“I just love Italian food ever since I was a kid”, Chef David Deshaies, who is French, tells Italianfood.net. That’s one of the reasons why he and his partner Restaurateur Eric Eden decided to open L’Ardente. It made sense for the business partners to open an Italian restaurant to complement their restaurant portfolio in Washington, D.C. The partners have a reputation in the city for their restaurants including unconventional diner (www.unconventionaldiner.com) a French Chef’s take on comfort food.
The restaurant works with at least 3 food distributors to select Italian products or ingredients for the menu. Sogno Toscano is one company the restaurant works with. The company describes their philosophy as, “Throughout the year, we scour each unique region to select Italy’s best products. This is in valuable addition to what we cultivate at our estate in Bolgheri, Tuscany. For each Sogno Toscano product, we perform rigorous laboratory testing, sampling, and tasting by award winning chefs”.
Some menu items at L’Ardente include: Whole Grilled Branzino, Pollo al Mattone, Bistecca alla Fiorentina, Pizza, and a forty layers lasagna filled with a short rib sugo, truffle mornay, and sottocenere cheese.
Chef David tells Italianfood.net the pizza (main image, Credit: Rey Lopez) has a French twist. It’s a sourdough pizza cooked thin and crispy that is meant to be shared with friends around the dinner table before the main course.
Besides the dining experience, Deshaies told Italianfood.net, he wanted clients to walk into the restaurant and say, “Wow!” The interior design elements such as the Murano chandelier and Missoni curtains are Italian design details that will make clients feel glamorous.
Restaurateur Eric Eden in a press release announced, “We’ve built a beautiful space, and David is using the finest imported and local ingredients, but we want it to feel comfortable and approachable. We aim to reflect the glorious contrasts of Italy itself: haute yet simple, glam yet rustic, indulgent yet restrained”.
Chef David stressed, he prides himself in an authentic menu that is simple yet modern along with a Hollywood meets Venice ambiance.