By Tom Sietsema

The smartest thing the owner of the new MCafe Bar did was wrap the restaurant's exterior in a big blue awning that commands the attention of everyone who passes it. The fabric acts like a neon sign on a street where competition for diners is fresh and fierce. "Contemporary Italian Cuisine," the letters on the facade practically scream.

On a fine fall day, the sidewalk tables are quick to fill. Cool temperatures draw customers inside, where white chandeliers, amber walls and outsize murals of celebrities — Sophia Loren is understandable, Marilyn Monroe less so — dress the 100-seat dining room. Instead of flowers, the tables sport breadsticks. Ours taste as though they've been there since August, when MCafe Bar opened.

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Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com