Local favorite Al Dente is conveniently located across the street from Horace Mann on New Mexico Avenue. While dining, guests can enjoy fresh house-made pasta, risotto, fresh fish, and meat offerings, along with Italian desserts and a selection of gelato. Al Dente also showcases Neapolitan pizza from the restaurant's centerpiece oven.

Washington's most famous Italian chef going back to 1984, Executive Chef Roberto Donna is a James Beard winner and twice DC "Chef of the Year". Owner of some 20 restaurants over the years, he is best known for his award-winning Galileo restaurants and I Matti, a ground-breaking trattoria in 1980’s Adams Morgan. From Torino (Turin) in Northern Italy, Chef Donna’s current cuisine spans Southern and all regions of his beloved country.