Thank you to everyone who came out for our inaugural cooking demonstration on Wednesday! Dorrie Gleason led us through three different types of frittatas, an egg sandwich and panettone with sour and sweet fruit sauce.
We had a wonderful (and tasty) time!
Our next cooking class will be this upcoming Wednesday, November 25th, from 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM, where we will be making Thanksgiving cakes and pies. See more on our Facebook, and come join us!
Ci Vediamo!
–Via Umbria
Thank you to everyone who came out for our inaugural cooking demonstration on Wednesday! Dorrie Gleason led us through three different types of frittatas, ...
We know you all are eager to see when we will be open, and as our website developers continue to work on our online Calendar so you can see events and purchase tickets on our website, we would like to use this space to temporarily let you know what is happening in the store.
Friday and Saturday, November 27th and 28th
Event: Porchetta at Via Umbria for a limited time
Where: Via Umbria Cafe
Cost: by weight!
Time: 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Saturday, November 28
Event: Holiday Cheese Plate Perfection
Get out of the house and enjoy an easy family activity together with something everyone loves: food.
Sail through the holidays with chEASE as you learn the secrets of the ultimate cheese plate.
Build the perfect cheese plate with wonderful Italian pairings from Via Umbria.
Come on your own and meet new friends, or get the whole family out of the house and doing a guided activity together – with delicious results.
We will prepare a curated board together with domesctic and imported cheese – learn about cheese in a relaxed and fun environment.
Where: Via Umbria Test Kitchen
Cost: $50 – tickets available on Eventbrite or by cash or credit before the class
Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
RSVP: Please RSVP to events@viaumbria.com or by calling 202.333.3904
Sunday, November 28
Event: Creative Crostini
Chef Jodie will lead our class on Sunday where your all your crostini dreams will come true. This will be an interactive class where chefs will eat their creations!
Where: Via Umbria Test Kitchen
Cost: $50 – tickets available on Eventbrite or by cash or credit before the class
Time: 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
RSVP: Please RSVP to events@viaumbria.com or by calling 202.333.3904
Wednesday, December 2
Event: Holiday Appetizers with Chef Dorrie Argentine
Learn how to master holiday appetizers in the Via Umbria test kitchen.
Chef Argentine will lead us through numerous Italian appetizers that will wow your guests this Holiday Season.
Meet new friends and learn classic techniques in this casual and fun environment. And come hungry – you will eat your creations!
This class is ages 12 and up.
Where: Via Umbria Test Kitchen
Cost: $85 – tickets available on Eventbrite or by cash or credit before the class
Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
RSVP: Please RSVP to events@viaumbria.com or by calling 202.333.3904
Friday, December 4
Event: Get the Greens: Vegetable Focused Cooking
As the holidays approach, ramp up the vegetables you are incorporating into your diet in easy and fun ways. We are vegetarian and vegan friendly!
Cooking with vegetables in the winter should never be a snore, and Chef Jodie Steiner will help you create a full meal where vegetables are the star.
Italians eat a vegetable-centric diet, and now we are sharing our favorite recipies with you! You will eat all of your creations.
Where: Via Umbria Test Kitchen
Cost: $60 – tickets available on Eventbrite or by cash or credit before the class
Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
RSVP: Please RSVP to events@viaumbria.com or by calling 202.333.3904
Saturday, December 5
Event: Five Ingredient Cooking Class
Where: Via Umbria Test Kitchen
Cost: $50 – tickets available on Eventbrite or by cash or credit before the class
Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
RSVP: Please RSVP to events@viaumbria.com or by calling 202.333.3904
We know you all are eager to see when we will be open, and as our website developers continue to work on ...
How is your week going? Here, things are moving fast – we are getting our Certificate of Occupancy and hope we pass our health inspection (fingers crossed!) over the weekend.
Meanwhile, here is what is happening in the Italian media:
There is a huge olive oil scandal in Italy right now — much imported oil that has been market as “extra virgin” is, in fact, no such thing. This is why you should buy from people you trust and know, aka us (and stick with the smaller producers).
Conde Nast Traveller interviews cashmere superstar Brunello Cucinelli on his home region of Umbria, with some beautiful photography thrown in for good measure.
We also like his view on lunch from two years ago in Bon Appetit (if only we all had a Villa to retire to for a nap after lunch!)
Stop being intimidated by wine, says Bon Appetit. Which is why at the new Via Umbria we promise no judgement, only delight and discovery, when shopping for wine.
This cat had a three day hangover after breaking and entering a wine cellar and lapping up some bottles. We can relate.
It is time for lentil soup. Get your lentils and cozy up.
And don’t forget our Book Club is next week! Grab your copy here.
Ci Vediamo!
