Woman Around Town’s Editor Charlene Giannetti and writers for the website talk with the women and men making news in New York, Washington, D.C., and other cities around the world. Thanks to Ian Herman for his wonderful piano introduction.
Young people are drawn to a cause and radicalized. They build bombs, blow up buildings, and kill people. African-Americans are marching in the streets and are beaten by the police. Sounds like present time, but Philip Roth’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel focused on the 1960s, when Lyndon Johnson was in the White House, college students protested the Vietnam War, militant elements staged violent acts to drive home their anger, and cities were torn apart in the battle for civil rights.
The themes in American Pastoral still resonate, and a film that’s able to bring to the screen the similarities between what happened in the past and what we see unfolding in our country now would certainly be a worthwhile project. Ewan McGregor, in his directing debut, puts in a game effort, but the result falls short.
McGregor plays a Jewish sports star, Seymour Levov, nicknamed Swede, in deference to his light hair and complexion. The story, which sticks closely to the book, is told through the eyes of Swede’s admirer, Nathan Zuckerman (David Strathairn), a writer who has spent most of his life living abroad. That plot device becomes a clumsy vehicle for moving the story forward, with flashbacks that only serve to interrupt the narrative flow. Zuckerman returns to his New Jersey high school for a reunion and reconnects with Swede’s brother, Jerry (Rupert Evans), hoping to hear stirring tales about the golden-haired athlete who married Dawn, a former Miss New Jersey (Jennifer Connelly). Nathan is dismayed, not only to hear that Swede has just died, but that the life of this promising young man took such a tragic turn.
Slowly the story unfolds. Jerry becomes a heart surgeon and Swede takes over the glove manufacturing business set up in the heart of Newark by his father, Lou Levov (Peter Riegert). While other businesses begin producing goods abroad to cut costs, Swede retains his work force made up mostly of African-Americans. When protesters burn down white-owned businesses in Newark, Swede, assisted by his loyal employee, Vicky (Uzo Aduba), saves the factory by hanging out a sign saying, “Negroes work here.”
Hannah Nordberg and Ewan McGregor
The riots in the street are mild compared to what Swede confronts at home with his daughter. Merry (played by Hannah Nordberg as a child and Dakota Fanning as a teen) suffers from a speech problem that causes her to stutter. As a child, Merry is close to both her parents and eager for their approval. But when she hits the teen years, she turns on both of them. In New York, she connects with radical elements and soon disturbing slogans are showing up on her bedroom walls. Swede empathizes with her need to influence opinion about the war and encourages her to make her voice heard in her community. Merry takes him up on that challenge, although not in any way he might have imagined. There’s an explosion at the local post office that kills the postmaster, a husband, father, and popular figure in the community. Neither Swede nor Dawn can accept that Merry is responsible for such a violent act. The postmaster’s wife doesn’t blame them, but she makes a prophetic comment: her family will heal, but the Levovs will never recover from what their daughter has done. Indeed, Swede will spend the rest of his life looking for his daughter, hoping against hope to prove that she was brainwashed and not responsible for her actions. Meanwhile, Dawn will suffer a nervous breakdown and blame her husband for everything wrong in her life.
While the casting cannot be faulted, the performances are not what we might expect from such experienced actors. McGregor seems wooden, his reactions not nuanced enough to reflect the various levels of hurt and outrage he must be feeling as his life begins to unravel. Connelly does her best with what she’s given, but her downward spiral is too abrupt and therefore not entirely believable. Similarly, Merry’s transformation from dutiful daughter to revolutionary happens in a nanosecond: one minute she’s happily flipping burgers in the family kitchen, the next she’s hurling them at her parents along with vitriolic words. The best performance belongs to Riegert, who perfectly captures Swede’s loyal father and Merry’s even more loyal grandfather.
