Liza and Gary's DC Pizza Blog

Restaurant Spotlight: Matchbox

2012-01-15T14:38:00.012-05:00

Hello, pizza aficionados! Sorry we have been a bit AWOL on the blog. This weekend we will try to catch up with all the pizza we have been eating the last couple of months!

This post is long overdue. A few months back, we met with Bart Nadherny, the pizzaiolo at Matchbox. We have previously reviewed the Matchbox in Chinatown as well as the one on Barrack's Row. But this was not a day for reviewing. It was a day for chatting about pizza and learning about some of the "behind the scenes" of the pizza biz.

A "pizzaiolo" is, simply, a person who makes pizza in a pizzeria. But if you're the pizzaiolo for three large restaurants (there's one in Rockville, too), this is a pretty big job!

It seems like a new pizza restaurant is popping up in DC every other day, and Neapolitan pies are all the rage. While Matchbox has a wood-burning oven, similar to what's used for Neapolitan pizza, their pizza has some distinct differences. First, the sauce. Matchbox uses California tomatoes, rather than the San Marzanos that you'll find at many other area pizza places. Why? Simple enough reason-- they prefer the taste. Also, the sauce has a zesty taste to it that is different than most pies you'll find in DC. Bart describes their pizza as closer to a "Chicago thin crust" rather than a Neopolitan. While the crust of a Neapolitan pie is soft in the center (Gary's dreaded "droop" factor), a Chicago thin crust is more crispy throughout.

One thing that any restaurant strives for is consistency in their product. How does Matchbox get their crust to have the same taste and texture day after day? Bart gave us some insight to how this is accomplished.

First, the pizza board:

Each day the chefs measure the air temperature, the flour temperature, and the friction temperature (meaning the heat added by motion of the mixer). By then plugging these numbers into a formula, they can figure out what temperature the water needs to be in order to keep the temperature of the dough consistent for each batch. This is important so the dough tastes and reacts the same way in the oven for each pizza.

Next, the wood burning oven:

The oven is kept at a temperature of about 700 degrees. Those pizzas cook fast!

The result:

Delicious pizza!

Our current fave: the vegetable pizza which includes crispy potatoes on top. Delish. Matchbox has become one of our favorite Capitol Hill pizza spots (stay tuned for a new post...).

Tonight's Dinner-- Eggplant Pizza!

2011-11-08T21:38:00.000-05:00

I had groceries delivered from Peapod this weekend, and while Peapod is pretty much the best invention ever, sometimes you get things that aren't quite what you wanted. Like the teeny tiny little eggplant they brought me. So, my plan for eggplant wraps was scuttled. But,the eggplant was the perfect size for pizza topping! Behold...

Doesn't that look delicious?

It was quite simple to make. I made the sauce from scratch over the weekend using a recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Yum! I sliced and tossed the eggplant with olive oil, and roasted them in a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes. To assemble the pizza: spread the sauce on the crust, add some slices of fresh mozzarella, the roasted eggplant, and some dried basil. Cook on the oven rack for 12 minutes at 400 degrees, and voila! Dinner is served!

The crust is the Italian Herb flavor from Bova Bakery in Kalamazoo, Michigan. You can order this flavor, and many others, online.

Citi Pizza - H Street NE, Washington, DC

2011-10-31T21:25:00.012-04:00

Never order pizza on Halloween. That's today's lesson from your favorite pizza blog.

Liza and I took lil' Molly to Eastern Market for "Hill-oween," fun for Capitol Hill families to congregate with their little goblins, superheroes, princesses and football players. Molly was a cute little ladybug -- thanks to Grandma for the costume! It was appropriate because Molly loves watching Sesame Street's "Ladybugs' Picnic"! At the end, she always shouts out "12".

For dinner, Liza and I planned to get pizza from Seventh Hill but were alarmed to see that it was closed. Turns out it's not open on Monday. Boo!

So we went home and ordered take out -- a large pizza with mushrooms and spinach from Citi Pizza, a joint on H Street NE, not too far from our home. We've ordered there before so we knew we were probably not getting 4-star fare. Still, we expect the best when we eat pizza. Standards, people!

Citi Pizza claimed they would have the pizza delivered in a half-hour, but 30 minutes passed and still no pizza. One hour passed and still no pizza. Meantime, we had to keep our lights on outside our house so that the delivery man could see our address. The result was that our house attracted dozens of trick or treaters but we were out of candy.

Ninety minutes after ordering, our pizza finally arrived. The delivery man said he was slowed due to so many trick or treaters out on the streets. As they say on ESPN, "C'mon man!" I'm not buying that excuse and neither is Liza.

Our pizza was lukewarm when we opened it, unfortunately. Boo!

Citi Pizza's offering is rubbery, but it manages to keep together. No droop, even with two toppings. The mushroom and spinach toppings were generous enough, but they could have put on a little more sauce. In any event, the pizza was so rubbery that it just seemed to slide down your throat. So much for enjoying the flavor.

Maybe that's for the best, though. The spinach topping was strangely overpowering and dominated every bite. Liza didn't like it at all, she actually removed the pieces of spinach and ate her slices without them.

The crust wasn't anything special and there were quite a few air pockets to chew through.

Simply put, Citi Pizza is serviceable. Quality it is not. Order it only if you're in a pinch and you've completely sworn off chains such as Domino's and Papa John's. And let's hope Citi Pizza's delivery drivers are more timely on non-holidays.

Gary's Rating: 1.5 stars
Liza's Rating: 1.5 stars
Molly's Rating: Dreaming of "Ladybugs' Picnic"

Pizzeria Paradiso is Turning 20!

2011-10-17T22:17:00.001-04:00

Pizzeria Paradiso is a DC pizza institution. They've been serving up traditional wood-fired pies since their opening day in Dupont Circle on November 8, 1991. In honor of their 20th birthday, Pizzeria Paradiso will be celebrating with a week-long celebration of ‘20 Something’ events, specials and contests November 7-13, 2011.

Monday, November 7 – $20 Take Out. Get one large and one small pizza for $20 on take-out orders only.
Tuesday, November 8 – 20^th Anniversary Beer Glass Giveaway (one complimentary beer glass with beer purchase)

Wednesday, November 9 – $20 All You Can Eat Pizza & Beer (2 drink max)
Thursday, November 10 – $20 Small Special Pizza paired with an Anniversary Beer
Friday, November 11 – .20¢ For Your First Beer
Saturday, November 12 – .20¢ Topping (Dine In Only. 3 toppings max)
Sunday, November 13 – “20 Free Pizzas” Family/Kids Day. 1-4PM. Kids can participate in a Make Your Own Pizza demonstration with Chef Ruth Gresser; first 20 kid’s pizzas are free. (Old Town location only)

For more information visit www.eatyourpizza.com.

Graffiato-- Penn Quarter

2011-08-08T10:35:00.006-04:00

Gary and I are big Top Chef fans. In fact, we pepper our conversations with Top Chef-isms all the time-- like if someone delivers some bad news, it's accompanied by the Top Chef "your dish was terrible" sad sound.... weeeeeeeeaaaaaooooooooooow. We might also tell each other to "pack your knives and go" after a less than successful meal, but since we're typically in our own kitchen, it would seem unnecessarily harsh.

Anyway, since we're fans, we couldn't pass up a chance to go to Graffiato, Mike Isabella's new restaurant in Penn Quarter that opened this summer. I thought we might go there to celebrate our wedding anniversary, but dang-- it's not easy getting a reservation there. A lot of buzz surrounding this place! Since we were heading off on vacation, I put in a reservation for three weeks later and had no trouble reserving our preferred time.

We went early since we had Molly in tow. Now, despite this new study that suggests that what a mother eats while the child is in the womb may influence her food preferences, Molly is not a pizza fan. I don't understand it, frankly. How can anyone not like pizza?? But, we didn't have a sitter this night, so to the pizza restaurant she went.

As we walked in, we saw the man himself-- Mike Isabella. He glanced in our direction... then went about on his business. Really?? Didn't he realize that the city's, maybe even the WORLD'S, most influential pizza bloggers were in the house?? Hmmmpf. Well I nevah!

We were led to an upstairs table where we could see into the open kitchen, and the hostess got us a high chair for Molly. OK, can I go on a side rant here? When we got the high chair, the clasp on the strap was broken. I swear, 90% of the time we use a restaurant high chair, the clasp is broken. Do people not understand how to snap these things? Is there some major design flaw there? Or is some rogue child hater going restaurant to restaurant, systematically destroying high chairs so as to never again to have to listen to a screaming toddler while trying to enjoy a meal? Graffiato was open for like, a MONTH at this point, and the strap is already broken. What's up with that?

All right, back to the blog. We were assisted with our food selection by our cheerful server. And I am talking, seriously happy. Gary even commented, "What would a bad day look like for her?" Lots of DC restaurants have servers that are too-cool-for-school, but not here. Really, the sweetest girl ever. And she liked Molly, so bonus points for her.

We decided on a carrot salad, a pulled mozzarella appetizer, and the "Classic" pizza. Make note, pizza fans-- the Classic does not come with cheese. That's a bit of a head scratcher to me, but whatevs. We ordered it with mozzarella as an add-on. (You've gotta have cheese!) The pizza menu is not huge, but any restaurant with a "Choppin Broccoli" pizza gets my kudos.

One thing I will say for Graffiato-- they are fast. This is actually preferable when dining with a toddler, but may be a bit disconcerting for the average patron. Our cheese dish (delicious) was out in a flash; the salad (meh) followed soon after. But that's not why we were here, of course. What about the pizza?

The Classic was decent sized, about 12", and cut into 6 slices. The crust was nice and firm, no droop, which got the big thumbs up from Gary. However, the crust had a lot of flour on it, giving it almost a chalky taste. I had flour on my hands after eating it, which is a no-no in my book. The cheese had a nice, fresh flavor. The best part of the pizza, by far, was the sauce. It was made of roasted cherry tomatoes and had a rich flavor and a little bit of a spicy kick from the garlic. I have to say, maybe the best sauce I've had in DC, and different that what you'll find at most pizza places.

A tip for dessert-- I had read something on Twitter about the zeppoles, which are little bits of fried doughnutty goodness, at Graffiato. Not seeing them on the dessert menu, I asked my server about them. She nearly clapped her hands in delight, saying that we knew about the "secret" off-menu item. We ordered them, and they were delicious. So, the secret is out, Pizza Blog fans! Ask for the zeppoles-- you won't be disappointed.

As our meal came to a close, Molly started blowing kisses and waving bye-bye to the packed dining room. The kid is a ham, I'm telling you. Maybe because her parents are so famous.

So in summary-- loved the sauce on the pizza, but the floury crust brings our grade down a bit.

Liza and Gary's rating: 3.0 stars

Molly's rating: I'm stubborn so I ate mac'n'cheese from home.

Calling All Pizza Restaurants-- Help Support Our Local Community Garden!

2011-06-22T13:45:00.001-04:00

Gary, Molly, and I have had a great time tending our plot in our community garden. Civic-minded pizzaiolos, here's a chance to support a group that promotes organic, locally grown food!

The Green Seed Community Garden in Capitol Hill is throwing a beer-tasting, pizza-chomping, local-food-and-community-supporting bash in the North Hall of Eastern Market on Friday, October 14 (note date change!). Guests will experience firsthand the region’s exploding craft brewery scene and nosh on pizza from Capitol Hill’s finest restaurants, all while supporting a unique community garden in a former alley wasteland. DC has 3 new breweries joining another dozen already brewing in the greater metropolitan area; add that to the burgeoning pizza and restaurant scene on Capitol Hill and you have a beer and food Mecca. For those looking to taste and compare this diverse arsenal of brews and pies, this is the event of the year.

Pizza restaurants-- we’d love to have you join the event. It's a wonderful way to both promote your business, and support a great cause! If you'd like more information, please contact me at liza0828 at gmail dot com.

Loyal readers-- we'll give you more information about this event as it becomes available!

Bugsy's Pizza Restaurant and Sports Bar -- Alexandria

2011-05-30T20:42:00.026-04:00

So Liza, Molly and I took a quick trip to Alexandria to meet up with Molly's uncle (and Liza's older brother) Tim and his family. They're in town this week because Tim's daughter Nicole is in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Go Nicole!

Can I just say that 30 years ago or so I was a pretty good speller. In my school's spelling bee, I was super confident I was going to go on to regionals. I'm a word man, you see. And then...on my very second word of the school's competition, I messed up: "Separate." A simple word, really. I think I was overconfident. I blurted out "S-E-P-E-R-A-T-E" without even thinking, without even hesitating.

WRONG! Gary, you're out. Auf Wiedersehen.

Sigh.

So we chatted with Uncle Tim and his family for a while in Alexandria, and then we dropped them off at the ferry in Old Town so that they could go back to National Harbor, Md., where they were staying for the bee. Liza and I were hungry afterwards and we saw some pizza joints on King Street. We headed for Bugsy's Pizza Restaurant and Sports Bar.

Inside, we were quickly seated, with Molly in a high chair. Molly wanted to eat everything that was placed on our table, including a lemon slice that was so bitter it made her wince every time she put it in her mouth. We have video of this, perhaps I can convince Liza to put it on our official Facebook page.

On to Bugsy's and their pizza...

Unbenownst to us, Bugsy's is owned by Bryan Wilson, a long-time NHL player who was a standout for the Detroit Red Wings, Liza's favorite team. Wilson played for the Red Wings in 1965-67 -- he was the league's MVP in the 1967-68 season -- and again from 1973-77 before he was traded to Washington and the Caps. Unfortunately, Liza had never heard of him. Sorry, Bugsy -- but Liza was 5 years old when you last played for Detroit.

Wilson opened Bugsy's in 1983. (Bugsy is apparently Wilson's nickname.) It's a combo pizza restaurant and sports bar, boasting plenty of sports memorabilia on the walls. (The sports bar is upstairs. A lot of the memorabilia is hockey related, so if you're a Caps fan, this could be the place to watch the Caps seemingly choke every spring in the Stanley Cup playoffs.)

But how is the pizza, you ask?

Well, Bugsy's web site boasts that it was voted "Northern Virginia's Best Pizza," although it doesn't say who actually voted. (Could have been Bugsy himself.) The restaurant uses only the "highest quality, freshest ingredients for every dish guaranteeing delicious and unique pizzas." (Now who would actually claim they use poor quality, two-week-old ingredients to guarantee mediocre, run-of-the-mill pizzas?)

