home plate ■ by David Hagedorn
Lao Factor Chef Seng Luangrath, a leader of the Lao food movement, has moved her blockbuster Lao restaurant Padaek from its original Falls Church location to the former Delia’s restaurant space in Arlington Ridge, preserving its menu and adding regional Thai and Burmese dishes. (The previous location is now home to a fast-casual version of Padaek called Met Khao). That’s all good news, but the best news of all is that my favorite dish, naem khao thadaeu—crispy coconut rice salad with peanuts, lime juice, cilantro, scallions and chilies served with green lettuce wraps—is available at both places. padaekdc.com
COURTESY OF A MODO MIO (PIZZA, 3 MEN); ANDREW NOH / NOH LEFTOVERS (LETTUCE WRAPS)
Prize Pies
Margherita pizza at A Modo Mio
One taste of the Margherita pizza at A Modo Mio, with its puffy, charred crust, wisps of fresh basil and soupy center of buffalo mozzarella cheese and San Marzano tomato sauce, and it’s easy to understand why the Arlington pizzeria was named one of 2023’s 50 best in the U.S. by 50 Top Pizza, an Italian guide that annually ranks the world’s best pies. A Modo Mio, which means “in my fashion,” opened in October 2020 as a rebranding of Joe’s Place Pizza and Pasta, an Italian restaurant known Rosario and Joe Farruggio with chef Antonio Biglietto
for its pasta and salad buffet that had operated in the same space on Langston Boulevard since 1985. The pandemic necessitated a pivot away from the buffet model, so the owners— McLean resident Rosario Farruggio and his brother, Vincenzo—decided to emulate Il Canale, the full-service restaurant their uncle, Joe Farruggio, opened in Georgetown in 2010. They acquired a liquor license, added a bar to the space (which seats 130 inside and 24 outside) and welcomed Falls Church resident Antonio Biglietto, who served as Il Canale’s chef and pizzaiolo from 2010 to 2014, as a partner. Biglietto imported a pizza oven from Italy and had his pies certified as Vera Pizza Napoletana, an Italian designation of authenticity awarded to pizzerias adhering to strict Neapolitan tradition. To achieve VPN certification, pizzas must be cooked in 90 seconds or less in an 800- to 900-degree oven using only certain types of (mostly) Italian ingredients. Biglietto’s devotion to quality extends to the entire menu. Try
R ORDE THIS
now
the creamy “violet” burrata ($15) on a bed of thinly sliced beets; bucatini croquettes ($11) stuffed with Bolognese sauce, peas and mozzarella; and the ethereal gnocchi ($19), tossed in a silken tomato sauce laced with mozzarella, Parmesan and fresh basil. Twenty red and white pizzas are offered in personal ($11 to $20) or family ($21 to $34) sizes. amodomiopizza.com
ArlingtonMagazine.com ■ November/December 2023
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