So it was a warm Tuesday evening, two days before Thanksgiving, and Liza was after me to contribute to the blog. Liza has done all of the blog entries to this point, and I felt guilty. This is Liza AND Gary's Pizza Blog, after all.
Since I live in Northwest DC, where all the cool people in DC live, Liza decided to drive up from her home on Capitol Hill to meet me for some 'za. Nearby is the one and only Comet Ping Pong, a couple doors down from Politics & Prose.
Comet Ping Pong is known for its New Haven-style pizza. Liza says this kind of pizza is oblong shaped, has a crispy crust, and is a little oily.
We arrive around 8-ish. Parking is in the back. We walked around and saw the huge "COMET" sign above the restaurant. Can't miss it. Outside, there is a ping pong table set up. Get it? Comet Ping Pong!
We walked in and were greeted by a young male host who could not have been more than 20 years old. The tone was set. This appears to be college hang-out, for young and hungry American University students. It had a very trendy feel to it, too.
We sat at a table for two. Yes, all of the tables were made to look like ping pong tables. They were green, with a white line across the middle. Very clever!
Liza ordered some wine, while I ordered an Anchor Steam. You don't see many bars or restaurants with Anchor Steam, which is a pretty good beer in my opinion, so bonus points for Comet Ping Pong. By the way, there is a bar in the back, which looked like a cozy place to hang out. No TVs, though, so we won't be coming here to watch the Lions, Eagles or Spartans anytime soon.
Liza commented that the restaurant's decor looked a little too industrial. The walls were chipped, unpainted. It had a warehouse feel to it. Near the bar, on the wall, there were black and white photos of posing celebrities. Yay celebrities!
Comet Ping Pong appears to be striving for the post-apocalyptic among us. Perhaps that's why so many angst-ridden young people are drawn to the place. Beside our small table, there was a table of 8 college students strugglng to make sense of the world. They were busy chatting and text-messaging--at the same time. Marvelous!
Finally, pizza.
My first thought: These New Haven-style pizzas are shaped like footballs.
Liza had the butternut squash pizza with onions and garic. I ordered the smoky mushroom and onion cheese pizza. They were each sliced in about 8 pieces.
First of all, the pizza was a little droopy. I am not a big fan of droopy pizza. It was oily, as promised, so touching the pizza made my fingers messy. To eat my slice and not make a mess, I had to hold up the bottom of the pizza slice with my fork. The crust was crisp enough at the edges, though.
My pizza was very smoky in flavor. One taste, and I felt like I was in a smoke-filled log cabin in the West Virginia mountains. The onions were a little overpowering, too. There was just the right amount of cheese.
Overall, it was a decent pizza, but not spectacular. The pizza tasted exactly how it was supposed to taste, I just wasn't all that enthralled with it. A little too smoky for my taste.
Liza? You're up: "I thought my pizza was good, but the butternut squash flavor did not really come out." I have to agree. It was pretty bland. Very little flavor. In fact, the differences in our pizzas were startling. Mine had an overwhelming smoky flavor, while Liza's had almost no flavor at all.
So here we go. The score for Comet Ping Pong...
Gary: 3 stars
Liza: 2.5 stars
Now you know why I don't do these blogs as often as Liza. I ramble on and on and on...
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