Roe Panella's Profile
Bebo in Crystal City--first impressions
On Friday Nov 17th I enjoyed a lovely dinner at Bebo. Though the room is big in volume the ochre walls and soft lights make its warmly inviting. The pizza oven at the entrance was almost a work of art with its pastel mosaic exterior. We were seated in the first booth, which was perfect to view the bar and entire room and for taking pictures. I called Alyssa earlier to make sure photos would be ok.
From the beginning our service was thoughtful, professional and “in the background”
We decided to share everything, of course and began with an evening special
Grilled Baby Octopus with Cannellini Bean Salad and EVOO - luscious and meltingly tender under a green herb oil and resting above a perfectly seasoned warm bean salad. Next, came another menu special
“Vitello Tonnato” – Thinly Sliced Roasted Veal with Tuna Sauce, Capers, and Frisee Salad – the veal was paper thin and the sauce had almost a mustard taste that was very pleasant. For the pasta course we ordered from the reglar menu
Lasagnette con Ragu’ di Carne e Besciamella – homemade thin noodles layered with a well flavored sauce the picked up a hint of sweetness from the béchamel. The portions were all very generous hardly leaving room for the
Grilled Whole Branzino served with Salmoriglio Sauce. The fish had beautiful grillmarks and was expertly filleted at table side. The green herb infused sauce complimented the natural sweetness of the fish.
Our server got so excited about the picture taking that he directed a few other servers to our table so that I could snap some of his favorites. Three of them are shown in my linked http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbNWzZm2ZtWUG¬ag=1
slide show. The reconstructed Ceasar salad is particularly interesting.
The Barolo by the glass was perfect for me as I don’t care for white wine.
With little room for desert I considered the hazelnut cake, but passed. I think there will be plenty more opportunities desert in the near future.
Sorry, I don't know how to make this url/link active - suggestions welcomed. Please copy and paste the url in your address box and go, then view as a slide show with captions.
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbNWzZm2ZtWUG¬ag=1
Bravo! Roberto