Molly Parker plays Merry’s therapist, whose advice should have sent the Levovs rushing for the door. Yet, they continue family counseling, a decision that will place Merry in danger. Valorie Curry seems to be making a career out of playing creepy, fanatical groupies, most famously as Emma Hill in Fox TV’s The Following. Here, as Rita, a fellow revolutionary, she becomes the link between Merry and Swede. There’s a cringe-worthy scene where she tries to seduce him.
What the film does get right is how far a parent will go to protect a child, even one who has engaged in criminal activity. Swede can’t accept that his daughter, his flesh and blood, is responsible for killing people. He also can’t absolve himself of the guilt that somehow he’s to blame for the choices she made. These are tough questions, and the film doesn’t attempt to answer them.
American Pastoral opens nationwide October 21, 2016.
Photo credit: Richard Foreman courtesy of Lionsgate
Virgil Flowers is hunting two very rare Amur tigers who have disappeared from the Minnesota Zoo. Apparently in some cultures, particularly the Chinese one, these rare animals are prized for their ability to heal many illness. Unfortunately, the tigers have to be killed, their organs and bones ground up to produce the medicinal healing powders. Solving the crime plunges Flowers into the underground world inhabited by predators who will steal and butcher any number of beasts for profit. On the other side are animal rights activist who resort to violence to stop these thieves.
Sandford (the pen name for John Roswell Camp), is known for his 26 “Prey” mysteries featuring Lucas Davenport. Escape Clause is his ninth with Flowers. While Flowers often works for Davenport, the two are polar opposites. Davenport, a career cop, doesn’t have to live on a cop salary after making a fortunate selling a Dungeons & Dragons-style video game. He’s known for driving fancy cars, wearing expensive suits, and having Minnesota’s governor on his speed dial. His wife, Weather, is a surgeon and they have four children. Flowers has an extensive collection of T-shirts celebrating various rock bands and musicians. He’s frequently found chasing criminals in cowboy boots (something that will create problems in this outing.) He loves to hunt and fish and often lives out of his car, on a boat, or with his latest girlfriend.
In Escape Clause that girlfriend is Frankie, whose sister, Sparkle, will add another complication to Flowers’ life. Sparkle is completing a PhD focusing on migrant workers in a caning factory. Management, however, doesn’t approve of her efforts and Frankie ends up taking the brunt of their displeasure when she’s attacked and beaten in a store parking lot. Flowers finds himself stretched thin – hunting for the tigers before they can be killed, and protecting Frankie and her sister.
Sandford’s books are always an enjoyable read and this one is no exception. He manages to select topics that are not only entertaining but manage to educate the reader. This time around, we learn about the dangers to exotic animals from those who cling to ancient beliefs that these creatures somehow are worth killing to cure a hangnail. No such evidence exists, but that doesn’t prevent some factions from offering to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for these powders and potions.
While plot is important, Sandford also creates flesh and blood characters that grow on us with each outing. The contrast between Davenport and Flowers also keeps us engaged. Opposites do attract, but Davenport and Flowers also share a disdain for those who break the law and will do whatever they can to stop them.
“Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it. We anticipate (we know) that someone close to us could die, but we do not look beyond the few days or weeks that immediately follow such an imagined death.” Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking
Let’s face it. No one wants to think about death, about our own or those close to us. So deciding to spend an evening in the theater listening to a play that focuses on death may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Still, by the end of The Year of Magical Thinking, we come away, not exactly elated, but not exactly depressed. Partly that’s due to the eloquent words of Joan Didion on whose memoir the play is based. Mostly, though, it’s because of a heartfelt, deeply affecting performance by one of the greatest actors of her generation, Kathleen Turner.
Turner, whose credits include many stage and screen performances, is not a stranger to Arena Stage, where The Year of Magical Thinking is now playing. She previously appeared in Mother Courage and Her Children and Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins. Each time she appears at Arena Stage, it’s an event. This time is no exception. With expert direction from Gaye Taylor Upchurch and staging in the intimate Kogood Cradle, Turner seems less to be acting than carrying on a conversation with a group of close friends. She makes frequent eye contact with the audience, establishing an emotional connection that draws you into the performance.
