The Room
Fabio Trabocchi opened Sfoglina on Connecticut Avenue in 2016 — the casual-Italian sister to his Fiola fine-dining flagship, dedicated to the proposition that DC needed a serious pasta-focused dining room. The format has expanded to three DC locations.
The dining room is intentionally relaxed — exposed brick, a long bar facing an open pasta-rolling counter, banquettes along the eastern wall. The pasta-rolling counter is the room's design centrepiece.
The Food
The pasta programme is the menu's centre of gravity — eight rotating handmade pastas daily, rolled at the open pasta counter. The seasonal-rotating Italian secondi and the small-plate antipasti opening handle the menu's wider draws.
Wine programme is Italian-classic. Cocktails are aperitivi-led. Service is the Trabocchi-group standard.
Best Occasion Fit
First Date: The pasta-rolling counter at Sfoglina is one of Van Ness's most-reliable first-date seats.
Birthday: Birthdays at Sfoglina are warm, pasta-led, casual-Italian affairs the room handles with nine years of practice.
Team Dinner: The back of the dining room handles tables of eight to twelve. The family-style Italian-pasta format scales naturally.