Mark your calendar now for 2025 New Year Eve’s reservations at

 

Thompson Italian in Falls Church/Thompson Italian website

Thompson Italian in Falls Church (or Alexandria) before they sell out again! 

A six-course feast with different wines from Italy at every course. And fresh glasses to boot with every wine!

A memorable evening (for an understatement) and worth every dollar! ($198 or $260 with tax and tip).

Beginning with the first course...

That would be Steak Tartare Crostini served with Alta Langa sparkling white from the Mirafiori winery in Italy's Piedmont region. Both wine and steak, delicious/By Patricia Leslie

 

The second course was blackened tuna carpaccio, served with Roero Arneis, a dry white, and Tenuta Carretta Cayega, aged in stainless steel tanks, and Tenuta Carretta, aged in barrels, all from the Piedmont. The aged-barrel wine was a little heavy, especially in competition with the Roero Arneis and the tuna and salsa verde/By Patricia Leslie

 

Next up was yummy burrata with pomodoro sauce, basil and toasted focaccia (pictured below) accompanied by Broccardo's Barbera and Nebbiolo also from Italy's Piedmont region.  By this point, we were getting pretty full, but (it was a "miracle") kept going/By Patricia Leslie

The toasted focaccia/By Patricia Leslie

This was heavy and I could not eat all of potato-taleggio agnolotti, truffle butter and parmesan, the fourth course served with Pakravan-Papi's cabernet from Tuscany/By Patricia Leslie

The fifth course was osso bucco (veal shanks with saffron risotto and gremolata) which came with wine from Tuscany's Casanova di Neri's Brunnello di Montalcino. The wait staff offered me a "to go" box since I had no room left for even half of it/By Patricia Leslie

This was the last course, a cranberry-hazelnut tart with brown butter, apple cider caramel and orange gelato served with a sparkling Tenuta Carretta's Nebbiolo, classico metoda from the Piedmont region. Even this (!), I was unable to finish, alas/By Patricia Leslie

 I can't wait for next year!/By Patricia Leslie

For the third year in a row, my pal Cashmere (?) and I had a heckuva good time eating at Thompson's NYE, practically none of the wines (or courses) we were able to finish, unlike our first year of celebration when we drank every last drop (until close to the end when we had no more room). 

I honestly can't remember driving home that year, but Cash reminded me I slept in the car for a while in a parking lot. (Perhaps awakened by the low temperatures.)  Since then, it's been riding a good old, reliable bus.

 And now we pace ourselves and don’t consume every last drop and feel better the next day, too! 

It's a delicious, delightful, dazzling tradition! 

YOLO!

Patricialesli@gmail.com