Decadant Italian in Silver Spring

It's been quite a while since we went out for Italian. As part of our "be healthy" kick, pasta has pretty much been removed from our diet. We decided to make an exception on Friday night, since we were celebrating a nice tax return and bonus season. Lots of people had recommended Olazzo, so we headed over early in the evening.

We were pleasantly surprised to find a happy hour in the bar area, offering $4 beers and $6 martinis, plus a discount on bruschetta. You can't even go wrong with a nice happy hour. While we enjoyed our appetizer, we debated over what to select from the menu which offered tons of options that we were excited about. In addition to their standard menu, they offered us two seafood specials. We ended up with one of those, and a dish called cardinale - penne pasta, a tomato cream sauce, and sun dried tomatos, topped with grilled shrimp. Everything was amazing. Both entrees were flavorful, but not too heavy. The bread was served warm with delicious oil and vinegar, and the appetizer salads were prepared with a light dressing that perfectly accompanied our meal.

Both of us managed to save room for desert, so we ordered a chianti and a homemade brownie served with an esspresso gelati. It melted in our mouths, providing the perfect ending to our meal.

This is a must visit stop - we tried the Silver Spring location which has a good sized bar and a huge dining room. There is also one in Bethesda, which is apparently smaller and normally has a wait. Either way, it'll be delicious.