Wannabe Wino

Sadly, the website for this restaurant is still just a "Coming Soon" page, which is highly disappointing, given that they have been open since November. Also disappointing because it's a really good place that you should check out if you are in the Crystal City area. The prices are right, the food is tasty, the space is interesting and the wine list is pretty darn decent.

We headed out to Bebo Trattoria on Saturday. I was planning on cooking, but decided since one of Matt's coworkers kindly picked up the tab for our dinner on Friday, that we could justify a night out again. Plus, it's literally a half block from our apartment, so it's no great effort to get there.

I hope this restaurant makes it. We got there at around 6:30 and there were plenty of open tables. And virtually ever table had its own server. Which is good and bad, since it means fast service, but at the same time, I've rarely had a server check on me that much in the course of a meal.

I chose the wine (sometimes this gets old, but Matt always says I care about it more than he does, so I go with it). The bottle was a Colle Caia 2005 Trebbiano D'Abruzzo. I cannot find anything about this wine or winery on the internet, so I have no idea if paid a good price, but it was $23, which is in our budget for wines at a restaurant these days.

The wine was 12% alcohol by volume and had a real cork closure. On the nose I found lemons and white flowers. After a few minutes, I noticed the slightest melon scent, which was reminiscint of a honeydew melon. In the mouth this wine was citrusy, more lemons and a slight bit of grapefruit. It was quite crisp, but very light overall, with the tiniest hint of minerals in the finish.

We had a smoked mozzarella on crisp bread with sweet sausage and orange sauce for an appetizer and I liked how the crisp citrus in the wine played with the smokiness of the cheese and the sausage. Matt had the fried rabbit bites with squash and onions, and he said the wine worked well with that. I had the ravioli special, which was bite-sized ravioli stuffed with Italian pork and cheese in a tomato butter sauce. The wine wasn't a great match with my meal, but both were very good in and of themselves. We finished off with a Tirimisu for me (which Matt ate half of) and a warm chocolate pudding with caramel sauce for Matt. The restaurant wasn't crowded, so we didn't feel too bad lingering and chatting over the last glass of wine from the bottle.