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Night 13: Volare
It's still raining the next night (Did I just see a
guy with a beard float by in a boat?) and female Michael
and I are cruising deepest Bethesda. We're trying to
find Red Tomato. But here is Volare, another on my list
of destinations and they offer valet parking. Nolo
contendre. Andiamo.
One step into Volare and you know you've found another
of those perfect authentic neighborhood places. With
its conglomeration of paintings and hangings, tapestries,
bottles and plastic grapes, this is not the latest thing.
It is even better, the real thing. If you had a nonna
to pry from her own cucina for her birthday,
you would bring her here.
But something seems off. I find it somewhat strange
that all the help here seems Asian, which doesn't immediately
augur well in the authenticity department. Everyone
is prompt and polite, but I'm thinking that the kitchen
might well have a José and not a Guiseppe rattling
the pans. I ask to speak with the owner, as I usually
do, and I'm told he is "Mr. Robinson." Hmmm.
Not that promising either.
The menu is classic by anyone's standards, and we aren't
that hungry tonight. But the eggplant parmesan, OK a
cliché, is delicious. The eggplant is sliced
thick, delicately fried and tender in the middle, the
sauce is just right. Michael's pasta e fagiole
soup looks lovely and comforting, all velvety beans
and potatoes in a creamy base. So somebody knows what
they're doing.
By check time "Mr. Robinson" appears. But
he's the guy who parked our car! He looks Italian, but
Robinson? Easy to explain: he's from Ecuador. Oh. This
guy is nice, and I realize then that Volare is a quintessential
American place. Vasquez is an immigrant from Ecuador.
He came to DC with dreams of success, started a hair
salon, did well, bought another, did better, got bored,
bought Volare and oversees its care and management,
whether greeting patrons, parking the cars or doing
the dishes. The staff is an ethnic patchwork, the chef
is Italian. The patrons are a patchwork as well and,
as Vasquez delivers the cream puffs he insists we try,
I see we customers are all united in our state of satisfaction.
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