I was mildly impressed with Bugsy's pizza offerings, which included a Taco Pizza, a Chicken Fiesta Pizza and a Zorba the Greek pizza. (Shout out to a classic film "Zorba the Greek," great movie starring Anthony Quinn. It's a must-see and a life-changer, folks!)

Liza and I settled on (what else?) the Margherita with thin crust. The menu says it has "fresh ripe tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic, Parmesan cheese and Mozarella cheese all cooked to perfection!"

Perfection? Whoa, easy there, Bugsy.

The pizza arrived and the chefs were generous with their toppings of Mozarella cheese, basil and tomatoes. Even the waiter mentioned the overabundance of cheese when he served us each a slice from the pie. The cheese dripped and drooped all over our plate.

Now when dining out, you don't often see a Margherita with tomatoes chopped up into tiny squares and sprinkled atop the cheese. It looked, well, kind of amateurish. Sorry, Bugsy.

The crust was sturdy enough, but it tasted like cardboard. (I know, I know, who has actually eaten cardboard? Not me. My point is that it was bland. Really bland. It might be the worst crust we've had.) The edge of the crust was a little crunchy after the pizza sat a while. Sorry, Bugsy.

The sauce was a little too sweet for our tastes. Liza says the pizza reminded her of "kid's pizza," the kind you get at Chuck E. Cheese. (I've never been to Chuck E. Cheese, so I'll take her word for it.)

This pizza's final grade is not a good one, regrettably. Sorry, Bugsy.

Gary's Rating: 1.5 stars
Liza's Rating: 2 stars
Molly's Rating: 0 stars for the lemon slice -- it was really bitter

Lost Dog Cafe & Gourmet Pizza Deli -- McLean, Va.

2011-05-18T10:18:00.019-04:00

Our daughter Molly loves books. She also loves dogs. One of her favorite books is "Doggies" by Sandra Boynton. When we get to the page that consists of "9 dogs on a moonlit night," Molly joins in with a "Howwwwwlllllllllll." This little girl is cute, I'm tellin' ya.

So naturally Liza and I had to take Molly to the Lost Dog Cafe.

Now we had already reviewed the Lost Dog Cafe in Arlington back in February 2009. This was before Molly was born, though. So we decided to try the relatively new Lost Dog Cafe in McLean. The restaurant is part of a strip mall that includes a monstrous Safeway.

Perhaps the best thing about the Lost Dog Cafes (there are three in the D.C. area now) is the decor. The McLean store had colorful murals of a town of dogs adorning its walls. It's a friendly, welcoming environment. (Maybe it was the refrigerators full of beer nearby the front entrance?) The young hostess and waitress were accommodating, finding us a table and getting Molly a high chair.

Liza and I put an order in for a 14-inch "Rin Tin Tin Pie." I know, I know, this is the same pizza we ordered at the Lost Dog Cafe in Arlington. What can I say, variety is not our strong suit. (Honestly, we just forgot what we ordered the last time). And, well, the "Rin Tin Tin Pie" just sounds tasty, with its mushrooms, spinach, red onions, red peppers topped with fresh mozzarella and basil on a wheat pizza crust. It's pretty much everything we like on a pizza.

We were served a 6-slice pizza (the waitress said it would be 8 slices...hmmm). Remembering that pizza droop was our primary issue with the Lost Dog Cafe in Arlington, Liza and I were expecting a messy dinner. To our surprise, there was minimal droop. The pizza held together fairly well despite the generous toppings. Progress!

We were still not all that impressed with the homemade marinara sauce, though. Once again it lacked a strong, unique flavor. On my slices, I could taste the red onions -- or maybe it was the red peppers? -- more than the sauce.

I thought the mushrooms tasted excellent, though. We gave one to Molly, but she spit it out. Oh well.

The Lost Dog Cafes seem to be a great environment, even for kids, and the pizza is decent enough but it's one woof short of greatness.

Gary's Rating: 3 stars
Liza's Rating: 3 stars
Molly's Rating: I want a Cruncher!

Vace Italian Deli -- Cleveland Park

2011-05-12T09:45:00.003-04:00

Hello, neglected Pizza Blog. For this Dad, it has been too long.

For those who visit this blog once in a while, rest assured that we continue to consume pizza, although Liza is threatening to go vegan (which would mean no dairy, thus no cheese). We just haven't had time to write reviews. Raising lil' Molly is time-consuming, but we love it!

So consider this entry an opportunity to play catch-up...

Around the time of Molly's first birthday on Feb. 26, we traveled up to Northwest DC to get new infant car seats installed in both of our cars and then we visited the Politics & Prose book shop. After a tasty lunch, we brought Molly into the children's section of the book shop and she proceeded to remove every book from a shelf and make a big mess. That's my girl!

Afterwards, Liza and Molly headed home but I stopped at Sullivan's Toy Store on Wisconsin Avenue to buy some toys. Then I headed over to Vace, a popular Italian deli in Cleveland Park, to bring home some pizza.

I lived near Cleveland Park for nearly 10 years and I had heard that Vace served great pizza, but for some reason I never tried it. Along with pizza, Vace serves an assortment of Italian sandwiches, subs and pasta dishes, all for take out.

You can also buy fresh, homemade pasta to cook for yourself. There's ravioli, tortellini, cappellini, linguini, fettucine, parpadelli, and more. (This reminds me of a song: "Tortellini, tortellini/Better than fettucini/Not as good as cappellini/Tortellini, tortellini.") There's homemade sauces as well.

And there's pizza. At Vace, you can order a 16-inch or 14-inch pizza, or you can order by slice. In my estimation, there are simply not enough pizza places in D.C. where you can order by slice.

I ordered two plain slices and two slices with mushrooms. The cheese was mozzarella, of course, but you could also order your pizza with feta cheese or goat cheese.

Vace's pizza is generous with the marinara sauce and they place it on top of the cheese and the toppings. That suggests the sauce is the most important thing on this pizza. Now that's pressure!

They wrapped it up in tin foil and I headed home to Capitol Hill.

In the comfort of our living room, with Molly napping upstairs, Liza and I sat down to eat the pizza slices. We warmed it up in our oven because the slices had sat for maybe 45 minutes.

The crust was crispy enough and held everything in place. Overall, the pizza was fine. But I was a little disappointed with the sauce. It didn't stand out in terms of flavor. Sauce is key for me in terms of evaluating a pizza. And if you're placing it on top of the cheese and the toppings, then it had better stand out as exemplary.

Liza felt differently, though. She thought the sauce was very good and she was a big fan of the crust. Given her Detroit-style pizza background, Liza prefers having the marinara sauce on top of her pizza.

Liza and I don't disagree much when it comes to pizza, but on this occasion we disagreed on Vace's offerings.

Now maybe the 45-minute wait and the subsequent reheating had an impact on my evaluation. I have to take that into account. This could call for a second visit to Vace to re-evaluate their pizza (and also stock up on some homemade pasta).

For now, our ratings:

Gary: 2.5 stars
Liza: 3.5 stars
Molly: I was asleep and did not eat any pizza :-(

We've been recognized...

2011-04-30T20:49:00.000-04:00

Best Pizza Blogs

californiaculinaryschools.org

...as one of the Top 50 Pizza Blogs at the California Culinary Schools site!

Coming in as number 4, they write:

Bloggers Liza and Gary are known as pizza experts in the DC area. They have great reviews and a wealth of pizza knowledge to boot.
Why We Love It: This is a simplistic, yet pleasing and intelligent blog spot for pizza aficionados. The writing style is spot-on as the two bloggers show their true love for the art form known as pizza making (and eating).

Thanks for the props!

Calling all Home Pizza Chefs!

2011-02-10T07:18:00.001-05:00

Do you like to cook pizza at home? Here's great contest for home pizza chefs, sponsored by Cavit Wines. Check it out!

6th Annual Gourmet Pizza Classic-- Enter to win a trip for two to Italy!

PIZZA RECIPE CONTEST: Home pizza chefs, enter your best original gourmet pizza recipe with your favorite Cavit Collection wine pairing to win. Finalists will be selected and flown with a guest to New York City to compete for the Grand Prize, a trip for two to Italy and the title of “America’s Best Gourmet Pizza Chef.”

Click here to enter your recipe.

Readers, what are your favorite pizza recipes?

Delia's Mediterranean Grill and Brick Oven Pizza-- Alexandria

2011-01-17T12:34:00.008-05:00

When we started this blog over 3 years ago, life was a lot different. We were newly engaged, Gary was living in northwest DC near the Cathedral, and I was in a basement studio in Capitol Hill. Life was carefree and we had lots of time for things like, well, blogging about pizza.

Now we're married, living in a house that actually has several floors (this is a big deal for former apartment dwellers!), and have an almost 11-month-old little girl. We couldn't have imagined how much she would change our lives-- and we certainly wouldn't have known how often we have to trek out to Babies R Us. Seriously. One would think there would be a good baby gear store closer to us, but alas. Many a Saturday afternoon is spent making the drive out to Bailey's Crossroads.

On one such occasion, after buying some stuff for Molly (including a $3 Sponge Bob plastic ball that has turned out to be her favorite toy ever), we decided to go to a restaurant we've wanted to try for a while-- Delia's in Alexandria. We thought this would be a quick trip from where we were, and it probably would be if we knew where we were going. Unfortunately our GPS took us on a rather, ahem, "ciruitous" route, but eventually we made it there.

Delia's is a family-friendly place-- we were definitely not the only people there with kids. It's also quite affordable, especially in comparison to other DC pizza places-- point in Delia's favor!

They have an extensive menu with plenty of pizzas, pastas, and other Mediterranean fare. They also have a really interesting list of appetizers-- goat cheese and potato poppers? Sounds tasty-- and we settled on an eggplant dip. It was SO good! After the dip and a yummy Casear salad, we were looking forward to our pizza.

Molly just ate her pureed pears and then hung out with us. Luckily Molly is pretty good in restaurants, so we gave her a couple of toys to play with and she went to town amusing herself and charming the wait staff with her cheesy (no pun intended) grins.

Readers of this blog will know that margherita pizza is my favorite, so Gary and I split one for our entree. The pizza was of generous size, and a small was perfect for two.

The sauce had a kick to it-- it reminded me almost of Matchbox. Spicy, in a good way. The cheese and basil was fresh and flavorful. The only part of the pizza I didn't care much for was the crust. It was a bit more done that I usually like it-- rather dry, actually.

We definitely will be back to Delia's for the good food and affordability. It seems to be a neighborhood favorite, and for good reason.

Liza and Gary's rating: 2.5 stars

Tagolio Pizzeria and Enoteca-- Crystal City

2011-01-17T11:58:00.006-05:00

Wow, it's been a long time! Sorry we have been neglecting the blog, pizza lovers. We've had a busy fall at the Pizza Blogger house. We've still been eating lots of pizza, of course-- just not blogging about it! So we're going to try to rectify that by writing about a few places that we've tried in the last couple months.

First up-- Tagolio Pizzeria and Enoteca.

I learned about this place last summer and right away I knew I wanted to give it a try. There's already excellent pizza in Crystal City at Cafe Pizzaiolo, but you can really never have too many good pizza joints, right? The unique thing about Tagolio is that they have authentic coal fired pizza. Now, we'd not had great luck at our last coal fired pizza experience, but I was willing to give this kind of pizza another try. Actually, due to city regulations, there are no coal fired ovens in DC, so you will need to venture to Virginia or Maryland to get authentic coal fired pizza.

But, isn't burning coal kind of... dirty? From Tagolio's web site:

The Anthracite coal used in Tagolio’s oven comes from existing abandoned mines; not from newly environmentally damaging, excavated coal mines. Anthracite coal emits no pollution while burning, no smoke during combustion, and no smell — resulting in minimal environmental impact. Contrary to the image of some coal types, anthracite is one of the cleanest and most environmentally friendly fossil fuels in the world — cleaner than wood fires or your backyard gas grill.

As we all strive to reduce our negative environmental footprint and reduce emissions impacts on the environment, Tagolio delivers a great pizza through an eco-friendly and efficient cooking process.

So there you go-- pizza you can feel good about eating!

When we arrived at Tagolio, Gary and I decided to sample the "enoteca" (wine bar) portion of the restaurant, and we each got a glass of pinot noir. We split a delicious panzanella salad, and my favorite pizza-- a margherita DOC. (Here's a good blog post that explains what DOC pizza is, in case you're wondering.)

I should also mention that we had great service-- attentive and friendly. It was one of the nicest restaurant experiences we've had in a while. A point in Tagolio's favor!

For us, the standout on this pizza was the sauce. It had a bright, fresh flavor. The cheese was also really tasty and fresh. The only thing that I didn't care for much on this pizza was the crust. Tagolio describes their crust as having a "lightly crunchy, yet sumptuously airy dough with a nutty taste". I'd say that's accurate, but it's just not my favorite. I tend to prefer wood fired crusts moreso than coal fired.

However, I'd still say to give Tagolio a try and see for yourself. It's definitely worth a stop.

Liza and Gary's rating: 3.0 stars

Pizzeria Orso-- Falls Church

2010-08-21T12:46:00.006-04:00

It takes a good pizza to get us out to the 'burbs. Not that there's anything wrong with the 'burbs, to paraphrase Seinfeld, but sometimes it's hard to break out of our homebody ways to drive out too far for dinner. We'd heard a lot of great things about Pizzeria Orso, though, so we decided a mini-road trip was in order.

Gary, Molly and I headed out early to beat the weekend dinner crowds. When we arrived around 5 PM, there were plenty of tables available and we were seated right away. The menu has a great selection of appetizers, so we split a mixed green salad and took some time to peruse the pizza options.

In addtion to their traditional Neopolitan pizzas, Pizzeria Orso makes several specialty pizzas. One that intrigued me was the "mezzaluna" (which means "half moon" in Italian). Half the pizza is stuffed and folded, meaning the ends of the crust are pinched together and stuffed with ricotta cheese, and the other half is a traditional margherita pizza. I ordered the mezzaluna, and Gary got a pizza that was on special that had grilled zucchini and heirloom tomatoes. Molly took a nap.

While we waited for our pizzas, Gary and I began to wonder. Why the name "Pizzeria Orso"? The word orso means "bear" in Italian, and their logo is a giant bear chowing down on a pizza pie. But why? Do bears like to eat pizza? I am confused.

