Graffiato

707 6th Street NW - Washington, DC 20001
  • $$$
  • Rating Distribution
    5 stars
    125
    4 stars
    227
    3 stars
    60
    2 stars
    13
    1 star
    1

Italian Small Plates and Pizza from a Top Chef Alum

Profile by: Kelly DiNardo
Photos shot on location by: Alexei Kaleina & Elizabeth Parker

Highlights

  • The meal begins with a complimentary bowl of chili-spiced pistachios.
  • The restaurant’s wine list includes Montelivini Prosecco on tap.
  • The second floor features a ham bar (yes, a ham bar) with six seats that face the kitchen where staff prepare an assortment of hams – speck, culatello, prosciutto.

Good to Know

  • You can expect some seasonal specialties on the menu, which changes often.
  • The cocktail menu has a sense of humor, with drinks like Mama Said Knock You Out, Saged and Confused and Hit the Road Jack.
  • If you're lucky, you can catch Mike Isabella hard at work in the restaurant's open kitchen.

Recommended Dishes

  • ·
    Graffiato's menu changes frequently; please be sure to check it out for new additions.

Best Bottles

  • ·
    Good Value: Super Tuscan, Castello di Lucignano, 2001 $52
  • ·
    Total Splurge: Quintessa Cabernet Sauvignon, $295

Full Overview

Forget the bleep-filled antics of Snooki and The Situation. The version of the Jersey Shore that you’ll really enjoy is topped with fried calamari, tomato, provolone and a cherry pepper aioli. This pizza is just one of the many ways former Top Chef All Stars runner-up Mike Isabella pays homage to his Italian roots and his Jersey upbringing at Graffiato. The two-story, 5,000-square-foot Italian restaurant built in a 1940s-era print shop screams industrial-chic with its concrete floors, exposed ceilings and brick walls. The main level is dominated by a long bar stacked atop cement blocks and a large steel-covered wood oven that churns out pizzas as well as a host of dishes from the “wood-fired” section of the menu. Upstairs, you’ll find a spare dining room with simple tables built by Isabella and his father-in-law that are topped with herbs potted in empty tin cans. The menu focuses on small plates, ranging from vegetables like sweet and sour fennel to homemade pasta like the chestnut agnolotti to the chicken thighs topped with the same pepperoni sauce judge Gail Simmons oooh-ed and ahhh-ed about on the Top Chef All-Stars finale. And, of course, there’s pizza, including a black truffle and duck egg-topped pie known as The Countryman. Now, that’s a situation we can get behind.
Home_small

Mike Isabella

Chef/Owner of Graffiato

When Mike Isabella was just six years old, his grandmother put him to work rolling meatballs just to keep him busy. He was hooked. When he was older, Isabella began cooking in restaurants in New York and then Philadelphia before landing in D.C., where he helmed Jose Andres’ Zaytinya. Isabella’s cooking focused on Mediterranean, Latin and Middle Eastern fare, but not the Italian dishes that first sparked his interest way back when.   It was his turn on Top Chef that reignited his passion for Italian cuisine. In a family-related challenge, Isabella cooked his grandmother’s gnocchi and remarked that he had avoided cooking Italian because of how much he missed her. Today, his restaurant Graffiato dishes up Italian-inspired food similar to what his grandmother taught him to make. And, yes, there are meatballs on the menu. 

Follow Mike on Twitter. 

And check out what happened when we spent a day in the life with Mike Isabella.

Profile by: Kelly DiNardo
Photos shot on location by: Alexei Kaleina & Elizabeth Parker

Highlights

  • The meal begins with a complimentary bowl of chili-spiced pistachios.
  • The restaurant’s wine list includes Montelivini Prosecco on tap.
  • The second floor features a ham bar (yes, a ham bar) with six seats that face the kitchen where staff prepare an assortment of hams – speck, culatello, prosciutto.

Good to Know

  • You can expect some seasonal specialties on the menu, which changes often.
  • The cocktail menu has a sense of humor, with drinks like Mama Said Knock You Out, Saged and Confused and Hit the Road Jack.
  • If you're lucky, you can catch Mike Isabella hard at work in the restaurant's open kitchen.

Recommended Dishes

  • ·
    Graffiato's menu changes frequently; please be sure to check it out for new additions.

Best Bottles

  • ·
    Good Value: Super Tuscan, Castello di Lucignano, 2001 $52
  • ·
    Total Splurge: Quintessa Cabernet Sauvignon, $295

Full Overview

Forget the bleep-filled antics of Snooki and The Situation. The version of the Jersey Shore that you’ll really enjoy is topped with fried calamari, tomato, provolone and a cherry pepper aioli. This pizza is just one of the many ways former Top Chef All Stars runner-up Mike Isabella pays homage to his Italian roots and his Jersey upbringing at Graffiato. The two-story, 5,000-square-foot Italian restaurant built in a 1940s-era print shop screams industrial-chic with its concrete floors, exposed ceilings and brick walls. The main level is dominated by a long bar stacked atop cement blocks and a large steel-covered wood oven that churns out pizzas as well as a host of dishes from the “wood-fired” section of the menu. Upstairs, you’ll find a spare dining room with simple tables built by Isabella and his father-in-law that are topped with herbs potted in empty tin cans. The menu focuses on small plates, ranging from vegetables like sweet and sour fennel to homemade pasta like the chestnut agnolotti to the chicken thighs topped with the same pepperoni sauce judge Gail Simmons oooh-ed and ahhh-ed about on the Top Chef All-Stars finale. And, of course, there’s pizza, including a black truffle and duck egg-topped pie known as The Countryman. Now, that’s a situation we can get behind.
Home_small

Mike Isabella

Chef/Owner of Graffiato

When Mike Isabella was just six years old, his grandmother put him to work rolling meatballs just to keep him busy. He was hooked. When he was older, Isabella began cooking in restaurants in New York and then Philadelphia before landing in D.C., where he helmed Jose Andres’ Zaytinya. Isabella’s cooking focused on Mediterranean, Latin and Middle Eastern fare, but not the Italian dishes that first sparked his interest way back when.   It was his turn on Top Chef that reignited his passion for Italian cuisine. In a family-related challenge, Isabella cooked his grandmother’s gnocchi and remarked that he had avoided cooking Italian because of how much he missed her. Today, his restaurant Graffiato dishes up Italian-inspired food similar to what his grandmother taught him to make. And, yes, there are meatballs on the menu. 

Follow Mike on Twitter. 

And check out what happened when we spent a day in the life with Mike Isabella.

A reservation will now earn you: 200 Reward pts.

CityEats Rewards

For every reservation that you make and honor (you actually show up at the restaurant and have a meal) on CityEats.com, you will earn 200 CityEats Rewards points. If you then write a review of your dining experience, you will earn an additional 200 points. Once you have collected 2,500 points, you can redeem them for either a $25 gift certificate or a charitable donation in the amount of $25.