Great dining find in Dupont

In 2010, aftdc and I set a New Years resolution to try one new restaurant on the Washingtonian's Top 100 list each month. We were able to eat at 12 restaurants in 2010 but ended up breaking the trend in October, which aftdc believes is breaking the resolution. I think we did what we set out to do, which was to try new places in and around DC.

I give this background to say that we have been to a number of different places and have some favorites and some least favorites.

Last night, we were looking for something to complete of our "pizza and wine" mood and craving.Being yet another cold night within the Beltway we ventured a short block around DuPont circle. We ended on P street and after being satisfied by the initial menu ventured down into UrbanaRestaurant and Wine Bar. We have probably walked, run and biked past this place a hundred times through our routines but had never ventured down the steps and into the establishment.

The adventure was well worth it!

As aftdc says, the mark of a good eatery or watering hole is how crowded it is and this place was well visited. For a Thursday night the place was well trafficked but was not overcrowded. We decided the take seats at the empty pizza bar, which ended up having single patrons come and go after a light dish and a drink. Urbana is connected to the Hotel Palomar Washington DC which allows for Urbana to cater to hotel guests, business travelers and locals alike. The lounge area just behind the host stand was well populated with small groups taking up the seating area. The decor was great and sitting at the pizza bar was a pleasant experience.

Our waiter Jake had some spot on recommendations for both of us. I am a sucker for mussels and had the PEI mussels. After some debate I took Jake's recommendation of the saffron, tomato, and spanish chorizo. It was prepared perfectly and the chorizo gave the tomato sauce a great bit of bite. Aftdc stayed on the original theme of the night of pizza and ordered the brick oven Margherita. From New Years we learned that 2007 was a great year for California wines so we decided on a bottle of Zinfandel from Napa Valley called Porque No? which was just as good as the Zin we had on NYE. We started with a Cheese & Charcuterie with amish cheddar and midnight moon cheeses with soppressata and prosciutto di parmameats. I will be the first to admit that I'm not a blue cheese fan and the amish cheddar was not to my tasting. The midnight moon was great, especially with the meats.

The decor and food were fabulous and so was the service. The manager, who was previously at FireFly, was very nice and we had a great conversation.

All in all I think we have found a new place to become regulars as the wine menu was fantastic and there were a number of entrees that need to be discovered.