Anyway, back to the food. Our pizzas came quickly, hot out of the oven. The crust was soft but not too droopy, and had a nice char that typifies pizza from a wood burning stove. The ingredients were fresh and the cheese melted in your mouth. Gary really enjoyed the smoky flavor of the zucchini on his pizza. I'd never had a stuffed pizza before, and I did like it although I probably would have enjoyed a plain old margherita (my fave) better. The ricotta in the stuffed portion of my pizza had a really nice flavor-- I love fresh ricotta, it's so much better than the kind you get in the grocery store!-- but I think it would have been a bit better with some sauce or something else in it. The margherita portion was delicious.

We finished off the meal with some yummy cannoli-- a great end to the weekend.

Suburbanites, you've got yourselves a nice little pizza joint. But can someone explain the bear to me?

Liza and Gary's rating: 3.5 stars

Washington Deli-- Downtown

2010-08-16T15:26:00.001-04:00

Molly and I happened to be downtown during lunchtime last week, so I decided to seek out a place I've been meaning to try for a while-- Washington Deli. I've heard they have good pizza, but since I'm not downtown too often, I haven't made it over there yet. This was my chance!

Washington Deli is located at 1990 K Street NW, but it can be a bit difficult to find if you don't know where to look. The entrance is located on 20th Street. They have many different pizzas on display. Choose your slice, they rewarm it for you, and you're good to go with a quick weekday lunch. I got two slices and a medium soda for $7. Pretty good deal!

The slices are generous-sized, New York style pizza. They also have a square Sicilian-style pizza. Now, in the Detroit, where I'm from, square pizza is pretty typical. I've never heard it called "Sicilian" (it's more commonly referred to as "party style" in the Midwest), but any square pizza is good pizza in my book. So, I chose a cheese Sicilian slice, and a New York style slice of white pizza.

Molly and I were in a bit of a hurry since I was illegally parked. Side rant-- what's up with the parking downtown? The meters, if a) you can find one, b) it's not a handicapped spot, c) some clown hasn't taken up two spots with one car and d) the meter is actually working, are a quarter for 7 and a half minutes. I mean really. Who carries that much change around these days? Anyway, I was parked in this space that was sort of half a space and half not, and the meter that was probably associated with it wasn't working. A true test of parking fate, that was. So we get back to the car and, as luck would have it, no ticket! Of course, this leaves me to either wait till I get home to dig into the pizza, or eat and drive. Now, pizza is not the most driving-friendly food out there, but I was able to sneak in enough bites during red lights to make a proper taste determination.

First, the Sicilian. It had a nice crispy crust, sweet sauce, and a decent amount of cheese. Good 'za. It didn't knock my socks off or anything, but I liked it.

Next, the white pizza. I am a fan of white pizza, although I don't tend to order it too often. Washington Deli will have to make me rethink that position. This white pizza was SO good. Crispy crust, a nice blend of cheese, great spices (including some fresh rosemary), with a bit of olive oil to top it off. Delicious! If I wasn't in my car driving away I would have gone back for another slice.

Sadly, I don't work downtown so it might be a while before I can visit Washington Deli again at lunchtime. But for those of you who find yourself on K Street, stop in for a slice-- you won't be disappointed.

Liza's rating: 3.0 stars

We, The Pizza-- Capitol Hill

2010-08-08T18:52:00.000-04:00

I have anxiously been awaiting the opening of Spike Mendelsohn's (he of Top Chef fame) new pizza place, We, The Pizza. I haven't really frequented his other venture, Good Stuff Eatery, because I'm a veg-head (as Gary calls me) and thus, do not spend a lot of time in burger joints. But pizza? That's something I can get behind.

The restaurant finally opened up a few weeks ago. Since Gary has been quite busy at work, I decided to go on a weekday with Steph (who I dine with frequently and who has made several appearances on this blog) and baby Molly.

Well, holy hell. There were quite a few people in line when we arrived at 11:30 AM. And by "quite a few" I mean pretty much every person within a 2 mile radius (rough estimate) had decided to grab a slice. The line snaked through the restaurant about 32 times (again, rough estimate) and was out the door. So, just a word to the wise, do not try to navigate this ridiculous line with a stroller. I'm just saying.

But, really, it wasn't that bad because the line moved along pretty quickly. And, I have a very cute baby, so people were forgiving when I rolled over their toes.

When I heard about this restaurant, I was expecting a sit-down place with table service. Instead, you order your slice and they give you one of those buzzer thingies that go off when your food's ready, and they you can go find a seat in the dining room or outside. Makes total sense, really-- with the large lunchtime crowd in the Capitol Hill area, most people don't have time to hang out and have a sit-down meal.

The pizza is New York style, with a thick crust that's much more bready than the neopolitan style you tend to see at DC pizzerias. There's plenty of inventive pies on the menu, as well as your usual basic cheese and pepperoni. They also have this really cool soda fountain, where you order a soda with some whackadoodle name (like "I've gotta orange crush on you") and they crush up the fruit and pour soda water over it right there.

I got a simple cheese slice-- my fave-- and Steph got potato with pancetta. We split a spinach and artichoke slice. We also each got a whackadoodle soda. Molly just hung out in her stroller, oblivious to the broken toes she was leaving in her wake.

Steph and I found a seat outside and waited for the buzzer thingies to buzz. Wasn't too long before our pizza was ready, and then it was game on. I had to somehow navigate through the 32 lines of people, get our pizza and sodas, and navigate out without knocking anyone over, or worse, dropping our food. Remember that old commercial with OJ Simpson running through the airport? It kind of felt like that. Except without the creepy implications that commercial has in retrospect.

The pizza itself was good; little droop, good ingredients. The crust was a bit to bready for my taste, but that's just a preference. Our complaint was that it was rather cold. The pizzas are all set out by the register so you can see them before you choose, which is nice, but they would do well to heat the slices up a bit before serving. Perhaps this is just an issue when they are really busy, I don't know. I absolutely loved the sodas. They were delicious! In fact, I wanted to go back for another one but I didn't feel like standing in line again.

So last night, we went to a party for some friends of ours at Top of the Hill, right down the street from We, The Pizza. As Gary and I walked by, we thought... oh my goodness, I could use some pizza right now. But since we were a bit late, we decided to grab a slice on our way home.

As we were saying our goodbyes, one story turned into another story, turning into "remember that time in Vegas when you were carrying the case of Bud Lime down the street when..." into "remember that time you we saw that tightrope walking guy in Stanton Park and then..." into we didn't end up leaving the party until close to 11:30 PM. Bad news, pizza lovers-- We, the Pizza closes at 11 PM. We found this out because as Gary and I walked up to the restaurant, the man himself, Chef Spike, was turning hungry revelers away at the door. What's up Spike? It's the weekend! Give us a couple more hours of pizza love!

Therefore, I will have to wait to give my rating until Gary can have a slice with me. Stay tuned pizza fans!

Harris Teeter-- Capitol Hill

2010-07-17T19:22:00.001-04:00

Harris Teeter has a special on Mondays where their pizzas are on sale. They make their pizzas fresh in-house. I know, I know, grocery store pizza can't be that great. But last Monday Gary and I were staring at an empty fridge at 8 PM, and so I decided to pop over to Harris Teeter, do a little grocery shopping, and pick up a pizza for dinner.

I'm retyping this because Molly somehow deleted my first draft, so I'm going to cut to the chase here. When I brought my cooked pizza up to the register to pay for it, the cashier took my pizza box and TURNED IT ON ITS SIDE so that she could scan the bar code. Really?!? Really, cashier lady? I came home with a big, squished, droopy mess of a pizza. And it was undercooked, to boot.

It's almost a week later and I'm still irrationally irritated by this.

Liza's rating: 1.0 star
Gary's rating: 1.5 stars

Follow us on Twitter!

2010-07-04T17:51:00.003-04:00

Your DC pizza blog is now on Twitter. Follow us @DCPizzaBlog!

Happy 4th of July everyone-- raise a slice to the U.S. of A!

Pupatella-- Arlington, Va.

2010-07-02T15:11:00.017-04:00

Liza here...There seems to be a pizza trend hitting the DC area these days-- Neopolitan pizza. 2 Amys set the standard, but recently a whole slew of new Neopolitan pizzerias have popped up. One of these started as a humble pizza cart and is now a full-fledged restaurant in Arlington, Virginia -- Pupatella Neopolitan Pizzeria and Friggitoria.

Now, your first question probably is, "What the frig is a friggitoria?" From Pupatella's website:

Friggitoria translates as “Fry Shop”. In Naples, it is a restaurant that specializes in stuffed fried pizzas (calzone or ripieno), stuffed risotto balls, zeppole (mini-doughnuts), panzarotti (stuffed potato croquettes).

Sounds delicious, but we are a pizza blog, so we will stick to the pies and pass on the fried stuff for this review.

Your next question might be, "What makes a pizza a Neopolitan pizza?"

According to the good folks in Naples, Italy, a Neopolitan pizza has very specific ingredients. The dough is made from flour, water, yeast, and salt. The sauce is made from San Marzano tomatoes, and the cheese is buffalo mozzerella. Bake in a brick oven at high heat, add some basil and a little olive oil, and you have yourself a Neopolitan margherita pizza.

So, on the weekend of our two-year wedding anniversary, Gary, Molly and I ventured out to try out this newest incarnation of Neopolitan pizza. To Arlington we go...

Tag! Gary takes over the review from here...

Pupatella's is situated at the end of a strip mall on busy George Mason Drive in Arlington. We walked in and grabbed a table near the back so that lil' Molly would have plenty of room to soak in her surroundings and fuss if necesary. There were other families with babies, so kudos to Pupatella's for being baby friendly.

Looks like Pupatella's would be a good place for takeout, but on this day they did a good restaurant business as well. The place filled up right as the dinner hour arrived.

Liza wanted a margherita pizza. Again. This is all she ever wants to order. Sigh...

Gary dutifully walked up to the counter and put the order in. The hostess was friendly enough and she was cute wearing a blue fedora hat. We decided on a 12-inch margherita, but the hostess suggested that a 12-incher would not be enough for two people. Suspecting an upsell, I stood my ground.

After about 15 minutes, I picked up our pizza, fresh out of the oven, at the counter and brought it to the table. Molly was falling asleep--she's cute!

The pie proved plenty for two people to share, although it was cut into just four slices. Faithful readers of the blog know that this is another of my pet peeves. No pie should be cut into four slices--six minimum!

The pie was sprinkled with a good amount of sauce and mozzarella cheese, but just two small basil leaves. Liza was nonplussed. Why so skimpy with the basil? Is there a worldwide basil shortage? Hey Liza, better get your vegetable and spice garden growing in the back yard again! (Side note: what's going on with that garden anyway? It's over-run with weeds! We better get to work.)

The pizza sauce had a good tomato flavor and the crust was well-cooked and tasty. There was a little droop, but it wasn't an annoyance.

Overall, there was no wow factor with Pupatella's pizza. It was good, but it was also a bit ordinary. And the skimpiness of the basil suggested not much heart went into making it, either.

Best part of the dinner was the ice cream! Pupatella's has a nice selection of gelato, and Liza and I ordered coconut. (Yes, I wanted mint chocolate chip, but I didn't say anything.) On a hot summer evening, this ice cream hit the spot.

Pupatella's seems like it would be a nice neighborhood pizza joint, and perhaps we would go there more often if we lived closer. Unfortunately we were a little disappointed with their effort on our visit.

Gary's Rating: 2.5 stars
Liza's Rating 2.5 stars

D.C. Gets Serious About The Slice-- on NPR

2010-06-25T18:50:00.000-04:00

Great segment on WAMU 88.5 FM, the local NPR station, today about all the new pizza places opening in the DC area. Check it out here:

D.C. Gets Serious About The Slice

DC Slices-- Food Truck-- All Over DC

2010-06-22T11:47:00.002-04:00

Sometimes, summer in DC can be truly awful.

Hundred-degree heat. Sweltering humidity. Irritable lobbyists sweating in suits pushing past you on the sidewalk. Crime. Grumpiness. People biding time until they can get the heck out of here and go to the beach. Summer in the city can be no fun at all, sometimes.

But then...

Sometimes summer in the city can be truly glorious.

Maybe it's only 85 degrees, with just a whisper of dampness in the air. Maybe the sun is shining and moods are bright. Maybe the K Street suits have shed their blazers and are pouring out of their office buildings to spend their lunch hour in the park. Maybe Strasburg is pitching at home that night, and the buzz is already in the air.

Last Friday was a day like that.

Molly and I were downtown for a baby class-- I was learning about how and when to introduce solid foods. Molly was quite excited about this, because she thought that maybe she would be getting some pizza soon-- alas, little girl, you'll still have to wait a while. But on that beautiful summer day, after the class I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather, put Molly in the baby sling, and take a walk down to Farragut Square. Why, you ask? Well, it was "Farragut Friday" for the DC Slices pizza truck.

Food trucks are a phenomenon, folks, so it was only a matter of time until someone decided to add a pizza truck to the mix. As your resident DC pizza blogger, of course I had to try it out. I'm still on maternity leave, so I was able to head out on a weekday to find the truck. Unfortunately, Gary's still a working stiff, so he wasn't able to make it out for this one.

The pizza truck was parked near 17th and K Street NW, right on Farragut Square. We got there around 2 PM, so there was no line to speak of. For $5.00 you can get a generous-sized slice and a can of soda. Not bad.

Molly and I opted for a cheese slice (ask for fresh basil on top!) and a grape soda. As our friendly pizza man noted, "It's just like being a kid again." Indeed.

Also-- kudos to DC Slices for providing a recycle bin for your cans when you're done.

We found a shady spot under a tree to enjoy our slice and pop. The best part about the slice was the sauce-- a hint of sweetness, but still kept its tangy tomato flavor. Gary would have liked the "droopless" crust. The crust was good, but could have used a bit more done-ness. It wasn't quite as crispy as I like, but of course, when you're cooking in the back of a truck that might be too much to ask.

So for all you lucky folks who have food trucks swarm outside your workplaces on a wonderful summer day-- go look for DC Slices. It doesn't disappoint.

Liza's rating: 3.0 stars

Molly's rating: My mom doesn't let me eat pizza, but the pizza guy said I was adorable so I give him 4 stars.