—Via Umbria
How is your week going? Here, things are moving fast - we are getting our Certificate of Occupancy and hope we pass ...
Hello Italophiles! How are you easing into November? Is Daylight Savings Time causing a major bummer or letting your morning nature shine? Whether you read this curled up at night, or first thing to start your morning, this the Italian media this week that has caught our eye.
Darker days have you snuggling up with the TV? Here is the definitive guide on where and how to stream Italian movies.
“Olive Oil is Back” says the Los Angeles Times. After the blight last year, chefs are celebrating as they get access to some of the finest fresh pressed oils.
Now in the Via Umbria test kitchen: truffled deviled eggs (with EVOO, not mayo). We went there. Coming soon to #spritzoclock in Georgetown.
Sagrantino has been called “Rebellion in a Glass.” We like that idea. The Globe and Mail says that Umbria
…has an unusual red wine called Sagrantino, which coincidentally drifted into the Italian-wine cognoscenti’s radar space around the time Umbria started becoming cool. There’s something wonderfully rebellious about sagrantino, an aggressively tannic, astringent grape that seems like it’s flipping its middle finger at today’s ocean of smooth, mass-appeal reds.
Did you know that Simone and Ombretta are coming for our grand opening? We are making this pizza over the weekend to celebrate a little in advance.
Have a wonderful weekend!
— Via Umbria
Hello Italophiles! How are you easing into November? Is Daylight Savings Time causing a major bummer or letting your morning nature shine? Whether ...
DC’s Metropolitain Baking Company is joining forces with Via Umbria, supplying our Georgetown market as its first-ever retail partner. Metropolitain will provide daily deliveries of baguettes, rustic loaves, pastries, and a specialty Umbrian bread called torta al testo made exclusively for us from the traditional Umbrian recipe. Via Umbria will feature their products in the Café, for private event dinners, and available to purchase in our market.
Every piece of bread from our large three pound rustique loaf down to our tiniest rolls for bite-size sandwiches have been made with care by their team of bakers. Metropolitain’s production team is led by Arnaud Courad, a French artisan baker who has been working in the industry for more than 40 years.
The Via Umbria kitchen team has been working with Metropolitain to perfect the torta al testo so it is exactly as it is in Umbria. “The Torta tests came out spectacular and we are all euphoric, the fresh yeast was the perfect ingredient. Sandwiches made on this bread will transport you to Umbria,” said Chef Miller who spent the day at Metropolitain until they got their recipe just right.
Said Metropolitain owner, Michelle Couraud “We have been making and delivering authentic European style breads throughout the DC area for almost 14 years now. Usually we deliver our breads, sold anonymously. It’s an exciting step to be the specialty provider in a boutique such as Via Umbria where the bread is being heralded for its quality and taste.”
And you will want to come in for a taste, and grab a bottle of fresh olive oil, dip the crusty hunk inside and enjoy the flavors.
See you at the Cafe!
–Via Umbria
DC’s Metropolitain Baking Company is joining forces with Via Umbria, supplying our Georgetown market as its first-ever retail partner. Metropolitain will provide daily ...
The kitchen equipment has arrived…the tiles are in…we’re getting close and closer to finish.
We have our fingers crosses for opening min-November!
Ci Vediamo!
– Via Umbria
The kitchen equipment has arrived...the tiles are in...we're getting close and closer to finish. ...
Happy All Saint’s day! How are you celebrating Halloween this year? Georgetown should be shutting down soon for the revelers that will flood the streets tomorrow. Our neighborhood is so cute this time of year – the fall leaves mixed with the red cobblestone sidewalks are classic and lovely. Enjoy your Halloween!
The New York Times tells us what we have known all along: it’s just not the Mediterranean Diet – it’s the Mediterranean Lifestyle. Who wants to come on a tour with us to remember how to eat well, live well, and live long?
Gianduiotto, the hazelnut chocolate candy delight, turns 150. The surprising history of this delicious candy is worth reading over — with one in your mouth.
Food 52 tells us how to make coffee the Italian way. We can’t wait until we can bring this coffee to you here in Georgetown!
After resigning over complications surrounding making the city of Rome less in control of the mob, the Roman mayor un-resigns. And you thought American politics were bad.
How to find truffles from the New York Times, featuring a hunt in Umbria!
It’s the season for Umbria faro and lentil soup. So warm up a bowl of these ancient grains and enjoy your hearty dinner.
Ci Vediamo!
–Via Umbria
Happy All Saint's day! How are you celebrating Halloween this year? Georgetown should be shutting down soon for the revelers that will ...
Via Umbria owners, Bill and Suzy Menard are thrilled to announce the latest addition to their culinary team, Rissa Miller, who will help create menus and bring her Italian food expertise to the new kitchen at Via Umbria.