When Arena’s Artistic Director, Molly Smith, asked Turner which project she wanted to tackle next, she immediately mentioned The Year of Magical Thinking, saying the play “is about grace, and I want to bring that to the audience.” She certainly manages that, taking us through two horrific years in Didion’s life when she lost her husband, John Gregory Dunne, and their daughter, Quintana. Didion and Dunne not only were married for nearly 40 years, but had a professional relationship, writing screenplays for Panic in Needle Park, which starred a young Al Pacino, and Play It As It Lays, based on her novel, which starred Anthony Perkins and Tuesday Weld. They moved from New York to California after their marriage, in 1964, and in 1966 adopted a daughter, Quintana Roo.
Didion’s roller-coaster ride begins on December 30, 2003. Now living in New York, the couple had just been to visit Quintana who is in a coma at Beth Israel North (formerly Doctor’s Hospital), on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. They return to their apartment where Didion prepares dinner and builds a fire. “A fire meant you were home, safe for the night,” Turner says. At one point, Dunne stops talking and slumps over in his chair. At first, she thinks he is joking, but soon realizes he has passed out. An ambulance arrives quickly; she notes the exact times that each event occurred. At the hospital, she’s taken aside. “If they give you a social worker, you’re in trouble,” she says. She returns home with John’s wallet, cellphone, and clothes. “Grief has its place, but also it’s limits,” Turner says, explaining the aftermath, coping with John’s death and continuing to watch over their daughter.
When Quintana emerges from her coma, she’s told about the death of her father and is able to attend and speak at his funeral held at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where she had been married just a short time before. Quintana and her husband decide to take a trip to California, something her mother encourages. While there she suffers a massive hematoma, requiring hours of surgery at UCLA Medical Center. Although she recovers, she dies of acute pancreatitis the following year. Two blows in two years. The original memoir only dealt with John’s death. Didion later wrote Blue Nights about Quintana’s death. The play was expanded to include Joan’s coping with both deaths.
How does one cope? By magical thinking, which Didion describes as an anthropologist would. If a person thinks long and hard enough that an event can be prevented, perhaps it would be. In the play, Turner talks about the inability to give away John’s shoes, with the hope that if she holds onto them, he will return.
The Year of Magical Thinking runs an hour and 50 minutes with no intermission. There’s no down time for Turner or for the audience, either. We sign on for this ride and in less time than we imagine, it’s over. What we have experienced, however, will stay with us for a long, long time.
Photos by C. Stanley Photography
Kathleen Turner in The Year of Magical Thinking By Joan Didion based on her memoir Directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch Arena Stage 1101 Sixth Street SW
Fourteen Mexicans sit huddled in a battered truck. One girl reads the Bible, praying that she will safely reach the promised land. A young man pulls from his backpack a worn out teddy bear that plays a tune with a small voice saying, “I love you,” a memory of the son that waits for him in California.
Jonás Cuarón’s Desierto puts a face to the immigrant experience, all those individuals who, like so many before them, are willing to risk everything to come to America. Cuarón wrote the screenplay for Gravity, which his father, Alfonso, won an Academy Award for directing. Jonás not only directed Desierto, but was also writer, editor, and producer. The film has been a labor of love, taking him seven years to bring to the screen. “I took a trip through the U.S. Southwest where I encountered first-hand stories surrounding immigration and the often cruel and violent story of the migrant journey,” he said. “I was very moved and immediately felt compelled to outline the film – which happened before writing Gravity.” His father serves as a producer of the film.
The truck carrying the immigrants is still miles from the U.S. when it breaks down. Three men have been paid to take the Mexicans to the border. After reporting the truck problem, one is ordered by his boss to stay with the truck, while the other two will escort the group the rest of the way. Unfortunately, the trip will take them on foot through some of the harshest and most unforgiving land between Mexico and the U.S. (The film was actually shot in the state of Baja California Sur where, according to press information, the only access was by dirt roads, with no cellphone coverage, and temperatures in the triple-digits.) Cuarón’s desire to have the terrain share equal credit with the characters only adds to the film’s sense of isolation.