Radius-- Mount Pleasant

2010-05-09T21:13:00.005-04:00

I had heard lots of good things about Radius-- mostly because there was a rumor a while back that it was opening a second restaurant in my neighborhood up on H Street (although that rumor seems to be false). Anyway, I have been wanting to try it for a while, but sometimes it's hard to convince Gary to venture up to Northwest for a pizza adventure, especially on the night of the Amazing Race finale. But, being Mother's Day, I was fully prepared to use the "it's my first Mother's Day as a mom" card, and use it I did. So last Sunday, Gary, Molly, and I got in the car and headed out to Mount Pleasant for a bite.

The evening started off well when we were able to find street parking right in front of the restaurant. Score! It's always good when the parking gods are on your side.

The restaurant itself is rather small, but there weren't a lot of people there this evening (perhaps they were all at home watching the Amazing Race with their moms), so we were seated right away. I ordered a pinot noir, while Gary, being the responsible dad he is, stuck to water.

We started off with the panzanella salad. For those who haven't ever tried this tasty treat, a panzanella salad is an Italian dish made with day-old bread, tomatoes, cheese, and any other salad fixings you like. The bread in Radius's salad was grilled and had a nice, smoky flavor. The vinegrette was perfect. In other words, the best salad I've had in a long time.

On to the important part-- the pie. Since it was "my day", we ordered my favorite-- a margherita pizza. The crust passed Gary's test-- crispy with no droop. It had just enough olive oil to give it flavor, but was not too greasy. The cheese and sauce were fresh and flavorful.

You can see where we're going with this, right? This place is a gem.

Liza and Gary's rating: 4 stars

Z Pizza-- Alexandria, VA

2010-04-26T21:30:00.002-04:00

So we didn't get on Pizza Wars. Well, we did get on for a brief second (you could see me and my giant pregnant belly), but no interview...which was just as well, because they mostly interviewed drunk 20-somethings, and in my delicate condition it might have seemed sorta inappropriate to be on...but anyway...

Z Pizza is a national chain restaurant, which we typically don't review, although we've made exceptions over the years. Neither of us had ever tried Z Pizza, and I like their philosophy of using fresh and organic ingredients.

So, one Sunday evening Gary, Molly and I drove out to the Z Pizza on Richmond Highway in Alexandria to see what it was all about.

There was a small table area up front, so we found a spot and went to the counter to order. We quickly realized that this was mostly a take-out place. Plenty of people came to pick up pizzas while we were there, but we were the only people to dine in.

As usual, Gary and I split a salad and a pizza. As usual, Molly stuck to milk.

We got an arugula salad, which was okay except that it was drowning in dressing and carmelized onions. Once our breath was nice and smelly, we moved on to the pizza.

We did a "build your own" pie with more carmelized onions, mushrooms, and spinach.

The pizza was decent enough. The sauce and ingredients tasted fresh. The crust was pretty droopy and a bit undercooked, though.

It seems Z Pizza is trying to put the gourmet into takeout pizza. We applaud them for their effort, this is a good thing. But they shouldn't shortchange quality just because it's takeout.

Now, if we lived in the neighborhood, would we order Z Pizza for a quick dinner? Definitely. It's better than your average takeout pie. Would we drive across town again to get it? Probably not.

Liza and Gary's rating: 2.0 stars

DC Food Wars premieres tomorrow

2010-04-12T16:52:00.002-04:00

Well, we didn't make it into the promo, but maybe we got into the episode...

The DC "Food Wars" episode of Jumbo Slice vs. Pizza Mart premieres tomorrow night at 10 PM EST on the Travel Channel. All airtimes for this episode can be found here. (Look for the giant pregnant lady and her goofy husband.)

Vince & Dominic's Pizzeria -- Bethesda, Md.

2010-03-28T15:42:00.018-04:00

Time for a sentimental journey.

Gary here. Back when I moved to the Washington, D.C., region--this was 1996, folks, so call me a Washingtonian now--my first job was at a marketing communications firm in Bethesda. The office was a hop, skip and a jump from the Montgomery Mall and a few strip malls, where I spent many a lunch hour discussing the future of mankind, philosophy and professional football with co-workers.

We would frequent a pizzeria called Vince & Dominic's, called "V&Ds" for short, and I grew fond of their pizza slices.

These were jumbo slices. I remember my first time at V&Ds, I ordered two slices expecting a normal size. Instead, they brought out two jumbo slices--I was nonplussed. I somehow managed to consume both slices, and I wasn't hungry again for two days.

I was reminded of V&Ds when Liza and I were at the Travel Channel's "Food Wars" taping for Jumbo Slice vs. Pizza Mart. Faithful readers of this blog know well that one of my pizza peeves is droop. Well, Jumbo Slice and Pizza Mart jumbo slices have major league droop. V&D slices? Almost no droop.

So I decided to take Liza and my lovely lil' Molly to the Montgomery Mall for some shopping--we had a Crate & Barrel gift certificate to spend. Of course, we had to stop in at Vince & Dominic's, situated in a strip mall across from the Montgomery Mall.

The restaurant has not changed a bit. The decor is reminiscent of the pizzerias of my youth, with pictures youth leagues on the wall, as well as a few signed photos of celebrities. Yay celebrities!

The procedure for ordering: you put in your order and you grab a table. You may have to clean off the table yourself, and that's okay. There are no waiters and waitresses here. Sometimes you have to work for your meals. Get over it.

V&Ds strives for authentic Italian food. The pizzeria was established in 1983 by a family originally from Reggio Calabria, Italy.

On their pizza boxes is the slogan, "A Little Bit of Italy In Every Bite." V&Ds takes pride in their red sauce, er gravy.

Says their web site: "Here at Vince & Dominic's we know Italian, because we are! If you're looking for that perfect Gravy on your Pizza look no further! Our Gravy, or sauce, is old fashioned Italian and is perfect for not only your pizza, but also with your Meatball Parm, Mozzarella Sticks, and pretty much anything Italian! We all know what makes Pizzeria is great, and that is authentic Italian ingredients!"

Liza and I each ordered a slice and a soft drink. Our food was brought over by one of the cooks, an Italian gentleman. The pizza was straight out of the oven. There was a decent amount of red sauce--er, gravy--and a generous layer of mozzarella cheese baked on top.

Still no droop.

How do they do it?

More from V&Ds web site: "Our slices have a crispy bottom layered with sauce and an abundance of cheese. The reason for the crunchy bottom is, we cook The Special 25 Inch slice pie in our oven about 3/4 cooked with sauce only. When a customer places an order for a slice, we cut it and customize it with the topping or toppings of their choice. Our slices take 7-10 minutes to finish cooking and melt the cheese."

Now this all sounds pretty glowing of V&Ds. While I have fond memories of the pizzeria, I must judge the slice as a pizza afficionado.

As mentioned previously, V&D slices have a thick, toasted crust that stops droop. The crust at the end of the pizza was very bland and a little too crunchy, a mild disappointment but expected given how they cook the slice.

The sauce, er gravy, was spread thinly on top but you could still taste it in every bite. It did have a simple, authentic taste to it--emphasis on simple. While it was a decent flavor, it didn't have a lot of spiciness to it. Still, it seemed to go well with the thick crust.

I liked V&Ds a bit more than Liza, but that may be because I have a history with the place. Their slices are memorable, but I have to acknowledge that this is not high quality pizza.

I like V&Ds pizza, though--I grew up on it.

Gary's Rating: 2.5 stars
Liza's Rating: 2 stars
Molly's Rating: 0 stars...I drink milk.

Chef Spike is Opening a Pizza Place... Coming Soon

2010-03-26T16:09:00.000-04:00

As you may have already guessed, Gary and I are big Top Chef fans. Our favorite local Top Chef celeb is Carla, of course, because she gave my belly a celebratory rub at the Food Wars taping last month. How can you not love that? But our second favorite would have to be Chef Spike, who is now famous enough to be referred to by one name, kind of like Madonna or Cher. Spike is better than either of those pop divas, though. Why, you ask? Because he's opening up a pizza restaurant, that's why!

In April, the lanky, bearded Mendelsohn will expand his fast-casual concept with the opening of We, the Pizza, a hip New York-style pizzeria emphasizing regional, farm-fresh ingredients. It’ll be right next door to Good Stuff on Pennsylvania Avenue.

We, the Pizza will operate as a sit-down restaurant and later take on deliveries. It will sell slices and whole pies that range from the classics, topped with cheese and pepperoni, to the more creative: with creamed spinach; potato and pancetta; or mushrooms with truffle shavings and Bechamel sauce.

Gary, Molly, and I are looking forward to blogging it up for you all!

Liberty Tree -- H Street Corridor

2010-03-23T20:18:00.000-04:00

As you can see from the post and picture below, Gary and I were expecting-- and soon! Well, our little bundle of joy has arrived. Molly was born on February 26, and has already expressed a desire for some pizza. Naturally, we had to oblige. Could you say "no" to this cute little face?

We decided to venture out on a Monday evening to try out a new restaurant in the up and coming H Street corridor. Liberty Tree offers American fare, and of course, our beloved pizza cooked in a wood-burning oven. Your resident pizza bloggers had to give it a try.

The space at Liberty Tree is fairly small. It has an open kitchen with a bar area, and a few booths and tables. The restaurant is nice and cozy, with a more sophisticated vibe than many of the restaurants on H Street.

The three of us took a table near the bar area, but it was still low-key enough for little Molly to enjoy her dining out experience. Gary and I split a salad, a goat cheese appetizer, and my favorite-- a margherita pizza.

Since it's a new restaurant, they seemed to still be working out some service issues (all of our food came out at once, for example), but the food was good. But on to the most important part of the meal-- the pizza!

The pizzas are 10 inches and are cut in 6 pieces-- the perfect size for sharing. The sauce had a spicy zip-- it kind of reminded me of the tomato sauce at Matchbox, although not quite as spicy. The cheese and basil were both fresh tasting. The most unusual part of the pizza was the crust. It's different from any I've sampled here in DC-- it was light and buttery, and had a crunchy, almost cracker-y taste. I liked it, although it didn't really seem like pizza crust to me. I don't think Gary cared for it much, though. Maybe because the middle of the pizza crust had the dreaded "droop" that Gary dislikes.

Molly slept through the whole meal, so unfortunately, she is not able to weigh in with her opinions on this one.

Overall, we enjoyed our Liberty Tree experience and would return. The pizza was good, but not one of our favorites in DC... at least as of yet. I'm looking forward to seeing how this restaurant grows and changes once it's open for a while longer.

Liza and Gary's rating: 2.5 stars

"Food Wars" on the Travel Channel-- We're Local Pizza Celebs!

2010-03-09T13:50:00.005-05:00

Gary and I had a rather unique pizza-related experience a few weeks back. We ventured out to Adams Morgan for the taping of a new show on the Travel Channel called "Food Wars". The premise of the show is that they go to different cities and find a food that is unique there. Then there's a "food war" between two different restaurants that make that food.

The Food War in DC was... pizza! Specifically, a jumbo slice of pizza. The pitted "Jumbo Slice" pizza against "Pizza Mart" pizza in Adams Morgan. The show was taped at Madam's Organ. We had tons of fun! We got to see the taste panel, and Gary and I were interviewed. Hopefully we'll make it on the show, and won't end up on the cutting room floor. We'll see...

One of the judges was local food celebrity Carla Hall, of "Top Chef" fame. We talked to her a bit and she was just as sweet and adorable as she was on TV.

"Food Wars" premieres tonight at 10 PM EST on the Travel Channel. The DC episode hasn't been scheduled yet, but we'll give you a heads up when it is!

Pi Pizzeria and Wine Bar-- Adams Morgan

2010-01-24T18:00:00.012-05:00

We have been bad bloggers lately. Many apologies for neglecting our poor pizza blog for the last few months. We do have a good excuse though-- we have a little one on the way! Consequently, I haven't been in the mood for pizza like I usually am. But, now with one month to go, we figured it was time to venture out for some pie-- so why not try Pi?

Gary and I went out with friends Steph, the Chef, and Jenn. I got a gift certificate for Pi off of restaurant.com, so I figured we were golden-- not so, as it turns out. (More on that later.)

It was sort of a weird experience from the start. I called for a reservation at 5:30 p.m., and the person on the phone said that they "already had a reservation at that time." Uhhh, you can't have more than one? After putting me on hold, she came back and said that she could take the reservation. Ooooooooooookay.

We actually got there a few minutes late, but when Steph and Chef got to Pi at 5:30, they weren't even open yet! (They are scheduled to open at 5:00.) They finally got someone to open the door for them. The oddest part was that we were the only people there for our whole stay, except for a few folks at the bar. What happened to the other reservation?

Also, if you go to Pi, make sure upon your arrival that you find the right entrance. We all arrived separately and we all walked up the steps to the door. Doesn't open. The door is to your left, but it looks like a window, not a door. It took us all a while to realize this.

Anyway, we all got settled in at a round table near the window, and it was actually a pretty nice spot. We decided to split three pizzas between the five of us: a voce e notte (smoked mozzarella, eggplant, red pepper, onion), a malafemmena (mozzarella, hot sausage, olives, red peppers), and a Margherita.

This is where the mini-drama comes in: apparently Pi is under new ownership, and they no longer accept restaurant.com gift certificates. So why are they still selling gift certificates on the web site? This is a mystery. After going back and forth about this for a while, and me being a salty pregnant lady, and our server making a bunch of phone calls, they decided to honor the gift certificate. But-- if you plan to go, be aware.

Now, on to the pizza. Ours were the first pizzas of the night, which can sometimes make for a rather floppy pie. All three pizzas arrived at the same time, which was good.

First bite was the vocce a notte. Gary thought it lacked flavor and was pretty bland, but I could taste a smokiness to the mozzarella and eggplant that I liked.

The Margherita was decent, good amount of tomatoes and cheese. This was the best pizza of the bunch, Gary declared.

Since the malfemmena had sausage on it, I will bow out on this review and yield to Gary: "This pie had a real bite to it, courtesy of the spicy sausage. This was welcome after eating the flavorless vocce a notte, but it kind of dominated the rest of the pizza."

On to the crust: it was thin and crunchy on all three pies, and I thought they were good enough. Gary was not a fan. He thought it was like store-bought Elio's crust, just really bland.

