Assaggi Osteria – McLean- USA

For those who love Italian cuisine, Assaggi Osteria features numerous appetizers, large salads, homemade pasta’s, fresh seafood, veal and scrumptious beef.  Assaggi Osteria sources whole fresh fish from worldwide sustainable sources, offering the finest bounty the sea has to offer.  Produce is purchased from local farms, and all desserts are homemade.

Domenico Cornacchia, chef, and owner of Assaggi Osteria taps into ages of ancestral Italian cooking each time he steps into his kitchen and brings a rich love of the cuisine that he has so skillfully nurtured through the years.

“Assaggi means tastings in Italian,” explains Domenico. “Therefore, the concept of my menu is based on a variety of items that can be ordered in smaller portions and on the same plate.”

Before deciding to pursue his dream of operating his own restaurant, Domenico was corporate executive chef and partner at Café Milano, for more than 15 years. His culinary umbrella also covered Café Milano’s two sister restaurants, Sette Bello in Clarendon, VA., and Sette Osteria in Dupont Circle.

Born in Valle Castellana in central Italy, Cornacchia was a restaurant apprentice at age 12 in Ascoli-Piceno, making fresh pasta and other specialties by hand.  He later attended hotel school in Ascoli-Piceno.

Cornacchia’s creative talent drew him to restaurants in northern Italy – Livorno, Trentino, Corvia, Folgardia – where the use of sensual fresh herbs and cheeses is a classic art form.

Cornacchia honed his skills even further in international kitchens in Switzerland, southern France and later in New York City, Las Vegas and southern California.