At L’Ardente in Washington, DC, this 40-layer lasagna is easily the showstopper at a restaurant with more than a handful of inventive executions. It arrives on its side, as if needing to relax from the weight of all the deliciousness soon entering your mouth. Twenty thin sheets of pasta lie between an equal number of layers of slowly simmered short rib ragu, making the truffle-infused cheese seem ancillary yet it takes it just over the top. With a mountain of parmesan shavings at one end, this dish is ideal to share among three people so there’s room for the other delicious items on this menu including the smoking tray of oysters, the whole grilled branzino or the wide selection of vegetable dishes.
Artichokes, as I mentioned in my post about stuffed artichokes, can be challenging. Sometimes they come out too hard or soft or just plain. But here at L’Ardente, which means “the ardent” in Italian, they are perfectly grilled and unique, with Calabrian chili, parmesan shaves and mint. The fish arrives at the table surrounded by a sea of flavor delivered by a briny, verdant combination of fennel, olives, capers, parsley, lemon and more.
L’Ardente is a massive establishment in the Judiciary Square neighborhood of DC. This 180-seat, 9000-square foot space has a buzzing bar area and two large rooms for seated dining, as well as private rooms. It was packed on a recent Friday night, which did start making it hard to hear towards the end of our meal. Admittedly, we were all a bit confused by the neon “don’t do coke in the bathroom” sign, but apparently it’s a bit of a meme that a number of restaurants have used to summon up a 1980s vibe.
At its helm is David Deshaies, a classicly trained French chef and semi-finalist in 2023 for Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic. He trained under the late Michel Richard, a renowned French-born chef who brought the finest dining to Washington in the early 1990s with Citronelle, which sadly closed in 2012. It was one of the first fancy restaurants I ever ate and I will always remember it fondly. Deshaies spent eight years there as executive chef before becoming corporate chef of Richard’s restaurants in DC, Vegas and New York. In 2017, he opened his first restaurant in DC called Unconventional Diner, still open.
It would be remiss to not mention the cocktails here. They are quite creative and entertaining. I don’t drink alcohol other than wine; yes, I know it’s boring. But this Manhattan, my husband’s drink of choice, arrived with a plume of smoke and a jello shot resembling an orange slice on top. Other cocktails at our table were equally unique, including this play on the espresso martini that one of our friends enjoyed for dessert.
It’s hard to reinvent Italian in a world where everyone is serving some version of it and Italy itself is overrun by visitors. It’s also hard to serve that many high-quality meals at the same time, but L’Ardente does it consistently. This top-notch kitchen is turning out new spins on old classics that feel simultaneously familiar and totally unique. It’s definitely worth a visit on your next trip to DC.