Overall, we thought Pi's pizzas were pretty standard, nothing to write home about--but plenty to write a blog about. To be fair, I think Steph, Chef, and Jenn enjoyed the pizzas more than we did. Their ratings were more in the 3ish range, but ours were:

Liza's Rating: 2.5 stars
Gary's Rating: 2 stars

Margherita Wars Recap

2009-11-17T21:32:00.000-05:00

Gary and I had a great time meeting up with the pizzablogger for the Margherita Wars on October 24! . All photos below are courtesy of the pizzablogger.

We started off at one of our favorite DC pizza places, 2 Amys. As usual, they did not disappoint. Great crust texture, a little bit of sauce, and fresh cheese. Yummy.

Next we went to my personal favorite, Red Rocks. The crust was a bit more charred, and there was more sauce and it was a bit sweeter.

We finished our leg of the journey at Coal Fire Pizza in Howard County. Honestly, I did not care for this pizza at all. A little too thin for my taste and way too burnt.

The verdict? Gary and pizzablogger definitely preferred 2 Amys. For me, Red Rocks and 2 Amys were neck-and-neck, with maybe a slight advantage to Red Rocks.

In other words, we confirmed what we've known for a long time now-- we have some mighty fine pizza here in Washington, DC! The pizzablogger went on to two more establishments in Baltimore. His full recap can be found here.

Gary and I have been pretty busy recently and haven't been able to get out much to try new pies, but we have a couple restaurants on our radar for future reviews. If you have any suggestions, please write them in the comments. Thanks!

Margherita Wars!

2009-10-23T13:35:00.005-04:00

You may have been wondering what all these goofy notes and pizza blogger stalking is all about.

Well, dear readers, it's time for.... the MARGHERITA WARS!

Who has the best pizza-- DC or Baltimore? We're spending some time sampling pizza tomorrow in order to find out!

From pizzablogger:

The Margherita Wars; Settling The Score

One day, one margherita, one day to be the best

Saturday, October 24th

Itinerary:
2Amys (Washington DC)

RedRocks Firebrick Pizzeria (Washington DC)

Coal Fire Pizza (Ellicott City)

Joe Squared (Baltimore)

Iggies (Baltimore)

Your consigliere panel for the event:
Representing DC pizza interests: Yours truly, Liza and Gary of Liza and Gary’s DC Pizza Blog. To represent the capital city, DC’s definitive pizza experts will take part in the event and offer their own take on the proceedings.

Representing Howard County, MD pizza interests: HowChow, the best food blog in the Baltimore area, will make sure the visit to Coal Fire Pizza in Ellicott City will be treated with fairness and that there will be no disrespect thrown out by the DC and Baltimore interests.

Representing Baltimore pizza interests: Baltimore's own pizzablogger. He’ll be tasting and snapping away with his camera.

Check our blogs next week for our updates!

A pizza mystery...

2009-10-07T20:53:00.007-04:00

Today when Gary and I got home from work, the strangest package was waiting on our doorstep.

Imagine our surprise when we read the letter inside:

Youtz guys down in DC got some nerve makin threats up here in Baltimore. Lemme tell ya something, DC has got nothing on Baltimore.....you hear that? Nothing.

As the DC pizza experts, you unknowingly has gottun yourself involved in a beef. If you don't help settle the score, well let's just say youza better be buying some plane tickets to a far away location.....capiche?

Oh yeah......you tell Tommy the Tomato that if he even thinks about throwing any more weight around in Baltimore, he's gonna end up in a canning jar. You hear that.....A JAR!

--Sourdough Sal

We're not sure what this means, but it is similar to the type of letter we noticed the pizzablogger received just a few days ago:

http://www.pizzablogger.org/index.php/2009/10/02/generalblog-related/settle-the-score/

More to come...

Seventh Hill-- Eastern Market

2009-09-26T17:14:00.005-04:00

Recently my beloved Ben and Jerry's near Eastern Market closed down. Sadness! Where was I going to get my Chunky Monkey fix? But when I heard that a pizza place would be opening in its place, my frown turned upside down. It opened up on September 24, so Gary and I decided to give Seventh Hill a try.

We went on a Friday night, and it was only their second day open, so it probably is not fair to do a full review, but I'll give you our first impressions of the place.

The space was taken over by the owners of Montmartre, a French restaurant next door. The wood fired oven is made from bricks brought all the way from France. Now the French can make a great pastry and a delicious bottle of wine. But of course, our question was: can the French make a good pizza pie? We were there to find out!

Even though it was new, there was a line all the way out to the sidewalk. You go up and order at the counter, and then you can either take out or try to snag one of the few tables either inside or outside. The pizzas are all named for neighborhood spots, like the "Garfield Park" or the "Navy Yard." Gary and I tried out the Capitol Hill-- basically a margherita with tomato, basil, and mozzarella, and a Barrack's Row with tomato, mushroom, spinach, red onion, and mozzarella.

The toppings were fresh and flavorful. The crust wasn't droopy, which is a big pet peeve of Gary's. My only issue with the pizza was that the crust tasted overworked. It was too hard, and not chewy like a nice crust should taste. Hopefully this was a first week glitch, because otherwise Seventh Hill is a nice addition to the neighborhood.

Liza and Gary's rating: Since it's newly opened, our rating will be "incomplete." We'll try this place again and report back at some point.

Anyone else had experience here that you would like to share?

Sette Bello - Arlington, Va.

2009-08-30T21:26:00.008-04:00

Liza celebrated her 37th birthday on August 28, and unfortunately I could not celebrate with her because I had to work the Washington Redskins-New England Patriots game that night. I promised to take her out for dinner the following night, as long as she chose the restaurant.

Italian food--specifically risotto--was her craving.

Not pizza? Well, Liza has not been in the mood for pizza lately. More on her big news some other time.

We headed to Sette Bello, a fine Italian restaurant in Arlington. We have been to Sette Bello before--we had one of our first dates there--and enjoyed ourselves. It is very modern in decor, very spacious and even a little romantic. The food is consistently good.

Upon arrival, Liza and I elected to split a salad to go along with my glass of Pinot Noir and her iced tea. I ordered the Pomodorini Pizza, which has fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, arugula and shaved parmesan cheese. Liza ordered a Risotto Primavera with sun-dried tomatoes, zucchini and smoked mozzarella. Hold the zucchini, Liza asked the waitress.

Service was slow on this night, so we waited a bit.

The waitress said the pizza was a 12-incher and "perfect" for one person. I would beg to differ, but I could take the leftovers home. The presentation of the pizza was magnificent. Arugula was spread all over the pizza and contrasted with the white mozzarella and the cherry tomatoes.

This was a thin-crust pizza and it had major droop. The arugula and parmesan just dropped right off the first slice. I used my fork to hold it up and eat it.

The pizza tasted fine if you really like mozzarella cheese--it was literally caked on there. Beyond the droop, the end of the crust was nice and chewy. Unfortunately, the cherry tomatoes were a mild disappointment--they lacked the tangy tomato flavor that would have gone perfectly with the mozzarella.

Liza's risotto arrived with zucchini, but she ate it anyway. (It would have been nice if the waitress made up for her mistake with a make-good, but whatevs.) I ate it, too. This risotto was awesome. I loved the taste of the sun-dried tomatoes and the smoky flavor of the mozzarella. Four stars for the risotto!

As for the pizza, the Pomodorini was good quality, but with a little more love, it could have been better.

Gary's Rating: 3 stars

Ulah Bistro -- U Street

2009-07-19T23:43:00.011-04:00

Liza and I have noticed that President Obama has been an occasional diner in the Washington, D.C., area since his arrival in our Nation's Capital last year. According to The Washington Post, our illustrious President has dined at Five Guys in Alexandria, Ray's Hellburger in Arlington and the posh Citronelle in Georgetown.

What? No pizza?

What's up, Barack?

It has also been noted that President Obama has visited Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street. Ben's is a D.C. landmark, of course, and the place seems to have a lot of character. Reminds me of a neighborhood diner where all the locals gather. There is always a lot of hustle and bustle outside Ben's Chili Bowl--a lot of people just hanging out, perhaps because it's open until 4 a.m. on weekend nights.

Ben's does not serve pizza, though.

Across the street from Ben's is Ulah Bistro, a hip bar and lounge. It is a two-story restaurant, plus it has an outdoors seating area which blocks the front door of a bank. (Not sure how the bank feels about that.)

Liza and I were guided to the upstairs and we sat at a window table, overlooking U Street and Ben's. There were some comfy-looking couches across from our table, adding to the trendiness of Ulah. Perhaps I could take a nap after my meal...

Of course, Ulah's menu is eclectic, featuring a variety of salads, seafoods, burgers and steaks. And pizza. Ulah has a wood-fired oven and the restaurant offers all of the traditional pizzas, plus a Ulah special that adds crab meat.

I wasn't that hungry on this evening, so I let Liza do the ordering. She selected a watermelon salad and a margherita pizza. (Liza always orders a margherita.) The watermelon salad was interesting--the combination of watermelon, cherry tomatoes and feta cheese had an odd flavor.

The pizza was a good size for two and it was literally dripping with cheese. The ingredients were fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, Parmesan cheese and fresh basil.

At some point, the Ulah chefs must have poured a load of salt on the pizza, because there was a definite taste of saltiness to it. I could live with it, but this upset Liza's sensitive tummy.

I thought the crust was outstanding--among the best that I've had so far in D.C. It was soft and chewy, just how I like it. I had promised myself just one slice, but I had a second slice just to confirm the quality of the crust.

I ate tooooooo much, though. The couch beckoned.

Overall, I thought the pizza was decent quality, although I agree it was very salty. Unfortunately, Liza couldn't get past the saltiness.

Gary's Rating: 3 stars
Liza's Rating: 2 stars

Nationals Pizza, Capitol Hill

2009-07-11T08:28:00.018-04:00

Too tired to go out for dinner on Friday night, Liza and I settled for take out. Recently we received a flyer on our doorstep for Nationals Pizza, a new pizza delivery place on Bladensburg Road NE serving Capitol Hill.

The flyer and web site for Nationals Pizza suggests that it's somehow connected to the Washington Nationals baseball team. There's a baseball diamond in the logo and a photos of baseballs with a cursive "N" scribbled on it.

A closer look indicates there's really no connection between the local nine and this pizza delivery joint.

The question: Why would any business try to capitalize on the presence of the Washington Nationals? Putting it kindly, the Nationals are pathetic right now.

Wouldn't they do better by calling themselves Philly Pizza, where they could capitalize on the success of the 2008 World Series champion Philadelphia Philles? Wouldn't they do better by calling themselves Detroit Pizza, where they could serve Liza's favorite deep dish 'za while capitalizing on the Detroit Tigers, in first place in the AL Central?

Maybe someday the Nationals will be good and excited Capitol Hill residents will order Nationals Pizza after every win.

Back to Friday night, this may come as a shock, but Liza was not in the mood for pizza. She ordered a helping of Cheesy Bread with dipping sauce.

I wanted pizza, and I get what I want. Nationals Pizza had a pretty good selection, including the Triple Play Cheese Pizza, which consists of cheddar, feta, mozzarella and parmesan, and the Home Run Pizza, which features a host of veggies plus hot peppers. They also feature Jamaican Specialty pizzas, with such concoctions as Jerr Chicken Pizza and Cocoa Bread Pizza.

And then there's the National's Tuna Pizza. Tuna on pizza? I don't know about that. Said Liza: "Gross!"

I ordered a 12-inch medium National's Veggie Pizza, minus the black olives. It had mushrooms, green peppers, onions, tomatoes and extra cheese.

Our food arrived promptly in 30 minutes, which is better than some of the other pizza places we've ordered from around Capitol Hill.

For pizza in a box, National's Pizza looked appetizing. The toppings were generous enough, although they could have put on a few more mushrooms. And the extra cheese was golden brown, lightly melted over the toppings.

There was a little droop as I picked up the first slice, which faithful readers know is a pet peeve of mine, but it wasn't too bad.

The pizza had a good veggie taste, courtesy of the toppings. The tomatoes and onions, in particular, offered a good flavor.

The crust? Unfortunately, it needs work. The crust was hard and flavorless. It was like eating cardboard. Not good.

Maybe I have a soft spot for Nationals Pizza because they seem kind of plucky. Maybe I've had some bad D.C. pizza lately and I'm settling for mediocrity. Maybe I'm just happy in the afterglow of a Phillies world championship. But I just can't give Nationals Pizza a poor rating.

Gary's Rating: 2.5 stars

-- Liza comments on her Cheesy Bread! "This is not a Cheesy Bread blog, obviously, but I will say that the Cheesy Bread was gooey, cheesy goodness and it was satisfying."

Cava-- Barrack's Row / Capitol Hill

2009-06-20T13:11:00.018-04:00

A weekend ago, I traveled to Las Vegas for a Bachelor's Weekend for my friend Neil, while Liza helped host a Bachelorette's Weekend near Charlottesville, Va., for Neil's bride-to-be Steph.

Crazy fun times for the both of us. Details? As you know, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas (including my money). And what happens in Charlottesville...well, who cares, I was in Vegas!

As an aside...big shout out to Sirrico's Pizza at the New York New York Las Vegas Hotel & Casino for the late-night pizza offerings. Good stuff.

Liza and I spent four days apart for the first time since before our wedding. Back together this weekend, we decided to try a relatively new Greek restaurant called Cava on 8th Street on Capitol Hill.

Cava used to be Marty's, a modest bar and restaurant with traditional American fare. Marty's is most notable as the place where Liza and Gary first met and hatched our plans for pizza blog-dom!

Of course, we were sad to see Marty's go out of business. If only they had offered pizza on the menu...Sigh.

Now Marty's is Cava. The restaurant does not take reservations, so on weekend nights you can expect to wait for a table. They offer their food mezze style--small plates of food similar to tapas, but slightly larger so that it can be shared. As Liza knows, this can be a little discombobulating for me because you have to order multiple plates and they usually come at you fast and furious.

We ordered a village salad, saganaki (No "Opa!"?) and spanakopita. All very good, especially the saganaki. So kudos to Cava.

And then there was the pizza.

One of Cava's menu options was arto tyri, or Greek style pizza. It comes on a grilled flatbread with Greek cheeses.

It arrived cut and separated into eight small slices, which was fine considering the three other plates we had ordered. It was kind of like fingerfood.

This pizza--if you could even call it that--was as basic as it comes. It was grilled bread with a garlicky cheese cooked on it. Gobs of feta cheese were added on in an attempt to give it a Greek flavor. And that's it. Oh yeah, there was an arugala salad on the side.

