January and February Restaurants of the Month - Argia's and Barcode!

My January Restaurant: Argia's! Falls Church, VA So, most of you know that I have a goal to try one new restaurant a month and write a review based on my experiences. As we all saw with my previous submission, Barcode was my February restaurant of the month. I know I did it a little backwards, but now comes the review of my January restaurant. Who said you had to do things in an orderly fashion, right? I'm following my own rules here. My restaurant for the month of January was a small, quaint Italian restaurant located in the heart of Falls Church, VA, called Argia's.  To much of my surprise, I've lived in Falls Church close to three years and I drive by this restaurant at least once a week, but I've never tried it. I've heard it's incredibly good, but let me be real with you folks...the Italian dishes made by my grandmother, Helen Farro, and my mom, Maureen Barnard, are hands down amazing. I was probably one of the few kids who grew up with homemade sauce on my spaghetti. (Until my mom realized that kids never knew the difference :-)). Italians are known for their love of rich, delicious food and good wine. Italians know the meaning of love in all sense of the word - they cook with love, finely shaping every noodle with handmade dough or spending hours over the stove cooking that sauce to perfection. Italians don't shortchange a meal, plain and simple. So, back to business....the food!   I went to this restaurant with my friend, Stacy, and oddly enough, she has lived in this area much longer than I, but has never been to Argia's either. To start off, our service was really great. Mike was our waiter - such a friendly guy, that Mike! We were greeted with a warm smile and a list of all the wonderful specials they were offering. I want to make a note that I always think a waiter/waitress is a great one when they can easily offer suggestions about what to order. Mike was on his a-game that night, offering suggestions of Antipasti, Entrees, and dessert. We started off with the Portobello Arrostito, an Oven roasted portobello with artichokes, spinach, sun-dried tomato pesto & goat cheese over arugula -- YUM! It was the perfect antipasti for a party of two. The portobello mushroom was cooked to perfection and the combination of the sun-dried tomato pesto and goat cheese was so mouth-watering and I savored every bite. For our entrees, I ordered the Fettuccini con Salsiccia, which was Fettuccini with hot Italian sausage, butternut squash, broccolini, oregano aglio e olio topped with ricotta salata. Again, another YUM! I want to highlight, though, that Argia's has a Gluten-Free Option for their pastas, which I think is pretty darn cool. You can substitute any pasta dish for their gluten-free spaghetti, which I did since I try to stay away from gluten and wheat as much as I can. My friend, Stacy, ordered the Lobster Ravioli. I cannot put into words how each bite of these dishes melted in our mouths. My pasta dish had a perfect blend of flavors, the tangy/sweet of the butternut squash combined with the Italian spicy sausage hit all of my favorites. The chef was more than accommodating in swapping out the regular pasta for the gluten-free pasta, which I might add was ABSOLUTELY delicious. It tasted better than regular pasta to me. Stacy's Lobster Ravioli was so fresh, decadent, and rich that we almost thought there was a secret ocean in Falls Church where they went to fetch the Lobster the moment she ordered it. Additionally, Argia's did NOT skimp on the lobster. They loaded that plate up with so much lobster, which is alone deserving of a 5-star rating. All in all, both meals had the perfect blend of ingredients to make each dish one that I can't wait to come back for.     Furthermore, I can't leave without discussing portion sizes. How many of us hate paying a ton of money for a delicious, but SMALL meal? Well, if you must know, it's one of my pet peeves. I hate overpaying for food. I don't care how good it is, if I'm not full by the time I leave, I'm not satisfied. I want to highlight that Argia's was the perfect-size for those ladies that are not afraid to truly EAT! :) It's not too small, but not too big... it's the perfect size dish. We were actually too stuffed for dessert.As I discuss all of this glorious food, I want to say that our waiter, Mike, was on top of things and had that perfect balance of friendliness and timeliness. It's always nice to have great service, from A-Z. Argia's gets a 5-star rating from me. Now, I'm not going to compare it to my grandma's or mom's Italian, because there's never a comparison when your Mom cooks, BUT I will say for all the Italian foodies out there, this place is a must! The perfect place for a date night or family style dinner!

My February Restaurant - Barcode! Washington, D.C (Farragut West) My first glance at Barcode, located on 17th and L in Washington DC, happened when I was in a cab heading to Dupont circle one night. We drove past it and it looked really cool. I came home that night to look it up and realized it was a fairly new place, and seemed to have the perfect blend of shabby/chic and a fun sports pub. What better way to try a new restaurant than with old friends of mine from Dickinson! A few of us headed out on a Wednesday night to have a casual dinner after a long day at work. Callie and I were the first to arrive and I have to admit, the decor took me by surprise. It was 6:00 pm and I felt like I walked into a club: music was pumping, people were sitting in chic white lounge chairs sipping a cocktail, and the intense combination of blue colors and mirrored walls gave this place a huge amount of flair. I also noticed that the crowd was well-diversified with all ages, which I prefer more than a place coated with recent college graduates who think it's still cool to get drunk on a Wednesday night.  Ok, on to the food - the menu was simple, yet plentiful. There were so many options but I felt like at the same time, I was going to have a good home-cooked meal. Their happy hours are really good - $4 glasses of wine and $3 beers, and I might add that the waiter was awesome by telling us that there were three minutes before happy hour ended and that he'd be able to get any last minute orders in at the special rate. Big bonus point right there. Callie and I started with the avocado dip with these little flatbreads. FYI - this was not guacamole, it had chunkier pieces of vegetables and was absolutely delicious.For our meals, three of us ordered the Barcode Burger on ciabatta bread. Now, I've never had a burger on Ciabatta bread before, but it was really tasty and cooked to perfection. Served with fries, this was a meal of comfort but felt like I was at a five-star restaurant given the service and decor. Callie ordered a Veggie Pannini and it came with a side salad. I think she was quite pleased with the meal. Overall, I give this restaurant a two thumbs up and A+ rating in my book. It's conveniently located near the Farragut West or North metro stops, has a great selection of food, and is an extremely classy and spunky place!