Gael García Bernal
The desert isn’t the only enemy the immigrants face. Sam (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) has appointed himself the de facto border patrol. Rather than capture any immigrants he spies, however, he guns them down. “I used to love it here,” he tells his German shepherd, Watcher. “I hate it here. It’s messing with my brain. I’ve got to get out of this hell.” Having identified immigrants as the source of his unhappiness, Sam is ruthless, picking off his victims with his rifle equipped with a scope. Fueled by the liquor he’s been consuming, he shows neither glee nor remorse as the bodies begin to fall. One man who is injured but not dead, is finished off by Watcher, a gruesome sight.
Soon there are just two survivors, Moises (Gael García Bernal), the father desperate to get back to his son in California, and Adela (Alondra Hidalgo), whose mother wanted her to escape the dangerous situation in her village. She wonders out loud what her mother would think now, watching her and Moises fleeing a serial killer across the desert. Moises’ situation is particularly poignant. He had been living with his wife and son in Oakland when he was stopped because his car had a broken tail light. Although he had applied for a resident visa, “one thing led to another,” and he was soon sent back to Mexico.
Bernal, who has been acting in Mexico since childhood, is now making his mark in the U.S. This year he won a Golden Globe for playing a conductor in Amazon Prime’s Mozart in the Jungle. His performance in this film should raise his profile even more, on both sides of the border. His Moises isn’t the strongest of the group, but the more determined to survive in order to get back to his son. Morgan, whose resume is equally impressive, with credits on TV (ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, Showtime’s Weeds) and film (Watchman, Taking Woodstock), manages to make Sam more than a one-dimensional villain. In contrast to the immigrants, he’s the one without a country, someone who no longer fits in and lashes out with a vengeance at those he blames.
Desierto is an important film, particularly at such an important moment for our nation.
Desierto opens nationwide on October 14, 2016. In Spanish with English subtitles.
Top photo: (L to R) Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Gael García Bernal
The Federal Anti-Corruption in Sports Agency (FACSA) doesn’t exist, as Felix Francis states on the first page of his new mystery, Triple Crown. But he makes a good case that there should be a federal agency in the U.S. to provide oversight for misdeeds in the world of sports, particularly in horse racing. For those who are not yet hooked on Francis’ novels, Triple Crown will pull you in. Francis takes us behind the scenes of the three races that a thoroughbred must win to earn that coveted title.
Tony Andretti, a former NYPD cop who is now FACSA’s deputy director, suspects there’s a mole in his organization. That person is tipping off owners and trainers about the timing of FACSA inspections. Oftentimes horses are moved to different stables or out of state to avoid drug testing. Andretti wants British racing investigator Jefferson Roosevelt Hinkley to come to the U.S. and find the mole. Hinkley’s forte is undercover work (he boasts about his cleverness with disguises) and he’s tired of sitting being a desk. Even the news that Andretti’s previous spy, a reporter for Sports Illustrated, met an untimely death, fails to discourage Hinkley. He accepts Andretti’s challenge.
When Hinkley arrives in Washington, he learns that the FACSA has more than 800 federal agents and employs more than 2,000 other people, a workforce that dwarfs the British Horseracing Authority. Hinkley’s cover story is that he’s on an exchange program for law enforcement agencies to observe how FACSA operates. Hinkley, a former intelligence officer for the British Army in Afghanistan, takes steps to preserve his real mission, including buying two burner phones that will be the only way he and Andretti communicate. Knowing that FACSA agents are armed with Glocks, and knowing that one of these agents might be the mole, certainly keeps Hinkley on guard.