Rissa Miller said of joining the new Via Umbria food team, “I am proud to be a part of a project that has the essence of Italy in mind at every turn, and to be working with the combined talents and passion of Jodie Steiner and Vickie Reh. We are planning classic items in the cafe that will make those who know Italy feel nostalgic, and customers who’ve never been to Italy be assured this is the next best thing.”
Chef Miller grew up on Vancouver Island in Canada, and has worked in kitchens since she was 14. Not only has she worked as an executive chef who studied cuisine and pastry at some of France’s most respected schools and kitchens, she is also an artist, with exhibitions of her paintings and ceramics in several galleries in Florence, Italy.
“I’d like to bring the three most beautiful aspects of Italian gastronomy to Via Umbria—simplicity, quality, and conviviality,” she said. “For me food is best when ingredients are unprocessed, fresh, prepared and eaten with family and friends, this is the essence of good eating.”
Growing up, Miller’s mom cooked 7 nights a week at home from scratch and food was respected, never wasted, and most of all it marked a moment every evening when everyone came together to communicate. This original relationship with cooking still remains at her core love for food, and will be at the heart of the atmosphere of Via Umbria.
Miller has spent a lot of time in Italy, and adores the Mediterranean food culture and way of life. She became certified in Neopolitan Pizza making, and worked in renowned restaurants throughout Italy. Her knowledge of Italian foods and technique are strong, but with this creative cooking team, customers can also expect some interesting twists on Italian favorites.
Interested in following the menus and events at the new Via Umbria opening this fall? Send an email to feedme@viaumbria.com and we will send you menus and updates.
Ci Vediamo!
–Via Umbria
Via Umbria owners, Bill and Suzy Menard are thrilled to announce the latest addition to their culinary team, Rissa Miller, who will ...
We are in the home stretch here at Via Umbria, and things are finally shaping up to a recognizable form.
Our wine room is installed, the coolers have arrived, and the apartment upstairs is coming together.
All the latest from Via Umbria below.
The kitchen equipment arrives today, and we will be installing away!
Ci Vediamo!
–Via Umbria
We are in the home stretch here at Via Umbria, and things are finally shaping up to a recognizable form. Our wine room ...
You might think that a grain is a grain is a grain. You would be wrong.
It is difficult to define what makes something a uniquely Italian experience. It is so much more than any one thing – maybe it comes down to the bounty and place, where people care about and protect the land and create a culinary history that is deep and wide.
Out of that history are ancient Italian grains: the black chick peas, farro, millet, new grain flours and they are generations old and unique in flavor. Quite simply, there is nothing like them. Whether used to create a simple pasta, or mixed with vegetables of the season, these grains carry a story that you will remember long after you have taken your last bite.
These ancient grains will be sold in Via Umbria, re-opening this fall in new form with a full market, prepared food, and a demonstration kitchen.
Part of our past Food and Wine tour this October included lunch made right on the Il Molino farm, where guests savored pastas made from the farm’s farro and senatore cappelli grains, both ancient grains that have been rediscovered and popularized (for a reason) of late. Both pastas served were full of a distinct and cut above in flavor, mouthfeel and satisfaction.
After lunch guests toured the mill and watched the ancient grains be milled into fine or coarser flour and an exposition of beans and legumes, most of them tracing their roots (literally) to ancient forebears and unique to small, particular areas in Italy.
And Via Umbria is bringing it all to you so you can cook it for the people you love. You will also find them used in the prepared foods you can purchase at Via Umbria to bring home and serve the people you love.
Interested in the daily means and special dinners? Send an email to events@viaumbria.com and we will send you menus and updates this fall.
Ci Vediamo!
—Via Umbria
You might think that a grain is a grain is a grain. You would be wrong. It is difficult to define what makes ...
What a week! With our new sign, announcement of a new chef, and a food and wine tour, things are in full swing at Via Umbria.
Here’s what’s happening in the Italian media around the web!
The artist Christo is installing art that lets you walk on water on Lake Iseo in Italy. His project “The Floating Piers” will let you walk on floating golden cubes over the lake, and it scheduled to be ready in June.
The Italian post office goes private, the largest of a string of privatizations Matteo Renzi is planning to convince foreign investors that Italy is on the road to recovery.
You know what they say, fashion is a cycle. So Facist architecture is chic again? The fashion house Fendi sets up shop in an old Roman Facist government building.
Did you see our lunch at Il Molino? The Food and Wine tour is wrapping up tomorrow, but we have more photos for you, coming soon!
And Italian liquor, Cynar, goes high-proof with a new digestif that ups the ante to 70 proof. Just in time for the week-end!
Cheers!
–Via Umbria
What a week! With our new sign, announcement of a new chef, and a food and wine tour, things are in full ...