The pizza was very bland and unremarkable, and lacked a distinctive taste that would suggest it was Greek. What about some olives? Spinach? Tomatoes?

Said Liza: "Bread and cheese does not a pizza make." (Liza suggests that if one wants some great Greek pizza, visit Niki's in Greektown, in Detroit. Now THAT'S some good eatin'.)

Gary's Rating: 0.5 Stars
Liza's Rating: 0.5 Stars

Cava's other dishes were very good, though. And they had a good wine list (although no draft beer at the bar, which was odd). So Liza and I both agree it's not fair to evaluate Cava on its pizza dish. We would both go back to Cava for dinner--we just would not order the Greek style pizza.

Pizza Bloggers Unite!

2009-06-20T12:46:00.004-04:00

Our little 'ol pizza blog continues to gain admirers and fans. On the heels of our inclusion in an article in the Washington Post magazine, Blog Pizza reviewed our blog...and they came away impressed.

Read the full review here. Blog Pizza says what we do is pizza blogging at its best. We get 4 stars! Much appreciated.

By the way, I'm getting increasingly involved with online social networking sites at my job. And so Liza and I are developing a Liza & Gary's D.C. Pizza Facebook page as well as a Twitter page. Stay tuned!

Does Pizza Promote Delinquency?

2009-05-27T17:30:00.004-04:00

Some people would argue that Washington DC doesn't have a pizza culture, but I disagree. You know what I'm talkin' about-- a good ol' Jumbo Slice at 3:00 AM. Love it or hate it, that's DC pizza, folks.

Well, apparently Councilman Jim Graham hates it, because he has recently proposed legislation to limit the sale of pizza slices in Adams Morgan.

I know that pizza has been accused of expanding people's waistlines, but this is the first time I have heard that scarfing down a slice is a gateway to a life of crime.

GQ's 25 Best Pizzas in America

2009-05-20T12:01:00.002-04:00

GQ recently came out with a list of the 25 Best Pizzas in America. My personal all-time favorite, Buddy's Pizza in Detroit, was #15. There were several Detroit pizzas on the list-- I have always been of the (biased) opinion that Detroit is one of the best pizza cities in the nation. The reviewer, Alan Richman, ranked New York as the top pizza city; San Francisco was second, followed by Detroit at number 3 and Chicago was fourth.

However, Richman only visited ten cities. Sadly, no DC pizzas were featured.

Circa-- Dupont Circle

2009-05-18T23:13:00.007-04:00

Last Sunday, Gary and I ventured to a Dupont Circle studio to take a photography class. After practicing our shutter priority and aperture priority and ISOs and other stuff I don't remember the name of, we decided to take a stroll through "the Pont" and find some dinner.

Actually, I knew exactly where I wanted to go. Every time we drive down Connecticut Avenue for some reason-or-another, I always say to Gary, "I want to try out that Circa place." With its outdoor seating and cute sign, it looked so cozy and inviting. So try it we did.

We were seated immediately at a table near the window. The seats were big and comfy. Bonus points for Circa!

I also appreciated that the dining room had a ceiling. Why is it that so many restaurants make you feel like you're eating in a warehouse? Exposed duct work in the ceiling might have been cool and unusual at one time, but in my humble opinion that design element has played out. Way out. Another point for Circa for not making me look at their ventilation system.

But the ultra-super bonus points came when I ordered a glass of wine, and our sweetheart of a waiter carded me. Considering I was in high school when Flock of Seagulls were cool, I was quite taken aback. But happy ... Oh so happy.

We didn't come to Circa with the intention of getting pizza. In fact, we didn't even know that pizza would be on the menu. But it was ... and as dedicated pizza bloggers, we felt it was our sworn duty to our readership to try it out. We ordered a standard margherita pizza.

Our wine was served in giant wine glasses. They made a nice little twinkly sound. We had a lovely salad and waited anxiously for our pie. We watched several dishes come out of the kitchen that looked delicious. We were excited. This was gonna be good.

Unfortunately, the pizza could not have been more disappointing.

The pizza arrived and it looked like a pizza I would get from a box at the supermarket and bake at home. The sauce had almost no flavor and no spices, which is unforgivable for a restaurant that serves primarily Italian food. The crust was flat and undercooked.

I had the distinct impression that the crust was pre-made and they just threw on the sauce and cheese and tomato slices and tossed it in the oven. It tasted like something you would get in a stadium or in an airport.

No love went into making that pizza.

It's a shame because Circa seems like a nice place overall. But sadly, they may have one of the worst pizzas in D.C.

Liza's rating: 1.0 stars
Gary's rating: 0.5 stars

Rustico -- Alexandria, Virginia

2009-05-16T16:37:00.008-04:00

Friday night, and Liza and I headed across the bridge to Alexandria for a bite to eat. Rustico, pronounced "R-oo-stico" per the hostess, was our destination.

Liza had called for a reservation, but she was told Rustico does not hold tables during dinner hours. Instead, they put us on a "waiting list." Waiting list? I had visions of the Redskins Season Ticket Waiting List and wondered if we should have put our names in, say, 20 years ago.

A table opened up within minutes of our arrival, though, and we were promptly seated.

We sat down and eyed the napkins on our plates. They were rolled up into tight little balls with a piece of the napkin sticking up. Kind of looked like a little sword. So, of course, Liza and I immediately burst into a sword fight. En gard!

We're goofy pizza bloggers.

Rustico is a combination bar/lounge and restaurant. There is an impressive beer menu, with "30 brilliant taps book-ended by two massive coolers holding more than 331 different types of ales, lagers, ciders and stouts."

According to Rustico's web site, executive chef Frank Morales III hosts Saturday custom pizza-making classes that also help you pair beer with pizza. (Cost is $98, seems a little pricy for pizza and beer...Just saying.) The "hefty list of beers includes options for nearly every topping--from chocolate-friendly lagers to Brussels-loving Belgian Saison."

Liza and I were excited. Rustico appeared to be a place where the chefs take their pizza seriously. Bring it!

We shared a Beer Flight called "The Breakfast of Champions"--it was German beers, Liza wanted to pay homage to her heritage, I suppose. (Liza is 100 percent German, for those not in the know.) All four samples were top notch, excellent choices as we started to unwind from a week of work.

And we ordered the Roasted Mushroom pizza, which included swiss chard and goat's cheese.

It should be noted that Rustico uses a wood-fired grill and oven to cook their pizzas. So we were expecting high quality.

Now Rustico claims to be "an American celebration of the authentic, seasonal pleasures...inspired by the cucina rustica of Southern Italy, where traditions of cooking emphasize the freshest seasonal ingredients prepared in simple, yet soulful ways."

Hey, we got soul and all, but this is pizza we're talking about here.

We didn't find it particularly soulful and inspiring having to look at portraits of peas--yes, peas--on the walls of the restaurant. Whatevs.

We unrolled our napkins when our obligatory salad arrived. The pizza was served shortly thereafter.

Rustico was generous with the mushroom and goat's cheese toppings. There was a slight droop to the pizza, but it was not unmanageable. It held up steady after the first bite.

As expected, the goat's cheese tended to dominate the flavor of the pizza, which is fine because we like goat's cheese.

The pie, cut into eight slices, had a good flavor. With the toppings, I thought the pizza was succulent (hey, there's a good food critic word--maybe we really are food critics!), but Liza noted it was "a little greasy."

We both thought the mushrooms were very tasty, but Liza thought the swiss chard didn't add very much in terms of flavor. I had a couple bites where I enjoyed the swiss chard, but otherwise I would agree.

The crust was crispy, which we liked until we got to the edge of the slice. "It should be a little bready and it was just hard all the way through," Liza commented. "I didn't like that."

I enjoyed the pizza a little more than Liza, but I think we were both expecting something more from Rustico.

Gary's rating: 3 stars
Liza's rating: 2.5 stars

Matchbox-- Barrack's Row / Capitol Hill

2009-05-03T21:30:00.007-04:00

What better way to celebrate our newfound celebrity--welcome, new readers!--than with a pizza outing.

We went to Matchbox on 8th Street SE on Capitol Hill. Liza had been here before, but this was my first official visit. (We've also been to the Matchbox in Chinatown.)

We know that there are dozens of pizza restaurants still to be reviewed--we welcome suggestions, by the way--but since we live on Capitol Hill, we stayed local. And we think it's unfair to review a pizza place just once, so memo to pizza restaurateurs: "We'll be back."

Matchbox calls itself a "Vintage Pizza Bistro." I like the sound of that. And the restaurant is very nice--it's a converted warehouse and spacious. But it's crowded all the time. There seems to always be a 15-45 minute wait for a table.

When Liza is hungry, she doesn't like to wait. And usually I don't like waiting for a table, either. But there were two seats at the cozy bar, so we settled in for a glass of red wine, watched a Nats-Phillies game on one of the TVs, and waited for our table.

We wondered why no one was coming up to us asking for our autographs.

People! Pizza experts in the house! Hellllllloooooooooooooooooo?!

So we were finally seated 15 minutes later.

Matchbox boasts what they call an "authentic wood-fired masonry oven where the fire has burned constantly since the day we opened. Modern gas and electric ovens cannot produce the intense heat needed--over 800 degrees--to achieve the crispy, smoky crust that our oven provides. With dough made fresh daily in-house, our goal is to make the best pizza in DC!"

We admire their ambition.

Well, Liza and I ordered a 10-inch Oven-Dried Tomato and Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella pie. (Isn't that basically a Margherita?) Matchbox pizza chefs must like to put meat on their pizzas, because most of the offerings had steak, ham, meatballs or chicken as toppings.

Now, on Matchbox's menu, it mentions that "due to the extreme heat of our oven some charring or blistering of the crust is to be expected."

Thanks for the warning, but my initial reaction was: "This is not acceptable."

When our pizza arrived, on one side of the 10-inch pie the crust was black and charred. Very disappointing. Seems to me that, by putting the warning on the menu, the pizza chefs are settling for burned pizza. A good pizza chef would find a way to minimize any "charring or blistering of the crust."

Matchbox chefs cook with a very thin crust--it had a cardboard feel to it--and the charred side of the pizza had a smoky flavor that leaned more toward burned than smoky.

The non-charred side tasted fine--Liza mentioned, as she has in previous reviews of Matchbox, that she liked the sauce. It had a good zesty flavor with a hint of basil. The oven-dried tomatoes, one on each slice, were a red blob because they had apparently melted in the searing heat of the oven.

The verdict: This is not the best pizza in DC. In fact, we've both had better pizza at Matchbox before.

Gary's Rating: 1.5 stars
Liza's Rating: 2.5 stars

(It should be noted that, at the Matchbox in Chinatown, we also had pizza with charred crust. We rated that pizza 2.5 stars. The Matchbox--Barrack's Row, in my estimation, pizza was worse. Liza felt it was the same.)

Whoa-- We're in the Washington Post Magazine!

2009-05-03T19:37:00.005-04:00

Today Gary opened the Washington Post Magazine and suddenly I heard him say, "Oh. My. God." I didn't even look up... I guess I thought he was just being dramatic about something... and he shoved the magazine in front of me and said, "LOOK!"

Holy cow, our little ol' blog got a mention in the WaPo!

In Candy Sagon's article, Foodie Free for All, there's an inset titled "Web Sites for the Restaurant Obsessed." Right there, in black and white, "Liza and Gary's DC Pizza Blog"! OMG OMG OMG!

Who knew we would end up as cyber celebrities?

I can't seem to find the inset in the online version of the Post, but if I can find it, I'll link.

Kavanaugh's Pizza Pub, Glover Park

2009-04-12T12:00:00.017-04:00

I have lived in the Northwest part of Washington, D.C., most of the last 14 years, so perhaps I have a bias toward that section of the city.

Especially Upper Northwest, and Glover Park--the area feels kind of suburban, and yet still connected to the city.

Now I live in Northeast D.C. on Capitol Hill, with Liza, and it's a wonderful life.

Every now and then, I find myself yearning for the days where I would wander to the Zebra Lounge (now it's a wine bar) for a caffe mocha in the morning, read the newspaper from front to back, do some quick grocery shopping at the local Giant, stop in Potomac Video (now out of business) for a classic foreign film, jog through the hills of the neighborhood, hang out at the National Cathedral's Bishop Garden and read books, watch a high school baseball game at St. Alban's, stop in at 2 Amy's for pizza or Cactus Cantina for some Mexican grub, and just enjoy the day.

Life changes, though.

Speaking of change...Liza and I recently reviewed Faccia Luna in Alexandria. Well, up until 2004, Faccia Luna also had a branch of its restaurant chain in Glover Park right on Wisconsin Avenue. It was reborn as Kavanaugh's Pizza Pub. Apparently, the new owners of the establishment--a husband and wife team--previously worked at Faccia Luna and decided to buy the restaurant.

A pizza place with an Irish surname attached to it? I'm Irish and all, but count me as skeptical.

Liza and I arrived on a Friday evening hungry for some pizza. Inside, we noticed a lengthy bar along one side of the restaurant, with men kicking back enjoying their ales. Looked like a decent place to unwind with a quick beer, watch some ESPN2, grumble about the Redskins and Nats, and wait for "Norm!" to arrive.

Liza and I decided to enjoy the spring evening and we grabbed a table outside. There were some families, with their little ones running around, crawling underneath plastic tables and chairs and crying at the injustice of being so young.

I suddenly had visions of Chuck E. Cheese, and I grew scared. Very scared.

Honestly, this didn't seem like a place for quality pizza. I was actually a little surprised to see quite a few people leave with pizza for takeout.

We ordered a half-carafe of red wine and a Caesar Salad to start. We were mildly impressed with Kavanaugh's menu, which included a good measure of appetizers, fresh salads, burgers and cheesesteak sandwiches and pasta entrees.

For the main course, we decided to split a pizza. Kavanaugh's offers "wood-fired pizza," and all of the traditional offerings were available: Margherita, Pomodoro, Primavera, Florentine, Roma, Genoa.

Kavanaugh's also offers you the chance to "Make Your Own Pizza!" Fine with us. They offered 27 different toppings, but we kept it simple and added toppings of spinach and mushrooms. We chose the 12-inch pie, but you can also get a 10-incher and 14-incher.

The pie arrived split into eight slices. The toppings were spread generously. Looked very appetizing.

