Though Fratelli la Bufala (loosely translated as Buffalo Brothers) is best known for its Buffalo meat dishes and buffalo milk mozzarella, the scent of sweet cheese won’t be the first thing to greet your nose as you walk in. At the Italian chain’s newest location on 31st St, which opened this month, the pine tables are so fresh you can smell them.
The menu is new, too—so new they forgot copy edits. Written in Italian with an English translation, it includes more than a handful of misspellings. (One salad included “carots”).
In preparation for deciphering the extensive menu, I took a look at their wine offerings. Seeing as the restaurant occupied the old digs of the notoriously liquor law-lax Alamo, I was curious to see if the new tenants would be equally lenient when it came to carding its patrons. The verdict: no such luck. My request for a glass of Pinot Grigio ($5) was greeted with a swift request for ID.
The atmosphere left a little to be desired. In addition to the fresh-paint smell, there was some sort of hammering going on outside, and a conspicuous lack of music. Additionally, all of the décor is buffalo themed, which served as a disconcerting reminder of exactly how hairy the animal that produced the milk on your cheese pizza was.
The buffalo theme carried over to the speed of its service, which was painfully slow. It was lunch on a Wednesday, and since we had ordered a salad and a cold entrée, I expected something a bit speedier. However, once I dug into my Piramide di provata affumicata di buffalo ($15), I nearly forgave them. Thick slices of smoked buffalo mozzarella were sandwiched between a stack of grilled zucchini, eggplants, and tomatoes and doused with a tangy balsamic vinaigrette. My only complaint was the portion: I could have wolfed down two and still been famished.
My dining companion’s order, on the other hand, was disappointing. She had selected La Ciliegina ($12), a salad that promised grilled eggplants, carrots, olives, and mozzarella atop a bed of mixed greens. When it arrived, however, it was nothing more than boiled “carots,” unpitted olives, and tiny hunks of mozzarella perched on a mound of iceberg lettuce.
The final disappointment was the table itself. For some reason the lovely white tablecloths were obscured by sheets of brown paper intended to preserve the cloth’s pristine whiteness from messy diners. Maybe it’s just me, but unless I’m eating crabs on the Bay or ordering off the kids’ menu at Chuck E. Cheese, I don’t want a roll of paper beneath my plate. For a $25 lunch, they can wash that tablecloth.
Still, if you’re dying to try buffalo cheese, this is your place. For everyone else, it’s not a bad deal. The salad isn’t great for $12, but the wine list, while not extensive, offers several decent white wines for $5 a glass. Just don’t forget your ID.
LEXIE HERMAN
Fratelli la Bufala is located at 1063 31st St NW
