La Strada in Del Ray

My better half loves Italian. After a long afternoon of cleaning, we decided to head over to Del Ray to try some place new. I remembered there was a place called La Strada that makes their own pasta, breads and desserts, and luckily it was open. Right on Mount Vernon Avenue, it's a quaint neighborhood restaurant with an outdoor seating area. http://www.lastrada-ontheave.com/
La Strada has some nice touches, like their herb-infused olive oil to dip the soft focaccia bread from their bread basket into, and mood-appropriate Italian music playing unobtrusively in the background.

We started with their fritto misto of calamari, lemon and fennel. The coating was very light and crispy. The spicy tomato sauce had a lovely robust flavor. We also shared a insalate caprese with ripe tomatoes and sliced housemade mozzarella topped with basil chiffonade, olive oil and champagne vinegar. The special of the day was a rigatoni pasta with tuna and capers in a spicy tomato sauce. The meaty tuna paired surprisingly well with the sauce.

I love a good linguine con vongole in a white wine and saffron sauce, and the fresh pasta elevated this dish. The linguine pasta had a lovely tooth-feel that is missing from the dried variety.

La Strada makes their pastas and desserts in-house, and the cannoli were excellent. The sweet creamy ricotta mixture with a hint of vanilla was very light. It paired well with the raspberry puree and fresh fruit.