Garden Cafe – Italia – Inside the National Gallery of Art

Our few days of fun with Destination DC started with a little walk to see some of the sights.

Some of the main attractions included the Washington Monument & the Capitol.

But this trip is focused on food, right?

So inside the National Gallery of Art we headed towards our first eating experience.

We started off our eating adventure at the Garden Cafe inside the museum.

I was immediately surprised by this eating experience – the museum fine dining was a real treat.

The menu changes seasonally here based on what is being featured in the museum. A this time, there is a focus on Italian pieces in the Gallery so the menu was created to highlight an Italian culinary experience.  

Pretty fancy and a great idea if you ask me!

We opted for the featured buffet which at $19.75 per person is a great deal for the food you are treated too.    

The buffet included a selection of Italian breads, a watermelon salad with Pecorino Romano cheese and white balsamic dressing,

marinated castelvetrano olives, baked eggplant with tomato, Parmigiano & mozzarella,

long hollow pasta with pancetta and parmigiano along with chicken with rosemary, garlic & tomato sauce

along with gourmet Italian cured meats and cheese

some orange marmalade, fig jam & honey for good measure

and, finally Lattarolo – which is vanilla & honey custard to complete the meal.

I had a little bit of everything and it was absolutely fantastic. I loved every bite!

We were even treated to recipe cards for the dishes at the buffet – I can’t wait to recreate the baked eggplant at home!

After indulging ourselves in an incredible Italian lunch we headed upstairs to experience the only Da Vinci piece in North or South America.

Pretty cool to see in real life.

This painting was double sided which was also neat to see!

This is just the beginning of our culinary travels in DC! Stay tuned for more eating!