Liza and I were immediately taken with the sauce on the pie. It had a sweet flavor that mixed well with the mozzarella cheese, spinach and mushrooms. Bite after bite, taste after taste, and the pie surprised in its flavor. The crust was cooked perfectly, making the last bites of a slice as enjoyable as the first.

What a surprise. Liza and I were expecting run-of-the-mill grub from Kavanaugh's, not top-notch pizza.

Admittedly, I was more enthralled with the pizza than Liza. She wasn't as thrilled with the cheese, and she suggested that buffalo mozzarella cheese would have given the pizza a fresher taste.

But Liza also raved about the crust and the sauce: "It was sweet, but not too sugary."

All in all, Kavanaugh's is just another reason to spend more time in Northwest D.C. (Hint, hint.)

Gary's Rating: 4 Stars!
Liza's Rating: 3.5 Stars

No Pizza On Menu At Commander's Palace Restaurant in New Orleans

2009-03-31T21:49:00.020-04:00

Liza and I like to venture out to other parts of the world now and then, and so we recently departed Washington, D.C., for a trip down south to New Orleans.

Of course, we had to go to Commander's Palace, regarded as one of the top restaurants in the country. It was recently featured on "Top Chef," one of our favorite reality shows. Last season on "Top Chef," we rooted on Crazy Carla, who hails from Washington, D.C., because we figured she would probably make the best pizza of the finalists.

Commander's Palace is located in the Garden District in New Orleans, not far from the homes of actor Nicolas Cage and the Mannings. (They are the NFL's first family, apparently).

We arrived promptly for our 7:30 p.m. reservation, dressed to the nines, and were seated in a beautiful upstairs dining room. We sat down and looked at the menu. And looked. And looked.

Wha...??!?!

No pizza.

This was very disappointing. How could one of the great restaurants in the country not have pizza on the menu?

Instead, I had to settle for a Gumbo soup as an appetizer and a Crawfish and Cognac entree. Liza had a salad as a starter and Red Snapper for her main course. We enjoyed bread pudding and creme brulee for desserts.

Now the meals were superb, to be sure. The Gumbo was, in a word, awesome. And I enjoyed the Crawfish so much that I insist Liza call me "Crawdaddy" from here on out. The ambiance was romantic and the service was impeccable--we liked how dishes were served in concert by multiple waiters.

But, alas, no pizza.

Gary's Rating: 0 stars

Liza's Rating: 0 stars

Disappointed, we headed to Cafe Du Monde for some beignets.

And back to D.C. for some pizza!

Banana Cafe & Piano Bar, Barrack's Row/Capitol Hill

2009-03-15T14:07:00.006-04:00

In my years of dining experience, I've come to realize that you have to be in the mood for Mexican or Caribbean food. It's not the type of food you can eat randomly.

Now, apart from chips and salsa, Liza is rarely in the mood for Mexican food. When she is, I'm on it. I enjoy spicy meals and spicy flavors. I actually like Taco Bell, but I keep that on the down low because Liza thinks Taco Bell is "yuck-o."

So this evening we go to the aptly named Banana Cafe & Piano Bar on 8th Street SE along Barrack's Row. Call it a big yellow oasis in the middle of the city. (The Piano Bar is upstairs and has a different menu.) It's a combo Mexican-Cuban-Puerto Rican-Tex Mex restaurant and the menu has all sorts of Caribbean-style dishes.

It's always very loud at Banana Cafe. Kind of hard to have a quality conversation when there's a roar of conversation all around you. In any event, a smiling waiter placed the obligatory chips and salsa on our table, and Liza and I went to work. We were hungry. She ordered a glass of white sangria and I ordered a Corona.

Liza was there for her favorite: plaintain quesadillas. She loves plaintain quesadillas. This is not a plaintain quesadilla blog, though.

I ordered Cuban Pizza. It's the only pizza item on the menu and I had to try it.

It came with a fresh salad. (I could have opted for French fries instead of the salad. But who eats French fries with pizza? Or Mexican food? Not a good combination.)

This Cuban Pizza is a personal size pizza. The menu says it is topped with Picadillo consisting of ground beef and pork, ripe plantains and mozerella (sic) cheese. The fine chefs at Banana Cafe also lopped on some peas, corn, diced red peppers, onions and parsley. What a concoction! I'm surprised there are no banana slices on there.

By the way, Liza is a vegetarian, so she is going to have to sit out this review.

The pizza toppings were piled on and as I picked up the first slice, I was wary the entire thing would fall apart. It didn't. No droopiness, either. Well done.

Now the crust was thick--which helped keep the generous toppings in place--but it was a bit rubbery. Not good. This is a Mexican restaurant, though, so I suspect the chefs are not twirling fresh pizza dough in the kitchen.

The Picadillo ground beef and plaintains combined for a sweet flavor. The ground beef seemed to add a taste of barbecue to it, actually. Some might say the ground beef tasted like a Sloppy Joe, but that doesn't do the this concoction justice. It's probably the same ground beef the chefs use for their tacos.

Overall, I enjoyed the Cuban Pizza. It was something different: a unique pizza dish in a city where Margherita pizzas are all too prevalent. Plus, with the salad and chips and salsa, it's a quality meal for just $10.95.

Maybe you have to be in the mood for Mexican food. If you are, then give the Cuban Pizza a go.

Gary's Rating: 3 stars

Posto-- Logan Circle

2009-03-09T20:16:00.006-04:00

Last Thursday, Gary and I went out with our friends Steph and the Chef to Posto.

It was Dining Out for Life night, where restaurants donated a percentage of their profits to the worthy organization Food and Friends. Posto, and their sister restaurant Tosca, donated a full 100 percent of their sales that evening to the cause. Well done, Posto!

We got there early, which was good because by 6 p.m. the restaurant was packed, and loud. After getting a nice bottle of wine, we decided to order an appetizer...Pizza!

After reading a review that said the pizza at Posto was not very good, I was a bit leery. But we needed to try some pizza for research purposes, of course, so we all split a pie called the "caprina." It had tomato sauce, goat cheese, roasted peppers, mozzarella, and cherry tomatoes--an appetizing combination.

Since I went into it with such low expectations, I was plesantly surprised. I found it to be a pretty reasonable pie.

Gary was a bit chagrined that he bit into a slice and a cherry tomato exploded all over him. He wiped his cheek and lips, looked around the restaurant to make sure no one noticed, and then continued eating.

He thought the first slice (the one with the exploding tomato) tasted bland, but the second slice he was able to taste a good combination of goat cheese, tomato sauce and peppers.

Overall, I thought the pizza was flavorful and the crust was decent. I wouldn't call it the best pizza in the city, but it certainly wasn't the worst. (How's that for a wishy washy review?)

Liza's rating: 2.5 stars
Gary's rating: 3.0 stars

Moroni & Brothers-- Petworth

2009-03-02T08:37:00.010-05:00

Since I have a snow day today (YAY!), Gary says I must write our latest blog entry.

Yesterday Gary and I made a visit to our financial planner. She says that I should not cry because my IRA has lost half its value. She says that recessions are good. She says that the economy partied too much, and this is just the hangover. She says that it won't last forever.

She said a lot of other stuff too, but mostly I sat there for an hour and a half thinking, "I need a drink."

After we left our financial planner's office in Silver Spring, we drove down Georgia Avenue through the Petworth neighborhood. First, we stopped at Safeway to pick up a couple groceries. This ended up being an hour long ordeal, since DC residents go a little nuts before a snow storm, and folks were stocking up like they were entering a bomb shelter for the next three months.

By the time we left, I was hungry. No, make that starving. When I am hungry, I am grouchy, as Gary can well attest. He knew he had to get some food in my belly ASAP. Therefore, we stopped at the first place we saw-- Moroni & Brothers Restaurant.

Moroni & Brothers had the odd combination of brick oven pizza and Latin American fare. The ambience was not like your typical pizza joint-- the Spanish language version of American Idol was on TV, and the lighting was dark. Gary was none too pleased that we sat at a table with a dirty tablecloth. But, they had plenty of City Papers on hand for browsing before the meal-- and I did! Sorry Gary, I was just too grouchy to chat at that point.

We each ordered a glass of the "Rosso" Venti, which was described as a pizza wine. Pro-- only $4 a glass! Con-- it was served cold. Call me a wine snob, but red wines are supposed to be room temperature, or just a bit cooler. I am just saying. But actually the wine was pretty good once it warmed up a bit.

We ordered the primavera pie, which had mushrooms, red onions, and green pepper. I thought the pizza had a nice crust thanks to the wood brick oven, and the toppings were decent.

Gary was perplexed why each of his slices seemed to have different flavors (not that there's anything wrong with that). His first slice was dominated with a strong green pepper flavor. In another slice, he noticed a strong tomato sauce flavor, which had a spicy bite to it. Later, he was impressed with the flavor of the mushrooms on another slice.

Other than that, Gary thought Moroni's had basic pizza fare.

He also commented that primavera pizza usually consists of more vegetables than just musrooms, onions and green pepper. How about some spinach? Tomatoes? Broccoli? Let's get creative, people!

Despite Gary's misgivings, we both finished off the pie--four slices each--which is a testament to how hungry we were.

All in all, Moroni & Brothers was a good find. I left much happier with a full belly. And in this economy, when you can spend $30 on a meal for two, including tax and tip, that's a winner in my book.

Liza's rating: 2.5 stars
Gary's rating: 2.0 stars

Faccia Luna, Alexandria

2009-02-20T22:00:00.014-05:00

Every once in a while, I like to surprise Liza with a "mystery date." Basically, I announce that we're going out to dinner and I don't tell her where we're going.

As we drive to our destination, I try to trick her, swerving the car to suggest that we are going in one direction when actually we are going elsewhere. Then I swerve the other way, back on course.

This is not safe, but I think it's funny.

Liza has a theme song for these dates: "Where in the World is Gary Taking Liza," sung to the theme song of "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego."

So on Friday evening, I was driving to Old Town Alexandria as Liza was singing her tune. On Washington Street, there is a pizza place called Faccia Luna. Best I can tell is that the Italian translation of Faccia Luna is "Face On the Moon."

Faccia Luna apparently evolved from an idea by two frat boys from Penn State. When told of this, Liza the Michigan State grad uttered "Boooooooo."

The restaurant is a chain with branches in Arlington, Scranton, Pa., and State College, Pa. The original D.C. location was in Northwest on Wisconsin Avenue, not far from where I used to live pre-Liza.

Faccia Luna calls itself an urban trattoria and it specializes in wood-oven pizzas. I like the layout of the restaurant. You can actually get a booth, and thus some privacy, instead of sitting side by side with complete strangers. The restaurant has an Italian feel, with pictures of daily life in Rome, Venice and other Italian locales framed on the wall.

Liza and I were seated at a booth. She ordered a pinot noir while I had a chianti. Then we ordered a Caesar salad and a Pomodoro pizza. The Pomodoro has fresh tomatoes and garlic, and we asked for some basil as well. (The menu, incidentally, also has some pasta dishes.)

First comment is on the Caesar salad. Now I know this is a Pizza Blog, but can I say this was one of the weakest Caesar salads I've ever had. The lettuce was kind of worn and there wasn't much dressing. Liza was equally unenthusiastic, calling it "average." Not a promising start to this meal.

The pizza arrived seconds after we were done with salad. It was cut into six slices, enough for the two of us.

Cooked in a wood oven, the pizza crust was very well done. Despite the toppings, the crust didn't droop and didn't fall apart after a bite or two. Tasty, too.

I thought the tomatoes and mozzarella cheese had a real nice flavor. Then I took a bite of what had to be a garlic clove, or something.

All of a sudden, all I could taste was garlic.

I enjoyed the rest of the slices, particularly the tomato and basil flavor, but the garlic taste was not going away.

Hello, garlic breath.

Liza summed up our thoughts on this: "We ordered a garlic pizza, so what can you expect?"

If this were our first date, then we probably wouldn't be kissing afterwards. But since we're married, we can kiss to our hearts content.

*Smooch*

Overall, we both thought this was good, solid pizza. We liked the layout and atmosphere of the restaurant. Plus, with our garlic breath, we'll be able to fend off vampires and werewolves howling at the Face On the Moon.

Gary's Rating: 3 stars
Liza's Rating: 3 stars

Lost Dog Cafe & Gourmet Pizza Deli, Arlington

2009-02-15T22:11:00.008-05:00

Liza wants a dog. She wants a little Pomeranian that can hop around and cuddle with her. Unfortunately, we have signed a lease that does not allow pets on the premises.

Liza is sad about this, so of course she turns to comfort food...Pizza!

Lazing on a Sunday afternoon, we decided to head out for a pie. Liza wanted to check out the Lost Dog Cafe & Gourmet Pizza Deli in Arlington. Woof!

Now the Lost Dog Cafe is part of a charming strip mall--is that an oxymoron?--that also includes a restaurant called the Stray Cat Cafe. Same owner? Based on the restaurants' web sites, I would say Ruff Ruff!

We walk in through the deli entrance and must wait 10 minutes for a table. Grrr...

As we wait, I check out the impressive beer inventory on hand. There are the regulars, of course. And there's Dogfish Head India Brown Ale and Flying Dog Tire Bite Golden Ale. And there's a great selection from overseas, including Ireland, Germany, England, Belgium and Italy. Woof!

Finally seated, we take note of the decor while our waitress--freshman year in college is my guess--takes the order from a twosome who were seated after us. We see artwork of--what else?--dogs all over the wall. It's appropriate, of course. But nowhere did I see the classic "Dogs Playing Poker." What's up with that? Howwwwl!

We perused the menu and liked the variety of pizzas available as well as the clever names. There's the Popeye Pie (with spinach), the Big Red Pie (with lots of sauce), the Pitbull Pie (with pastrami, salami, pepperoni and red onions) and the Cattle Dog Pie (with beef barbecue). Arf!

Time to order. I order a Sierra Nevada pale ale and Liza settles on a Merlot. We each get a salad as an appetizer. Then we opt to split a Rin Tin Tin Pie. This has marinara sauce with sliced portabella mushrooms, spinach, red onions, red peppers topped with fresh mozzarella and basil on a wheat pizza crust. Woof Woof!

The pizza arrives in due time, a 12-incher separated in six slices. Nice job on the presentation and the toppings appear spread evenly throughout the pie. Ruff!

