Coppi's Organic Restaurant

Last evening started off a bit rocky, with the NFT event. I should have known that getting to party an hour and a half late that had free booze and free books was unacceptable. Things were pretty much dying down when we got there. I did get to meet one of the staff members though, and she was very nice, so it wasn't all for naught. Lesson learned.

Kelly met up with Scott and I at the NFT shindig and we formulated a new plan: food. None of us had eaten, and there's a ton of stuff on U St., so we figured we'd walk till our stomachs picked a place. Off we went. After pausing to read the menu at one place we passed on to a second, an Italian place: Coppi's Organic Restaurant. The smells wafting out from the inside were amazing, and I swear Italian is the best choice when you're really hungry.

The place was packed but there were three seats available at the bar facing the brick oven. The proximity to the oven did make this spot a tad toasty but it also doubled as free entertainment. Lulls in conversation were filled with watching the cook throw dough into the air and deftly layer on cheese and toppings. We even stopped mid sentence at one point when we saw him making sort of a Nutella calzone. Kelly and I gasped: "We want that!"

Our waiter for the evening was behind the bar, and I'm pretty sure he was the owner of the place. He was awesome, and completely transformed our evening. It started off with the drinks. Kelly an I both ordered the Verde martini, which sounded delicious and fresh with a splash of Prosecco. Our guy asked, "Both getting the same? Why not try something else so you can sample both? How about I make you something? If you don't like it, I'll make you something else."

I'm all about trying new deliciousness so I said, "Sounds good to me!"

Then he turned to Scott who ordered a dirty martini. Our guy said, "I have a great organic vodka for you!"

We got our drinks, and they were all fabulous. His "let me make you something" offering was a martini with elements like lemoncello and honey. I actually liked the Verde one better so Kelly and I switched.

We ordered food, pizza and salads, and right before they came out we were ready for our next drink. Scott asked our guy to recommend something. He looked at our food choice (a four cheese pizza with roasted red peppers), and said matter-o-factly: "White wine." Sounded good to us, so we let him pick.

He brought out a slightly sparkling, dry white wine, and it was fantastic. I wrote down the details (Arcese. White Canelli Wine. Bera Vittorio E Figli) and I think found it online. He was right, of course, it paired nicely with our pizza, and we're definitely going to try and find it at Total Wine or one of the wine stores in the area.

Once we'd finished up, he asked if we were interested in dessert. Visions of the Nutella calzone were dancing in Kelly and my heads so we mentioned that. He sort of waved his hand in a "that's nice, but I've got something better" sort of way. He'd only had wonderful suggestions all night so we said, "Please! Pick something for us!" And oh, he did not disappoint. Soon we were presented with a bread pudding topped with ice cream, and served with 3 spoons (perfect). The bread pudding was incredible. It was firmer than bread puddings that I've had in the past and there were berries and raisins throughout. We thought it was the perfect end to the meal, until our guy brought us, out of the blue, three glasses of Prosecco. The sparkling crispness of the wine wrapped everything up wonderfully, and I found myself repeating, "I love this place."

It really was one of the best dining experiences I've had in a while. Everything just lined up: the food was great, the atmosphere was well played (dim lighting and a fun bicycling theme), and of course the attention we got from our guy. I love it when you randomly wander into a place and are blown away.