Hinkley’s excitement about attending the Kentucky Derby soon turns to dread when a FACSA raid on one of the stables results in the shooting death of a trainer, Hayden Ryder. Since Ryder was one of the trainers suspected of paying the mole, his death makes Hinkley’s job that much harder. The second shoe drops when three Derby horses that might have challenged the favorite, Fire Point, are felled with equine influenza, “a much-feared disease in the racing world and for good reason.” Besides scratching the horses from the race, the illness reduces their value to shire future winners.
After Ryder’s death, Hinkley realizes that he must truly go undercover, working as a groom for Fire Point’s trainer, George Raworth. Hinkley’s job becomes even more difficult when he’s first threatened and then physically attacked by another groom. Francis keeps us guessing until the end about the mole’s identity.
Francis has successfully picked up the mantle from his father, Dick Francis, a jockey whose mysteries about the racing world were consistent bestsellers. Those who enjoy watching the Triple Crown races – the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes – will find Felix Francis’ inside knowledge fascinating. He’s obviously done his research on this side of the pond, telling us how the races are run, the pecking order of the trainers and the horses, and exactly what’s at stake for nabbing that equine crown. We’re also left with some questions, troubling questions. Some of the drugs not permitted in Britain are allowed in the U.S., raising the question of whether there are some drug cheats out there. Perhaps Francis is right. We do need an agency like FACSA to weed out the cheaters who are fixing races and harming these beautiful animals.
Hayes Morrison is the daughter of a former president whose mother is now running for the U.S. Senate. All similarities with Chelsea Clinton, however, end there. Hayes, who graduated first in her class from Harvard Law School, has spent the last few years trying her best to embarrass her family, particularly her mother. When she’s picked up for cocaine possession, District Attorney Conner Wallace (Eddie Cahill) makes her a deal: put that brilliant legal mind to use heading up New York City’s Conviction Integrity Unit or go to prison. After musing that she wouldn’t mind exploring orange is the new black, Hayes agrees.
Hayley Atwell, a British-American actress, last played Peggy Carter in ABC’s Agent Carter. But she’s more than a Marvel superhero with impressive film and stage credentials both in the U.S. and in Britain. ABC’s new drama makes good use of her talent giving her a complex character for her to sink her teeth into.
CIU is not an innocence project. The team is given just five days to reinvestigate a case, the outcome not always a get out of jail free card for the prisoner. Hayes arrives to find that a staff is already in place, including Sam Spencer (Shawn Ashmore) who thought he would be in charge. Other CIU members include: Tess Larson (Emily Kinney), a recent law school graduate; Maxine Bohen (Merrin Dungey), a former police detective now working as an investigator; and Frankie Cruz (Manny Montana), a former convict who knows his way around the prison system.
Hayes is not out to win anyone over, especially her mother. I assume that over time we’ll learn more about this acrimonious mother-daughter relationship, but we had a peek in Episode 2 when Hayes learns that her mother has been spying on her for the district attorney. It seems with the Morrisons, politics has always come before family. Since her mother is in the middle of a campaign, Hayes is often pressured into attending political events by her brother, Jackson (Daniel Franzese), who is their mother’s campaign manager. Jackson is the well-adjusted child, getting along with both his mother and sister, trying in his own way to keep the family together.
While Hayes resents being blackmailed into taking the job, her legal instincts quickly take over. In Episode 1, the case involves a young African American who was convicted of killing his girlfriend. The next episode focuses on the Prospect Park Three, a trio of young men who were jailed for raping and brutally beating a young woman. What the team essentially must do is scrutinize each crime, going back to the beginning to see what was missed, who might have messed up. When the second case involves one originally prosecuted by the district attorney, the pressure is on.
Conviction has all the necessary ingredients for a hit series: a plot involving law and order; the feel good element for freeing the innocent; behind the scenes intrigue (will a determined reporter discover how Hayes really got the job?); politics among a high profile family; and a very talented cast. The big unknown involves the writing, continuing to set up cases that are interesting and plausible. Happy endings may not always be possible.
