By DCist contributor Jenny Holm

Don’t recognize that word on your dinner or drink menu? Sick of surreptitiously Googling at restaurants? Menu Decoder is your guide to obscure ingredients popping up on local dinner and cocktail menus.

What is it: Vincotto (also known as saba or mosto cotto) is a condiment made from the juice of super-ripe red grapes that has been cooked down slowly until it reduces into a thick, sweet syrup. Its name comes from the Italian for “cooked wine,” but unlike in winemaking, the grapes used to make vincotto are never fermented (though wine may be added to vincotto as it cooks down). The recipe is as old as the Romans, who used fruit syrups to sweeten everything from meat to cake.

What does it taste like: Like a good aged Balsamic vinegar, the concentrated sweetness of this syrup makes a little go a long way. It’s a worthy partner for attention-hogging foods that tend to overpower other flavors, like roasted birds, grilled fruit, and aged cheeses–things that call to mind medieval feasts.

Where to try it: I first noticed vincotto on the Bulgarian-feta sandwich at Bub and Pop’s (1815 M Street NW), arguably the best place to get a sandwich anywhere near the Golden Triangle. The explosion of flavors between these two slices of bread blows just about every other vegetarian sandwich I’ve ever had straight back to the farm.

If you can’t make it to Bub and Pop’s, Estadio (1520 14th Street NW) serves it with seared foie gras and peach marmalade. Or try it drizzled over burrata and beets with arugula at the recently redesigned Urbana (2121 P Street NW).