Food Club & Special Offers
For more information about the i Ricchi Food Club please click here.
- Food Club: January 12-17
La Festa di Sant’Antonio: Coming Together
Cercina is not a little town or even a village – it is merely a cluster of simple country houses and farms, two trattorias, a tiny grocery store and an 11th century Romanesque church. The main event every year that draws hordes of Florentines to make the trek to this idyllic countryside enclave is La Festa di Sant’Antonio d’Abate, the Feast of Saint Anthony, protector of farm animals.
Every other year, the parade starts at Trattoria i Ricchi, led by a marching band and locals on horseback to the church square where the animals are blessed. La Festa di Sant’Antonio brings everyone together for three days of card games, communal lunches and the local favorite, Il Tiro della Forma / Throwing of the Form. Our menu this week, is a tribute to those memories starting off with Fettunta coi Fagioli. (That, together with aglass of Chianti, is one of the finer things in life!)
- Food Club: January 5-10
La Befana: Italy’s Own Christmas Story
The story of La Befana has been an Italian classic since the thirteenth century. It is a story of a lonely old woman and her endless search for the Christ Child. For Italians, La Festa della Epifania, The Epiphany, is as significant a holiday as Christmas Day, especially for Italian children. The legend continues that on the night of January 5th, Old Befana flies on her broomstick and goes down chimneys to deliver candy (dolcetti) or lumps of coal (carbone) to deserving children.
January 6th is a national holiday and marks the end of the traditional Christmas season. It commemorates the 12th Day of Christmas when the Three Wise Men arrived at the manger bearing gifts for Baby Jesus. The traditional foods of L’Epifania represent, in some instances, regional specialties, but are, by in large the same as the preceding Christmas holidays. Our menu is a whimsical culinary nod to Italy’s most beloved witch.
- Food Club: December 29, 30 & January 1
In the two weeks between December 24 (Feast of the Seven Fishes) and January 6 (Epiphany), Italians find themselves at the holiday table six times for six different celebrations! There are various traditions and specialty ingredients featured depending on the region, but food is always the main event.
Second only to the Christmas feast, il Cenone di Capodanno or New Year’s Eve “Big Dinner” is the most important gathering of friends and family filled with traditions and superstitions that enrich the holiday, marking the beginning of the new year. In Italy, a traditional New Year’s Eve meal is all about symbolizing abundance, wealth and good luck. There are specific foods that no Italian would fail to eat or behaviors they would fail to exhibit to bring in the New Year.
This week’s menu will highlight ingredients you must eat to insure a prosperous and healthy new year. Lentils, pork, grapes and raisins are all included in this country style Tuscan dinner.
- New Year’s Eve Dinner: December 31
The feast of Saint Sylvester is traditionally celebrated on New Year’s Eve night when Italians believe they should eat lentils as a symbol of wealth and pork as a symbol of life’s fullness.
*Includes NYE party hats & noise makers
Antipasto
Carpaccio di Salmone al’Anice
Homemade anise cured salmon, tarragon aioli garnished with green bean, potato, olive saladPrimo Piatto
Tortellini alla Panna
Nonna Irma’s homemade three meat tortellini with a parmesan cream sauceSecondo Piatto
Mare e Monti sulle Lenticchie
Tuscan ‘Surf + Turf” – beef tenderloin with green peppercorns and jumbo shrimp on a bed of New Year’s lentils.Dolce
Crostata di Panettone
Panettone pudding tart with bitter orange, chocolate and Chantilly cream$89
- Food Club: December 22, 23 & 26
Bag pipes? Bag pipes in Italy! I quickly learned that no Italian Christmas would be complete without the sound of bagpipes. Everywhere from the piazzas of Rome to remote hillside villages, Zampognari (pipers) continue the tradition of festive bagpipe playing that dates back to ancient Rome.
Christmas in both Abruzzo and Lazio remains a holiday deeply rooted in ancient traditions where true values are passed down through the stories of the elderly from generation to generation. This week’s menu stars many ingredients popular in these regions and found on their holiday menus.
- Tuscan Christmas Dinner
. Join us for a very special Christmas dinner with your family and inner circle outside on the Piazza in a winter wonderland of glistening lights. Heaters, blankets and seat warmers available for your comfort.
