut, and Italian saba sauce. Eating this was pure joy, especially those walnuts that you don’t normally expect. They added a great flavor and crust to the dish. With so few ingredients, they are able to achieve such an impressive combination of flavors—a pretty big appetizer for $12 with enough to share with a few friends. You know you are about to enjoy some of the best food in town when the appetizer is this good.
Duck Bolongnese Lasagne (5/5 NOMs)
Satisfy your cheesy desires with irresistible Duck Bolognese Lasagne from one of our favorite Italian restaurants, Dino’s Grotto on U Street/Shaw in Washington DC. After so many good appetizers and drinks, we finally made it to the main course. Oh, and does it hit the spot, hot cheesy goodness in every bite. So soft and light to the taste, you don’t feel like you are eating too much. The flatly shaped pasta was very soft and just melted in the mouth with a duck’s nice addition. It tastes so good that we couldn’t stop and tell ourselves just another bite. So many bites that we ate it all up. Not the cheapest dish with a $22 price tag, but for high quality and a large portion, it’s all worth it. You can easily make two dinners out of it. We didn’t since we are greedy nomsters and wanted the whole thing. Even after eating such a heavy, cheesy dish, we didn’t feel heavy or fall into a food coma. Which only means one thing, dessert time!
Buddha’s Backhand Cocktail (5/5 NOMs)
It’s a glass of sunny happiness with Buddha’s Backhand cocktail from Dino’s Grotto, an Italian restaurant on U Street/Shaw in Washington DC. Either it’s a happy hour or just regular dinner, you can never go wrong with their nice selection of mixed drinks. A lot going on in this drink with buddha’s hand-infused gin, fresh lemon juice, Cocchi Americano, and Domaine de Canton ginger. Even with all that lemon thing, it wasn’t overly too sour and instead was very sweet, which is great for us as we like drinks like us, sweet and happy. It tasted so good that we ordered a few more of these. Don’t let all that sweetness fill you. This is a solid drink and might leave you a bit tipsy. However, no one said it’s a bad thing. Great value for such a great flavor with $8 (happy hour from 5 – 7 pm, all day Sunday and Monday night) or $12 regular times. So go and drink up its happy hour!
Meyer Lemon Rickey Cocktail (4/5 NOMs)
Alcohol makes the best appetizer, like Meyer Lemon Rickey Cocktail from Dino’s Grotto, an Italian restaurant on U Street/Shaw in Washington DC. The exploring drink menu is the best way to spend the time while waiting for some food. Plus, with some great appetizers on the table, there is really no excuse not to try a drink or five. Many interesting flavors are combined in this drink with Meyer lemon-infused vodka, fresh line juice, ginger syrup, and soda. With so many different savory flavors, this drink is not as sweet as we prefer our cocktails. Though it’s also not overly too sour, which means sweet tooth like us can easily enjoy it for $12. After this can’t wait to explore more of their alcohol menu.
Balsamic Vanilla Sorbet (4/5 NOMs)
Get ready to be hugged and kicked in the flavor with Balsamic Vanilla Sorbet dessert from one of our favorite Italian restaurants, Dino’s Grotto on U Street/Shaw in Washington DC. What a crazy thing to add Balsamic into ice cream, the two things we wouldn’t even consider combining. After all, sweet with more sweet is our norm, but it’s always good to break out and be a rebel. When it arrived, it looks pretty normal, and we almost forgot that it was not chocolate on top. We ended up getting a big spoonful of it and quickly realized it tasted a bit too balsamic thick. The key here is to figure out the perfect quantity and flavor proportion for you by going slow, unlike us, who are dessert greedy. The vanilla sorbet is very light, so we had to go for less balsamic and balance out the two flavors. Once we achieved nomster perfect ratio, it became quite a delicious dessert. After all, combining the sweetness and syrupiness created a unique nom nom. It had both the vanilla sweetness and balsamic strong kick to it, which was quite refreshing—the perfect way to end your Italian food adventure.
1914 9th St NW, Washington, DC 20001