Bebo Trattoria da Roberto Donna *

Chef Roberto Donna's more casual trattoria -- Bebo Trattoria -- in Crystal City, Virginia is a bit disappointing. The space is impressive -- high, high, high ceilings (probably close to thirty feet) and the decor minimal, but not spare. The restaurant's focus is pizza from the wood-fired oven, so my impressions are somewhat biased in that I didn't try the pizza. The service was also a bit off, but perhaps Monday lunch-time is when the new staff gets broken in. The menu makes a point of stating that olive oil is only provided with bread on request, otherwise a bread basket appears unaccompanied. I didn't mind in fact that my waiter poured a small plate of olive oil (sweet and simple, not deeply flavored) unasked. I started off with a carne crudo, essentially steak tartare, with some pecorino cheese on top and frisee on the side. This was actually quite good. The steak was not over-seasoned, and the cheese had a slight crust to it.

The problems came with my second course -- spaghetti bolognese, except it wasn't. What showed up was spaghetti with tomato and basil. My waiter confirmed the error, and then had to go back to the kitchen at least two times when the table next to mine asked (relatively simple) questions he couldn't answer. This table ordered prosciutto and melon, only to be told they had none. They were offered prosciutto and mozzarella, which they didn't want, but appeared a few minutes later anyway.

Finally my bolognese showed up and it was, well, okay. Nothing stood out about the dish. It had some flavor, though I wasn't sure any real veal made it into the dish. The noodles were just a little over al dente. A decently executed dish, but not the richness I have experienced in le trattorie in Italia.

Don't get me wrong. The food was good, but it wasn't anything more than competently executed. It is extremely rare, in fact, to find good Italian food in most American cities. I don't mean this in the snooty "it's not like in Tuscany way" (though I can see why my previous paragraph might have led you to believe that); rather, it's clear to me that people think that because Italian food is simple, it is easy. The two are not the same. Like his other restaurant, Galileo, I expected more from Donna's kitchen.