Pre-Opening Buzz

Elisir Opening Wednesday in Penn Quarter
Enzo Fargione’s modern Italian, Elisir, opening Wednesday in the Penn Quarter, will offer three-course $19 bar lunches (includes dessert and a nonalcoholic drink), while at dinner time, the chef will go all-out with the likes of a giant agnolotto filled with a runny egg yolk, and veal and sweetbreads with rosemary air; the ultrasuave surroundings are done up with cloud-soft leather seats, warm wood and tile, and diners can watch Fargione at work from seats fronting the open showcase kitchen or on HD monitors and peruse the wine list on Android tablets. Read More

Inside Enzo Fargione’s Elisir, Opening on Nov. 30
One of the fall’s most hotly anticipated openings, Elisir is finally putting on the finishing touches and gearing up for next week, when doors finally swing open to the general public. The restaurant is the first from former Teatro Goldoni chef Enzo Fargione and is perhaps so hotly anticipated because of the reputation Fargione earned from his days at the K Street Italian restaurant. Elisir aims to be at once modern, warm, refined and also fit in the highly elusive category of “affordable destination restaurant.” Read More

Where I’ll Eat: Elisir & More
The Italian restaurant comes to us from Chef Enzo Fargione, previously the chef at K Street’s Teatro Goldoni. You can head there for lunch this Thursday, or wait until December 3rd if you prefer dinner. The tasting plates sound amazing…hello tempura deep-fried sage leaves. If you like the “behind the scenes” theme you’ll enjoy the monitors in the dining room that broadcast the plating area to guests. Best Bites has a nice slideshow that will make your mouth water. Read More

Italian Fine Dining Gets Hands-On At Chef Enzo Fargione’s Elisir Restaurant!
Turkeys might have a brief reprieve after this weekend, but D.C.’s foodies will dig into another feast come next week courtesy of the grand opening of Chef Enzo Fargione’s Elisir Restaurant, for lunch on Thursday, December 1st.

Dinner service for the District’s newest purveyor of modern Italian fine dining will begin Saturday, December 3rd (but lunch will not be served that day), before the restaurant fully opens to the public for both lunch and dinner on Monday, December 5th. Read More

An Early Look at Elisir
“You will feel like you’re sitting in a glass of champagne,” says Justin Kraemer, general manager of the soon-to-open Elisir.

Kraemer is describing the sparkling wine–hued wall fixture opposite chef-owner Enzo Fargione’s large open kitchen. But he could be discussing the intended overall experience at the 87-seat Italian restaurant, opening to the public for lunch December 1 and for dinner December 3. The walls—some of which are made from glass-enclosed wine racks reminiscent of those at neighboring Central—aren’t the only things giving off a refined vibe. Read More

Elisir: Italian food…from the future!
DC knows that it’s all in the interpretation, like Scalia’s strict one of the Constitution, or Bader Ginsburg’s loose one of the Court dress code, as that skimpy jabot leaves almost no neck to the imagination — rawr! Now bringing The District his “acclaimed interpretation of modern Italian cooking”: Enzo Fargione’s Elisir. From the guy Esquire named “One of the best four chefs to watch in the USA” right before convincing you that Javier Bardem is indeed handsome, Elisir pairs Fargione’s gastronomical modernity with tech-y features like hand-held card payment systems, and cameras broadcasting a live kitchen feed to five LCD monitors and…the internet! Read More

Fargione’s Elisir to open for lunch on Dec. 1
As promised earlier, Elisir will offer diners two different tasting menus (and some a la carte items) at dinner, which will officially begin on Saturday, Dec. 3. One is a seven-course option for $75, the other a 10-course meal for $95. (You can begin to book reservations tomorrow, either by phone or via OpenTable.)

What can you expect to see on Fargione’s tasting menus? The chef highlighted a few dishes: a chestnut soup spiked with house-made quail sausage, capon liver caviar, buffalo ricotta flan and pickled plum-tomato jam; poached duck eggs served with a port-wine reduction, dehydrated pork cheeks, shaved winter black truffles and tempura deep-fried sage leaves stuffed with Taleggio cheese; fagotti stuffed with a truffle-flavored liquid that’s released when you bite into the little saffron-pasta bundles. Read More

Gadgetry & Gastronomy
It only took one week after departing from Teatro Goldoni last year for chef Enzo Fargione to line up investors for a restaurant of his own. His new Penn Quarter place, Elisir, is set to open as soon as next week, and this time, he’s going high tech. Read More

Fine Dining with Gadgets and Cigar Boxes
Lest you start feeling bad about yourself, we’ve got a way forward. And it’s called Elisir, brought to you by Teatro Goldoni’s former chef and taking reservations now for a November 21 opening.

Here, you’ll find all the chef’s tables, leather seating and wine racks you’ve come to expect from your big-date spots. But you’ll also find a little cutting-edge spirit. Like a wine list that comes on an Android tablet, a tableside wi-fi bill-paying system—oh, and five HD monitors throughout the restaurant that broadcast what the chefs are up to (hopefully plating your food, not playing poker). Read More

Fine Dining with Gadgets and Cigar Boxes
Enzo Fargione, chef/owner of Penn quarter’s new Elisir Restaurant Tiffany MacIssac, Executive pastry Chef, Buzz Bakery and Neighborhood Restaurant Group properties Exec Chef Silvan Kramer/Exec Sous Chef David Fritsche, The Dupont Grille Bar Chef Alex Strange from Shab Row in Frederick, MD Read More

Elisir: High-Tech Italian From Enzo Fargione
The Buzz got an advance peek at Elisir, a Penn Quarter modern Italian coming from chef-restaurateur Enzo Fargione (ex Teatro Goldoni) in early November. An open kitchen, as well as monitors with a live feed, will showcase the chef’s edible artistry, available as part of multicourse tastings (seven courses for $75 or 10 for $95), à la carte dinners and $20 bistro lunches. The sophisticated dining room will feature leather and custom metal, as well as glass-fronted wine cabinets, while techy types will dig the Android tablet wine list and a handheld bill payer that means credit cards never leave the table. Read More

Enzo Fargione’s Elisir Looks to Open in November
Enzo Fargione hasn’t even opened Elisir, and he’s already dropped the prices at his debut restaurant.