Lillian Hellman’s drama about a Southern family motivated by secrets, lies, abuse, and greed comes alive at Arena Stage with a stellar cast deftly directed by Kyle Donnelly. The setting is Alabama in 1900, a state still recovering from the Civil War. Addie (Kim James Bey) and Cal (David Emerson Toney), no longer slaves, are still servants in the Giddens household. (And truly the only ones with any sense of right and wrong.) Regina Hubbard Giddens (Marg Helgenberger) seems to dominate the family, but she’s frustrated with her financial situation. In the early 20th century, only sons were considered heirs. So Regina seethes watching her brothers Benjamin (Edward Gero) and Oscar (Gregory Linington) enjoy the family’s wealth while she remains dependent on her husband, Horace (Jack Willis).
Hellman’s play holds up surprisingly well with themes that continue to resonate, particularly during this election year. The Little Foxes is part of Arena’s Lillian Hellman Festival. Watch on the Rhine, starring Marsha Mason, will be produced later in the season. There will also be staged readings, film screenings, and panel discussions to explore Hellman’s body of work.
Megan Graves and Kim James Bey
Superficially, the Giddens home has all the trappings of affluence and stability, the stage setting reflecting a more than comfortable existence for the family. (Set design, Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams; lighting, Nancy Schertler). Around the elegantly set dining room table, Regina plays hostess entertaining her brothers, Oscar’s wife, Birdie (Isabel Keating), and their son, Leo (Stanton Nash). But tensions roil underneath that cordial surface. Regina, who married Horace for his money, is disappointed that the match has not provided her with the financial freedom she desires. Oscar is dismissive and abusive of Birdie who self-medicates with alcohol. The Giddens daughter, Alexandra, called Zan (Megan Graves), adores her father, Horace, who has been away getting treatment for a serious heart condition. Largely ignored by Regina, Zan is taken under Birdie’s wing and watched over by Addie.
Gregory Linington, Edward Gero, and Stanton Nash
Benjamin and Oscar are out to increase their wealth by investing in a cotton mill. They need $75,000 and want Regina to ask Horace for the money. Horace has already given the brothers a thumbs down. (Oscar’s other plan for obtaining the money, to have Leo marry Alexandra, also is rejected by Horace.) So Leo, who works at the bank, steals Horace’s railroad bonds from a safety deposit box. Regina’s scheme to blackmail her brothers about the theft for a percentage of the mill is thwarted by Horace. Regina succeeds in the end, finally achieving financial independence, but at a huge cost.
Isabel Keating and Marg Helgenberger
As Regina, Helgenberger is a force to be reckoned with. Everything about her, from her strict posture to her steely gaze, sends the message that she is determined to succeed. There’s no evidence of the warm and helpful Catherine Willows from CSI. When she speaks, those honeyed southern tones are tinged with vinegar. The contrast with her daughter, Zan, is striking. Graves projects a youthful innocence in the first act, but by the end of the play, we witness her transformation, rejecting her mother’s values and ready to stand on her own. Even at this point, Regina can’t help but damn her daughter with faint praise. “Why Alexandra! You have spirit after all. I used to think you were all sugar water.”
Jack Willis, Marg Helgenberger, and Isabel Keating
Horace doesn’t appear until Act II, but when Willis enters, the effect is immediate. Moving slowly with a wooden walker, Willis’ Horace nonetheless is a powerful presence. There’s a touching moment between Horace, Birdie, Zan, and Addie, the four most likable characters in the household and in the play. They are comfortable with each other, their fondness and respect for Horace evident. Birdie, who overindulges in the elderberry wine served by Addie, has a laughing fit where she confesses she dislikes her son, Leo. (Keating’s performance here, and really throughout the play, is remarkable.) Horace’s medical condition adds to his concern for the three women and his worry that he won’t be around to protect them much longer. But he does what he can, telling Addie that he has left her $2,700, and revising his will to take care of Zan.
