Two years ago, when I had time to blog, and cook (alas, neither right now, though a post on cake forthcoming) I noted my disappointment at the much famed Il Mulino in New York. For those unaware of it, Il Mulino is considered one of the crown jewels of any summer associate program, because lunch is long, fabulously expensive, and supposedly good. As you can see from my (overwrought) review, I hated it. I thought the octopus salad was "overcooked", the list of specials enumerated at the table ridiculous and misleading, and the whole restaurant greedy. And the pieces of fried zuchinni that came free at the beginning, I thought, were "so oil-logged that they were almost inedible."

Il Mulino has now expanded to DC, and the Post's excellent critic Tom Sietsema has reviewed it. He also notes the specials:

"A fifth person gives us his name and proceeds to tell us about the restaurant, which is part of a chain based in New York, and to recite the evening's specials, which run about a dozen dishes long. So long that my dining companion says, "I hope all this is written down for us!" So long that I consider asking the server if he'd like to take a seat. So long that I mentally compare the show to the Academy Awards, and not favorably."

And, remarkably, he also had the octopus salad, with much the same results:

"The octopus salad is a cold heap of tough chunks of cephalopod; no one says anything when I leave most of it behind."

And as for the hapless zucchini, Il Mulino obviously hasn't changed anything there either. As Sietsema says, "Even before you reach your table at Il Mulino, you'll notice it's already dressed with plates of thinly sliced sausage and garlicky zucchini (the latter cold and limp when we try them)."

I note all this just to save anyone I can from spending money at that place. It's terrible. It should close here in New York. It should be sent away from Washington as soon as possible. If you must have pricey Italian, come to New York and go to Babbo instead.