The modern Italian operation on 11th Street NW, which the chef is hoping to open in early November, had originally planned to offer two tasting menus: an eight-course one for around $85 and a 12-course indulgence for about $115. But during an interview yesterday at his still-under-construction restaurant, Fargione indicated that he plans to pare down the menus to make sure their price tags are both under a C-note. Read More

Opening Soon: 5 Restaurants I’m Anxiously Awaiting
The fine dining, Italian restaurant brought to us by Enzo Fargione will join the culinary heaven that is Penn Quarter. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Chef Fargione was previously the chef at K Street’s Teatro Goldoni. Publicist Janet Donovan tells me that the restaurant will open sometime in the Fall — so I’m crossing my fingers for late September/early October. Elisir’s Facebook page is getting more and more active, which is always a good sign. You can check it out for construction and menu updates. Read More

DC Modern Luxury Magazine: The Hot Seat
Why come? Teatro Goldoni was a great jump start for me. This bridges classic cuisine with revolutionary cuisine. It’s a tasting menu only at dinner—eight or 12 courses. Give us an example. Smoked goose liver with balsamic vinegar gelato; ricotta cavatelli pasta with smoked lobster and white truffles. Will we see you? There’s a semi-open kitchen with an observation deck and HD cameras feeding monitors in the restaurant.  View PDF

Multicourse menus get multiple new homes in D.C.
D.C. chefs R.J. Cooper and Enzo Fargione may have left their restaurants earlier this year, taking their increasingly popular multicourse menus with them. But it appears you can’t keep assorted-tasting options from the dining public for long.  Read More

Opening Soon: Elisir Restaurant
Chef Enzo Fargione’s restaurant company Cucina Moderna LLC has signed a Letter of Intent for a restaurant space located at 427 11th Street in the building at 1001 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in the East End of Washington, D.C.  Read More

Enzo Fargione finally signs a lease for ELISIR
Former Teatro Goldoni chef Enzo Fargione originally announced his ELISIR project in August, saying he had signed a letter of intent to open his own restaurant in the same downtown building as Central Michel Richard and Ten Penh. Four months later, Fargione has finally signed his lease.  Read More

Breaking News: Chef Enzo Fargione announces new restaurant, ELISIR
Washingtonians have been waiting to hear the next steps of Chef Enzo Fargione, formerly of Teatro Goldoni, ever since it was announced on March 11, 2010 that the restaurant and Fargione parted ways. Most would agree that Fargione took Teatro to a new level, including its well-deserved 2010 Rammy nomination for the coveted Power Spot of the Year  Read More

11 Spots To Watch In 2011
Chef Enzo Fargione, who gained a great reputation with his elegant Italian cooking at Teatro Goldoni, plans to open this upscale modern Italian restaurant featuring nightly tasting menus and a more casual bistro lunch. The space will hold 90 seats in the dining room, 20-25 in the bar and another 20 in a private room.  Read More

ELISIR to open in June
Chef Enzo Fargione, who was previously the chef at Teatro Goldoni, is opening a new restaurant on 11th street called ELISIR. The restaurant is on 11th Street at Pennsylvania, but in the same building as Central and Ten Penh.  Read More

Elle Magazine Feb 2011
Hot plate this Spring, former Teatro Goldoni chef Enzo Fargione goes solo to open Elisir, a power-lunch-appropriate Italian bistro (including a glass-fronted wine cellar) in Washington, DC’s Penn Quarter.  View PDF

Elisir Space Sees Little Progress
We wish we had more to report on Elisir, which is supposed to open in June. The Enzo Fargione restaurant is set to be at 11th and Pennsylvania Avenue, around the corner from Central. Progress looks minimal, however. To be fair, there is a lot of work to be done…  Read More

Former Teatro Chef Enzo Fargione to Launch His Own Downtown Restaurant
Not long after he was unceremoniously ousted from Teatro Goldoni earlier this year, Enzo Fargione vowed to open his own place, where he would focus almost exclusively on his multi-course tasting menu that had made Teatro a destination for many gastronomes.  Read More

The Wrap-Up: The Week in Food
Another big-name chef, Enzo Fargione, also announced he has a spot for a tasting-menu-dominated project. Fargione, who briefly dazzled diners at Teatro Goldoni in downtown DC before leaving abruptly, is planning to open Elisir at 11th and Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest, in the same building as Central and TenPenh. He’ll have an eight-course (about $75) and a 12-to-14-course (about $100) menu, as well as some à la carte items.   Read More

Other Hot Upcoming Spots
Enzo Fargione garnered major foodie buzz during his former gig at Teatro Goldoni, and he’s hoping to re-create the excitement at his upcoming Italian, Elisir, which will feature tasting menus and a chef’s table, plus a bargain bar menu and à la carte options (427 11th St. NW).  Read More

Other Hot Upcoming Spots
Chef Enzo Fargione has been busy since the culinary talent parted ways with Teatro Goldoni, and the popular fashion glossy Elle Magazine has taken notice. In the March issue, the mag makes mention of Fargione’s plans to open his own “power-lunch-appropriate Italian bistro,” ELISIR in the District’s Penn Quarter.  Read More