But I could tell right away slices were going to droop. I had to eat the first 2-3 bites of the slice with my knife and fork. (Pizza is meant to be eaten by hand, people!) I understand this can happen when there's marinara sauce and multiple toppings, but I expect pizza chefs to shrug that off and cook it well enough to minimize the droop. (We saw some other pies at adjacent tables that didn't have the dreaded droop, but they were mostly cheese pizzas.) Growl!

How about the flavor? The "homemade sauce" was tasty but not anything to bark about. Lots of mozzarella piled on--that's fine, but it may have added to the droopiness factor. I liked the spinach and mushroom flavor, but couldn't really taste the red peppers. Grr...

Bonus points go to Lost Dog Cafe for helping with pet rescue and linking to pet adoption services on their web site. Ruff Ruff!

In the end, we decided this pizza is better than eating a dog bone but not quite worth the wag of a tail.

Gary's rating: 2.5 Stars
Liza's rating: 2.5 Stars

Pizzeria Paradiso-- Georgetown

2009-01-25T20:47:00.003-05:00

We’re back. After an unintended hiatus, your favorite pizza bloggers are here with a new review. Feels like forever since we consumed some 'za. Let's eat!

Sunday afternoon, Liza and I made our way to Georgetown for lunch and a movie. Saw “Slumdog Millionaire.” We liked it well enough. Feeling generous, I’d give it three stars.

Afterwards, we walked a couple blocks to Pizzeria Paradiso on M Street.

Pizzeria Paradiso has a rep as one of the best pizza joints in D.C., so we were expecting the best. This is Neapolitan pizza.

This restaurant has a very cozy feel, kind of like sitting at the kitchen table at home. The wood-burning, domed stone oven is right there in the middle of the restaurant.

The tables are a little too close together, which is okay if you like to eavesdrop on conversations.

The wait staff wears shirts with "Eat Your Pizza" on the back. Okay. Will do. (Guess I'm a sucker for not-so-subliminal advertising.)

This is a bustling place, but we were quickly seated on this late Sunday afternoon.

Pizzeria Paradiso has an impressive beer menu. You had to sit and study the beer menu for 10 minutes before deciding. Liza went with some kind of apple beer that was a little too sweet and fruity for her taste. I had a dark Russian stout that was actually brewed in California. Hmmm...

We ordered a mixed green salad and followed that up with a Bosco Pizza.

The Bosco has tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, red onions and mozzarella cheese. Good mix of stuff.

The fine chefs at Pizzeria Paradiso say they put a lot of emphasis on their crust, and it shows. This was perfect crust--not too hard, not too soft. The toppings were generous, but not so much that the pizza drooped.

Liza enjoyed the crust so much that she poured a little olive oil on her plate and finished off her slices with a dip.

The pizza's flavor was excellent. You could taste the tomatoes in one bite, the spinach and red onions in another bite, the mushrooms in another bite.

I thought the tomatoes tasted great, but Liza thought they were a little bland.

Minor complaint, though. Said Liza: Pizzeria Paradiso is “consistently good,” and perhaps best of all, it “re-warms well.” (Liza had a leftover slice after we got home.)

This was a satisfying pizza.

Folks, believe the hype. If not the best pizza in D.C., then it’s among the best. Paradise!

Liza’s rating: 3.5 stars
Gary’s rating: 4 stars

Buddy's Pizza -- Metro Detroit, Michigan

2009-01-02T22:41:00.002-05:00

Gary and I went to my beloved Buddy's Pizza over the holidays. Doesn't that look like a little piece of heaven?

Matchbox-- Barrack's Row / Capitol Hill

2008-12-14T18:56:00.003-05:00

The long-awaited Matchbox opened last week on 8th Street in Barrack's Row. Gary and I tried to go there the night it opened, but the wait was an hour and a half (?!?) so we went somewhere else. Gary was out of town this weekend, and I was REALLY craving some pizza, so I decided to check it out myself.

We previously reviewed Matchbox in Chinatown about a year ago, and I thought the pizza was a-ight... not my favorite. One thing I do like about Matchbox pizza, though, is the spicy tomato sauce. Tonight I ordered a tomato, basil and mozzarella pizza, and the sauce did not disappoint. Although the pizza was a little cold when I got it-- I think they are still working out some service kinks-- overall I thought this pizza was better than the one I had in Chinatown. The crust was nice and crispy, and the toppings were tasty.

I'm looking forward to going back soon with Gary.

Liza's rating: 3.0 stars

Obama's Favorite Pizza?

2008-11-16T19:54:00.003-05:00

So what is the favorite pizza of DC's newest resident?

Apparently it is Italian Fiesta Pizza in Hyde Park.

The Ritz in Washington D.C. is paying to fly the pizzeria's owners to the nation's capitol for the inauguration expo to be held there next week to serve their pizza there. A month before the election, owner Patti Harris-Tubbs got a phone call from the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C., asking if she would be willing to come to the nation's capital to make her pizza if Obama won. She thought it was a joke, Harris-Tubbs when Obama won, the hotel e-mailed back, offering to fly her and her husband out to serve their pizza next week at the Presidential Inauguration Expo, which is an event designed to preview the food that will be served at inauguration time in January.

Capitol Lounge-- Capitol Hill

2008-11-02T19:58:00.008-05:00

Another Sunday, another Lions loss.

Today started as a nice, lazy Sunday... since the Redskins play on Monday Night Football, we were able to sleep in (extra hour for daylight savings-- woot woot!), go out for breakfast, and generally hang out all day. I was listening to the Lions on the radio online, and at halftime, the Lions were actually WINNING! So we thought-- hey, let's go watch the rest of the game!

We ventured out to Capitol Lounge on the Hill and staked out a seat at the bar. Not surprisingly, the Lions weren't on any TVs, but the nice bartender lady switched the game on for us. Also not surprisingly, the Lions had one of their usual epic 4th quarter collapses. Sigh.

But, on to more important matters. If we're watching football, we gotta get some beer and pizza. We ordered a pie with mushrooms and onions, and Gary got a Capitol Amber beer.

This pizza was huge-- eight large slices, and we only ate half and were stuffed. The crust was a little floppy, which is a pet peeve of Gary's. The cheese was a tad on the rubbery side. And there was a good helping of grease on the pizza, making napkins a necessity after every bite. The toppings were pretty tasty, though.

As for the Amber... Gary says, "it was okay... it was beer." Not something to write home about, apparently.

As a football watching venue, Capitol Lounge was a little... strange. There were a lot of TVs, but several of them were teeny tiny. For some reason they attracted the most uninspired fans I have ever seen. We sat next to two Titans fans who were watching the thrilling ending of their game against the Packers, and all these guys could muster was, "Hmmm, well, they really need to get into position so Bironas can kick a field goal." And after the winning field goal was kicked? "Cool man, we're 8 and 0." Come on people, where's the passion?!?! I was getting more fired up about my 0-8 team, geeeeeeeeeez!

Liza and Gary's rating: 1.5 stars

Uno's at Union Station-- Capitol Hill

2008-10-12T17:04:00.004-04:00

The economy's tanking, folks, so Liza and Gary's weekly date night is getting scaled down. This means that this week, we went for dinner and a movie at Union Station. At least we didn't get take out pizza at the food court-- we went upstairs to Uno for a sit-down meal. But, we did forgo the alcohol. You know that these are tough economic times when I pass up a chance for a nice adult beverage with a pizza pie!

I used to adore Uno's, and I was all excited last year when Top Chef did a "create a deep dish pizza" challenge at the restaurant. But, the pizza there is getting more and more disappointing. We split a deep dish pie, and it was okay, but pretty much flavorless. It made me wish I was back in Maui at BJ's. (Well, there's lots of reasons I'd rather be in Maui, but that's just one of them.)

Uno's is phoning it in.

Liza and Gary's rating: 2.0 stars

Coppi's Organic Restaurant -- U Street

2008-09-20T16:57:00.005-04:00

We finally made our way back to Coppi's, located in the U Street area in Washington, D.C.

Now as soon as you walk into Coppi's, you are assaulted with photos of bicycles and bike races, as well as racing jerseys, all over the wall. Forgive our ignorance, Italians! Both Liza and I were perplexed on this. What's up?

Now I knew that the Italians were big on cycling, thanks to one of my all-time favorite movies--a true classic!--"Breaking Away" directed by Peter Yates in 1979. The main character, played by Dennis Christopher, idolized the Italian race team.

He signed up for a cycle race at Indiana University, and he recruited his three friends, played by a very young Dennis Quaid, a very young Daniel Stern and, of course, Jackie Earle Haley who was best known as Kelly Leak from the 1970s "Bad News Bears" movies.

They were called the Cutters, because they cut school apparently, and they showed those rich, arrogant college jerks a thing or two about guts, grit and heart. *Pounds Chest* This is a 4 star movie, folks.

Back to Coppi's--the restaurant. As soon as we got home, I googled Coppi and discovered Fausto Coppi was a legendary Italian cyclist from the 1940s and 50s. He twice won the Tour de France. He won the Giro d'Italia five times.

So Coppi's is essentially a shrine to good 'ol Fausto. Bonus points to Coppi's for uniqueness. The restaurant has a very Italian feel, an authentic feel. It's a little dark, but that adds to a warm atmosphere. We like.

We sat down and ordered an obligatory glass of wine. We each ordered a salad and decided to split the Melanzane, which includes roasted eggplant, cremini mushroom, and red pepper, with smoked mozzarella and baby artichoke.

Now sometimes when you eat eggplant, it can taste somewhat bland. For example, when I eat eggplant parmigiana, I usually pour on the gravy (that's what the Italians call red sauce) because eggplant doesn't always have a distinct flavor.

The lack of flavor was noticeable in Coppi's Melanzane. There wasn't any sauce, so regrettably this pizza wasn't very tasty. Couldn't taste the 'shrooms or the red peppers. The smoked mozzarella was the only discernable flavor.

Crust was fine, but the pizza was a little droopy as well.

Maybe the chef was having an off-night. Both Liza and I have been to Coppi's before, in the pre-Blog era, and found their pizza to be high quality.

Coppi's gets bonus points for going organic with its food. They offer only the freshest "in season" ingredients in their food, which is good. Their food is inspired from the Ligurian Riviera in Northern Italy. I shrug. "Never heard of it," Liza says. Forgive our ignorance, Italians!

We'd go back to Coppi 's for the atmosphere and authenticity, but in terms of taste, Coppi's Melanzane pizza was lacking on this day.

Gary's Rating: 2.5 stars
Liza's Rating: 2 stars

Arrivederci!

$2500 Pizza?!?

2008-09-17T22:20:00.005-04:00

Yes, a family was charged $2500 for a pizza at none other than Pizza Hut. Admittedly, I do have a soft spot in my heart for Pizza Hut's greasy disgusting deliciousness... but still. 2 Gs? I think not.

Why I Love Carolyn Hax

2008-08-29T14:48:00.003-04:00

From today's chat on the WaPo:

washingtonpost.com: Passing along a request from our Food Section friends
-- Do you love food but your significant other doesn't? Or vice versa? Does it
cause frustration/arguments when one of you wants to eat in a fancy restauarant
or cook a monumental dinner and the other would be just as happy with a pizza?
The Food section is working on a story and is looking for D.C.-area locals who
face this problem. If interested, please email your story, name and contact to food@washpost.com.

Carolyn Hax: Why fight when there's a clear compromise? A monumental
pizza.

Sequoia-- Georgetown Waterfront

2008-08-29T12:39:00.005-04:00

I can't tell you how much I love the last two weeks of August in DC. Congress goes on vacation and the city clears out. You can get a table at any restaurant in the city. You can find a seat on the Metro. And yes, dear readers, you can even find street parking in Georgetown. We're talking, multiple spaces, people!

And the last week in August also brings another special occasion-- my birthday. Imagine my chagrin when I looked at the Redskins schedule and saw that they had a boring, meaningless, stupid preseason game scheduled on my birthday. This, of course, means that Gary had to work. BOOOO. But-- a light in the darkness! My friend Nicole chose that day to have a party for her own 30th birthday. So, I took advantage of this small window of parking opportunity to drive down to Sequoia to help her celebrate.

I'd never been to this restaurant, but I have to say it's one of the prettiest I've seen in DC. The large windows facing the waterfront and the Kennedy Center make it a beautiful place for a party. And, it was basically empty. (Did I mention I love this time of year??)

After perusing the menu, I came upon... pizza. They do a grilled variety, which I have already sung the praises of in this blog. Nicole ordered a margherita pizza, and I had to try a piece... strictly for blogging purposes, of course.

It had an oblong shape, evoking a New Haven-style pie. It had nice smoky grill marks on the bottom of the crust. But the pizza tasted... okay. Nothing to get excited about. Nicole said that it tasted like "one of those pizza kits you get at the grocery store for $4.99." That's not exactly what I would call a rousing endorsement.

My advice: go to Sequoia for the view, not for the pizza.

Liza's rating: 1.5 stars

Mexican Pizza!

2008-08-22T19:02:00.006-04:00

We had dinner at Steph and the Chef's last night, and they made Mexican pizza. It sounds kinda strange... but this stuff was awesome. This was an Emeril recipe and it was fantastic!

This also gives us an opportunity to plug our new blog: Guinea Pig Dinners. Our friends and I will try out new recipes on each other, and blog about the results. The first dinner had a Mexican theme. Let us know what you think!

Pizza-Making Fun!

2008-08-20T22:05:00.009-04:00

Liza's brother and his family are visiting from Detroit this week. In between visits to the Capitol, White House, Air and Space Museum, etc, they came over to our house for dinner tonight. On the menu... well, PIZZA, of course! Our niece Erin became an expert pizza maker. Her explanation is here:

Our pizzas turned out beautifully!

This time, we made the dough from scratch using the snazzy Kitchenaid stand mixer we got as a wedding gift. This is the recipe we used, and it worked well! If you don't have a stand mixer, just knead by hand.

KitchenAid Crusty Pizza Dough
Source: KitchenAid Mixers Recipe Book
Yield: one 14-inch pizza

1 pkg. active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (105 F to 115 F)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. olive oil
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups flour
cornmeal

Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed bowl. Add salt, olive oil and 2 1/2 cups flour. Attach bowl and dough hook. Turn to speed 2 and mix 1 minute.

Continuing on speed 2, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough clings to hook and cleans sides of bowl. