This week for Eating In we thought we’d venture a little out of the city, but not too far and still metro accessible, to the ever-expanding area of Chevy Chase. Right off Wisconsin Ave. is Lia’s, the little sister to the Chef Geoff’s restaurants. Chef Geoff Tracy’s inspiration for Lia’s came from an internship he completed at Galileo’s, combined with a trip to Italy — and decided to open a restaurant that is focused on Italian and Mediterranean ingredients, as opposed to the contemporary continental cuisine offered at Chef Geoff’s. Lia’s does, however, share a few similarities to its counterpart like Sunday brunch, great happy hour specials, and half price wine night (Geoff’s is Monday and Lia’s is Sunday).

We started everything off with a sampling of cured meats, Prosciutto Gnocchi with Spring Onions, and the special salad of the day, which was a combination of asparagus, tomato, olives, and prosciutto. For our main course we indulged in Natural Chicken with Peppers, Mushrooms, Artichokes, and Roasted Potatoes and Tuna Arborio with Rapini, Potato Crespelle and Shrimp-Crab Moscato Butter. Although we loved both items, we chose the Natural Chicken for our featured dish, not wanting to torture anyone (although Sous Chef Dan Farber tried to persuade us) by having you make Crespelles, Shrimp-Crab Moscato Butter, and never mind the crust of ground Arborio; not that we doubt your culinary proficiencies. The Natural Chicken sums up the Lia’s vibe pretty well — simple and delicious.

*When ordered at the restaurant, the chicken breast comes skin-on with the bone. Of course, you can choose your preference of skin or no skin and with bone or with out. The dish was served with fingerling potatoes and these also can be substituted with a different kind (we used red Bliss), although cooking time will vary. For the mushrooms, we bought a mix pack of “exotic” mushrooms and creminis. The sauce was made with a beef demi, which can be quite laborious, so we simplified it for you. This recipe serves 2.