Facci
Last night I paid visit to one of my favorite neighborhood eateries – Facci. Located at 7530 Montpelier Road in Laurel, Md., this Italian ristorante must be doing something right. Every night, guests flock here for the wood-fired pizzas, inventive pasta dishes, and other Italian specialties, like veal Parmigiana and cioppino. In keeping up with the high customer demand, Facci recently expanded its once-modest dining room and bar into an extravagant 250-seat food-lovers’ paradise. Tranquil color themes of olive green, black and silver harmonize the atmosphere of a bustling open kitchen and the loud chatter of guests and clamor of tableware; for a buzzing dining room and a busy kitchen can only bring a smile to a restaurateur’s face.
The enormous u-shaped bar takes center stage at the restaurant, surrounded by the main dining room tables, and not to mention mobs of hungry patrons. As if the size of the bar itself is not impressive enough, the electronic, self-serve wine tasting station located in front of the bar against a wine cork-studded wall will really have you awestruck. A small flat-screen television provides instructions for tasters to insert their credit cards and place their wine glasses underneath the spigot of their wine of choice. The wine is then electronically syphoned from the bottle, which is on display behind illuminated glass, into the wine glass. Pure brilliance!
Well, now that I have painted a brief picture of the interior of the restaurant, I can move on to my dining experience. My party of four was seated adjacent to the posh wine-tasting station, on the other side of the cork wall, in a cozy booth. Little did we know that we would be in for a real treat when our server, whose name will remain anonymous, arrived at our table. In addition to serving us a timely meal, this very handsome young man charmed us all evening with his wit and animated sense of humor. Our server was so pleasurably unexpected, that we have vowed to request him when we return. Facci, like any restaurant, is only as good as its food, and its food is only as good as its service – good thing Facci has trained its staff well to complement its excellent cuisine.
The menu at Facci is quite extensive, and very reasonably priced, featuring a variety of antipasti (starters), zuppe (soup), salads, pizzas, pastas, seafood, and meat entrees. For our antipasto, our table shared the mussels fra diavola – a generous portion of fresh PEI mussels drowned in a sea of spicy marinara, with garlic-infused crostini on the side to sop up the sauce ($12). I have indulged in this appetizer many times before, but last night, a surmised heavy hand on the crushed red pepper flakes made the sauce unbearably spicy. Our server explained that the same portion of spice is added to each dish, but the longer that spice stews in the sauce, the more potent it becomes – a very plausible explanation.
Shortly after our antipasto plates were cleared from our table, our server brought our Mediterranean salads. Between the four of us, we split two salads, each for the price of $8. The split portion was a perfect size, as one salad for each person would have been too much. I love a good Greek salad, and at Facci, the chefs put a unique spin on their Mediterranean version by adding roasted pistachios to the classic medley of iceberg, romaine, feta, tomatoes, kalamatas, pepperoncini, red onions, and cucumbers, tossed in a light red wine vinaigrette. I think I might just have to jazz up my Mediterranean salads with pistachios from now on. The nuts add such an unusual, robustness to that specific combination of ingredients. Having not even finished our salads yet, we felt slightly rushed when our main entrees arrived prematurely. Nonetheless, we eventually finished our salads, and moved right along to our pastas.
Each one of us order a pasta entree, which was rather unusual, as at least one always orders a pizza for a meal. I enjoyed a delicious new addition to the menu, the penne Belvedere – whole wheat penne with artichoke hearts, gaeta black olives, wood-fired peppers and mushrooms in a flavorful marinara ($16). My dining companions equally enjoyed their dishes as well: sacchetti cheese pears, which are pasta purses filled with pears and gorgonzola in a demi-glaze brandy cream sauce ($14); angel hair Sophia Loren, which is angel hair tossed with baby spinach, mushrooms, wood-fired peppers, goat cheese and walnuts in a tomato ragu ($14); and ravioli verde, which are house-made ravioli stuffed with mozzarella, smoked mozzarella and Parmigiano in a creamy pesto ($14). Needless to say, no one was in need of a doggy bag at the end of the meal, and there was still room for a canoli to share and coffee.
Italian food practically runs in my blood, so when I come across fine Italian fare, I never hesitate to share. (No rhyme intended). If you ever happen to be in Laurel one afternoon or evening, stop into Facci and tell me what you think of their take on Italian. I can promise an inexpensive, quality meal with warm, reliable service. If you don’t have time to dine in, Facci now features carry out so you can enjoy their culinary creations at home too.