Menu
Wild mushroom crostini
–
Choice of:
Handmade 3-meat tortellini with veal reduction and parmesan or
Ricotta and swiss chard filled tortelloni with sage butter
–
Choice of:
Arista: fennel pollen & juniper berry-crusted roasted pork loin with apples and dried plums or
Pan roasted almond-crusted halibut
–
Roasted rosemary olive oil potatoes
–
Creamy Brussel sprouts with chestnuts & pancetta
–
Florentine focaccia bread
–
White chocolate profiterole with coconut shavings & pomegranatePlease call 202-835-0459 for Reservations.
Serving 4:00pm – 8:00pm.
$89 - A Curbside Tuscan Christmas Dinner: December 25
“Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi.”
Old Tuscan proverb: Christmas with your family, Easter with whomever!
The Italians would never dream of not being home for Christmas, but this year is different. We must not travel and many will be home alone. So why not set the table, light a candle, open a bottle and order Christmas Day dinner from i Ricchi.Menu
Wild mushroom crostini
–
Choice of:
Handmade 3-meat tortellini with veal reduction and parmesan or
Ricotta and swiss chard filled tortelloni with sage butter
–
Choice of:
Arista: fennel pollen & juniper berry-crusted roasted pork loin with apples and dried plums or Pan roasted almond-crusted halibut
–
Roasted rosemary olive oil potatoes
–
Creamy Brussel sprouts with chestnuts & pancetta
–
Florentine focaccia bread
–
White chocolate profiterole with coconut shavings & pomegranateChristmas Day Curbside Pick-Up 1:00pm – 4:00pm
$79 - Food Club: December 15-19
Christmas in Naples: Food and the Art of the Presepio
The Italian religious custom of displaying the nativity scene of Baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in a manger is something to behold. You would be hard pressed to find a home without one at this time of year, especially in Naples. They can range in size from a small tabletop to replicas of entire cities taking up enormous tabletops and even whole rooms. The Presepe is not simply a tradition in Naples, it has developed into an art form.
Food in Naples also is rooted in a long history of outside influences of foreign invaders and poverty. Historical Neapolitan cuisine had been divided into two different categories: one for the rich and nobles, and another for the poor people and this week we try some of both.
- December 24: Feast of the Seven Fishes
Back by popular demand, the FEAST OF THE SEVEN FISHES, an Italian American Christmas Eve extravaganza, has become an annual tradition at Ristorante i Ricchi. Take time out of your holiday schedule and let us do the cooking for you. Enjoy seven courses of delicious Italian specialties available for dine-in or take-out.
MAKE IT YOUR NEW FAMILY TRADITION!
Thursday 12/24, 2020 – 5:00 – 9:00 pm
Make reservations by phone at (202) 835-0459Crostini di Trota Affumicata
Smoked river trout pâté crostiniRicchi e Poveri
Pan seared prawns, cannellini beansPolpette di Granchio e Prosciutto Croccante
Tuscan crab fritters, crispy prosciuttoRisotto d’ Aragosta
Lobster risottoTaglierini Freschi alle Vongole
Fresh hand-cut pasta, manila clams, squash & Calabrian chiliesCacciucco alla Livornese
Tuscan fish stew – assortment of 7 fishes, tomato broth & garlic croutonsCrostata di Panettone
Panettone pudding tart$110 (exclusive tax & tip)
- Food Club: December 8-12
Ask any Italian when they usually open their gifts and you can probably tell where they are from. Italians celebrate lots of great unique Christmas traditions. Customs vary from city to city, from exactly what dishes are served to when to open presents. It is a great time to be a kid in Italy!
December 13th marks the “Festa di Santa Lucia” – St. Lucy’s Day. Historically, it was to her (and not Santa) that children wrote letters requesting gifts and sweets which she delivered with the help of her donkey on the eve of her feast day.
This week we feature a typical menu from Sicily, Santa Lucia’s birthplace. An “omaggio” to this colorful and beloved Saint kicks off the Christmas season in Italy.
- Food Club: December 1-5
“Fast,” “Convenient,” “Save time,” all have become the mantras of modern life. “Time is money,” has become the foundation of how we live our lives today, both here in the US and Italy. Many of the time-honored traditions of Italian regional cuisine are being lost and replaced by more time efficient and less expensive methods.
The “Slow Food” Movement was created to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, counteract the rise of fast life, and combat people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat. It goes without saying that Italy has a rich food culture and is an extraordinary expression of local traditions.
We like to think that what we have done here at the Food Club is based on the “Slow Food” tradition. This week’s menu is an example of regional dishes from North, Central and Southern Italy.