Chef David Deshaies isn’t a fan of doing things the usual way. At his first restaurant, Shaw’s Unconventional Diner, the classically trained French chef, who cut his teeth in D.C. under Michel Richard at Citronelle and Central, flipped the script on iconic American comfort foods. Chicken pot pie poppers, nachos subbing in featherweight fried kale for tortilla chips, and pappardelle dressed up with the flavors of a French dip sandwich are all longstanding favorites at the poppy Shaw mainstay. With the opening of the 180-seat, 9,000 square foot L’Ardente in East End’s new Capitol Crossing development, Deshaies is now putting glamorous spins on Italian cuisine.

Take the three anchors on the menu: lasagna, vitello tonnato (veal with tuna sauce), and tiramisu. All Italian icons — none as you expect them. Just before the pandemic shut the world down, Deshaies and his wife Ana, Unconventional Diner’s original pastry chef, spent a month in Italy, eating at 50 restaurants as they traveled up the Amalfi Coast with stops in Naples and Rome. In the latter city, he realized every place they dined offered those dishes. “I realized we need to master those three,” he says, “but I need to create my own thing.”

When it came time to craft L’Ardente’s lasagna, Deshaies knew what he didn’t want. “The classic lasagna with mozzarella and tomato sauce is not for me,” he says.

His version is an epic 40-layer proposition interspersing layers of paper-thin noodles with beef sugo, truffled mornay sauce, and sottocenere cheese. Arriving laid down on its side, rather than as a leaning tower of pasta (the original vertical version was a little precarious, and the chef soon began serving it sideways, as Washington City Paper reported), the indulgent creation is a breakout star. Not only is it the top-selling dish on the menu, it’s also the one that gets Instagrammed the most (like here, here, and here).

Then Deshaies tackled veal tonnato. Inspired by a two-layer plate he found while outfitting the restaurant, he came up with a double dish. One level holds the traditional preparation of braised veal topped with a mayonnaise-based tuna sauce, while the other contains a role reversal: ahi tuna crudo awash in veal jus.

Finally, there’s the tiramisu, which Deshaies wanted to be something more than a sweet square plopped on a plate. So, he sets his on fire. There’s one more surprise in the flambeed dessert: a core of passion fruit granita, adding an unexpected hit of acid. “It’s wild, it’s fun, it’s cool,” he says.

Despite all these playful reimaginations Deshaies insists, “We just want to do good food. It’s not the point to do everything unconventional. Absolutely not.”

The broad menu has plenty of room for familiar favorites in more traditional preparations, such as beef-pork-veal meatballs, Caesar salad, and mozzarella packed arancini. In all, there are half a dozen appetizers, five pizzas, a dozen antipasti, eight pastas, and three large-scale shareable entrees, including grilled branzino stuffed with fennel and olives, and agrodolce glazed whole barbecued chicken. “I create dishes and, when I like them, I put them on the menu,” says Deshaies. “I don’t like going to restaurants with too small a menu.”

Made in a gold-plated Marra Forni oven, pizzas are overseen by pizzaiolo Logan Griffith, an alum of Tino’s Pizzeria in Cleveland Park. They’re built on a sourdough crust designed to be lighter, thinner, and more snackable. “We don’t want to be a pizzeria, where people eat pizza for the main course,” says Deshaies. “Three bites and you’re done with a slice.

The most popular round features octopus charred on the wood burning grill along with caciocavallo cheese and pesto. Those seeking heat should opt for the Fuoco (fire) topped off with pomodoro sauce, hot salami, sausage, and smoked scamorza cheese. The vegetarian Verdure features onion cream, brussels sprouts, gorgonzola, and pomegranate.

Handmade pastas from sfoglino Andrew Clark, a Fiola alum, run the gamut – from pumpkin shaped zucca lavished with sausage ragu to goat cheese ravioli and squid ink blackened calamarata topped off with lobster and tarragon butter.

The open kitchen is headed up by chef de cuisine Leena Ali who has worked with Deshaies for eight years and oversaw Unconventional Diner. Deshaies is the culinary director. “Don’t give me a title,” he half protests. “I’m still the guy who peels potatoes every once in a while. But I’m not so hands-on every day and coming in early. I’m not 25 anymore; I’m 44. I used to work 16-hour days at Citronelle. Back then it was fine. It’s not so fine anymore.”

Cocktails hew traditional, including an eye-catching, cherry red Aperol spritz, fig-accented Old Fashioned, and margarita perked up with prickly pear. There are more than a dozen wines by the glass, and a longer selection by the bottle.

The spacious restaurant with an elevated bar for 25 and a pair of private dining rooms was designed by HapstakDemetriou+, who conceived the luxe looks for Punjab Grill and Fiola Mare. L’Ardente marks the second collaboration between Deshaies and his business partner, Eric Eden. Currently, the restaurant is only open for dinner, but Deshaies hopes to debut lunch in a month or two. The patio will open in the spring.

L’Ardente is located at 200 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Open Monday-Sunday 5 p.m.-10 p.m.