In contrast, Regina, never the doting wife, is not happy to have him home, and becomes further agitated when she discovers what he plans to do about the stolen bonds. She holds back nothing, telling Horace how much she despises him. And when he suffers a heart attack, she refuses to go upstairs to get his medication. He makes an attempt to climb the stairs, but collapses before he reaches the top. (The clever set, which includes a winding staircase, allows us to witness Horace’s futile climb.)
There are no real winners in the end. That quest for wealth and power at the expense of others always takes a toll. “Maybe it’s easy for the dying to be honest,” Horace tells Regina. “You’ll wreck the country, you and your kind, if they let you. But not me, I’ll die my own way, and I’ll do it without making the world worse. I’ll leave that to you.”
RPM Italian has only been open a short amount of time but this restaurant in D.C.’s Mt. Vernon neighborhood has already become a popular gathering place after work and on weekends. The restaurant, which was in the planning stages for three years, is the second location after Chicago for two TV stars – Giuliana DePandi Rancic, anchor for E! network’s E! News, and her husband, Bill Rancic, who was the first candidate hired by Donald Trump in the inaugural season of NBC’s reality show, The Apprentice. The couple went on to star in Giuliana and Bill, on the Style network, and Bill has also been host of the Food Network’s cooking competition show, Kitchen Casino.
All that celebrity buzz might get people in the door, but it takes a warm atmosphere, professional service, and well-prepared food to get customers to return again and again. RPM Italian has it all. The front of the restaurant includes a mammoth-sized bar where diners may stop for a drink or enjoy dinner. (Despite the bar’s size, it’s often challenging to find two seats together, another indication that this is a place to see and be seen.)
The dining room is also large, but the side banquettes and nicely spaced tables provide diners with comfort and a modicum of privacy. The decor is stylish with off-white fabrics, dark wood tables, and subdued overhead lighting. While there is no dress code, RPM Italian attracts a well turned out, youthful crowd.
We visited on two occasions. The dining room is laid out so that every seat allows a view of the entire space. There’s no staring at walls. Better to watch diners at other tables and the small bar at the far end of the room. (Patrons can also be served dinner at this counter.) Our seats allowed us to preview the dishes coming out from the kitchen.
RPM’s staff is well-trained providing service that is friendly and efficient while not being intrusive. And like the service, the dinner menu is not pretentious, including some dishes that reflect Giuliana’s Neapolitan roots, like pasta with Mama DePandi’s pomodoro, as well as Italian-American classics such as spaghetti and meatballs, and eggplant and chicken parmesan. We began with two appetizers – fried mozzarella and Roman style artichokes with garlic and lemon aioli.
The artichokes were hands down the winner. The mozzarella was tasty, but consisted of too much breadcrumbs and not enough cheese, making the final product a little dry.
Most of RPM’s pastas are housemade. We chose the strozzapreti all noci, with walnut pesto, and pecorino Romano. This was a wonderful dish, but two ingredients, tomato and a dollop of stracciatella cheese, were unnecessary additions.
For a main course, we shared the branzino for two, served with capers and olive salsa verde. The fish was perfectly cooked and the salsa added a pungent flavor to the mild filets.
A side dish of corn with bits of bacon was a contrast of colors and textures.
For dessert we enjoyed affogato, vanilla bean gelato with hot espresso. The combination of cold and hot, light and dark, is the perfect finish to a meal.
On our second visit with sat at the large bar. After ordering two glasses of wine – a Chianti and a Vernaccaia – we shared a pasta, burrata agnolotti with smoked tomato and truffle brodo, and a meat dish, prime beef meatballs.
Like our waiter in the dining room, the bar staff was not only attentive and helpful, but made dining at the bar a pleasure.
It’s often difficult to find places in D.C. that are lively after 10 p.m., whether on a work day or a weekend. Both times we left with RPM Italian just hitting its stride. And both times we knew we would be back soon.
RPM Italian 601 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington DC 202-204-4480
