April 00 — One Italian barista, Sabatino, is caretaker of the Casa Italiana Italian Language School.
The espresso is sweet and creamy out of the dainty demitasse.
Orange is the color of choice.
Much of Sabatino’s time is spent not making the teas, the lattes, the espressos…
Take a walk into the ballroom cafeteria… a seat on “dirty mustard” hardback stackable chairs and round 8-top wood grain formica tables. The ornate room is half-hearted with cork panel ceilings, grotesque gold-tone-electronic chandelier. Original neoclassical canvasses surround the parquet floors. Florence landscapes, mirrored columns.
The Catholic magazines are fanned across the the top of the folding table.
Sabatino, the barista, serves Danesi Caffe in Heart-HAG demitasse cups. Danessi is imported from Italy, says Sabatino. The best, most authentic, pull of Roman espresso in the Metro DC area bar none (save possibly the Italian Embassy).
There is a commercial kitchen through the back of the corner bar — large gleaming vats for pasta… this is for real without pretence.
The espresso cost me a dollar. It was sweet. Delicious.
It is worth attending class here: learn some Italian, convert to Catholicism, or do what I do, take a class at the USDA grad school — a class in analog graphic design: what a perfect situation: sitting there with a T-square, a board, an X-acto, and round after round of doppio from Sabatino, who has a big toothy grin and a voice like Father Guido Sarducci.
Casa Italiana Cafe, Casa Italiana Italian Language School
– Chris Abraham
