A Polarizing Restaurant In Torn DC

 RIght now there's a distinct divide in America and most specifically in Washington D,C. .It even goes right down to where to eat.There are Democrat hangouts. There are Republican hangouts. Opposing parties know to avoid them. Yet there is one restaurant that unites everyone - Ama. This Italian eatery  brings both parties together for a plate of healthy pasta and wine.

New contributor and food journalist Jane Black wrote about this in Wednesday's New York Times Food section. She is familiar with it being Washington based but others have sung the restaurant's praises. It's chef and owner is Johanna Heilrigl who has created delicious dishes using all natural grains for her pastas and grass fed meats for main courses. Her thrust is Northern Italian , with her background come from Aldo -Adige in the German part of northeastern Italy. (hence her German first and last names) and ii features recipes familiar to every Northern Italian. The recipes sweep across Northern Italy with a nod also to her father , Andreas who was a chef at the famed Manhattan restaurant Paleo, named for the famed Tuscan horse race. Her menu includes mouth watering grissini , the delicate brittle breadsticks served with such cold cuts as spec ,m ortadella and prosciutto  cotta along with Parmesan. There are also sauerkraut and strudel recipes a nod to her German roots.

It is her devotion to all purw ingredients that attract, especially those of the MAHA - Make America Healthy Again - movement. She was influenced by one of her frequent customers Calley Means. He and his sister Casey wrote Good energy which Chef Helrigl read while recuperating from her son;s birth. she had had a difficult labor followed by a cesarean .It was later complicated with a difficult recovery which her doctors dismissed. It was only after seeing a functional medicine doctor who helped pinpoint her problem. She had a compromised immune system and a microbiome that had been depleted after surgery and five rounds of antibiotics. Her improving health lead her to delve into metabolic health.  She read the Means' book and obtained a certificate from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, a New York School that trains health coaches. It's the reason there are no artificial colors or ingredients in any aspect of her cooking and baking. Even her bar, run by her husband Micah Wilder , has no artificial colorings All the drinks are naturally brewed and fermented. Diners won;t seen the bright orange drink Aperol there or any other dyed liqueurs . The bar and restaurant have become havens for such pols as Corey Booker and Hakeen Jeffries. Staffers go there in the morning for all natural coffees ,teas and pastries too.

Ama is a rare restaurant in the Washington D.C. scene.It brings Democrats and Republicans together while serving healthy food and drink. It is the star of the capital.