Locanda’s Liliana

                                                                    72-year old Liliana Dumas gets to Locanda weekday mornings to make pasta the way her grandmother did when she was growing up in Italy, mixing two parts semolina, two parts “regular flour” and five to seven eggs– minus a dash of white wine. Dumas smelled the dough before she turned on the pasta maker. “My grandmother made it by hand. But when I’m making 300 ravioli, it’s too much.”

The dough was for a simple ravioli –stuffed with homemade ricotta, roasted garlic, and a little parmesan. “You want the dough to be smooth as a woman’s skin. If the dough is too thick, it interferes with what’s inside,” she said. “And if it’s at all sticky, it’s no good.”  Dumas folded and flattened, folded and flattened, until the sheets were as beautiful as the one pictured.

In addition to making Locanda’s pasta, Dumas also bakes the restaurant’s pastries. And, like her grandmother, “I don’t use any butter.”  Lately she’s been busy making hazelnut cake and chocolate peppermint mousse cake, but she’s looking forward to spring, when it’s time for tarts and gelato.  

Locanda. 633 Pennsylvania Avenue SE. 202-547-0002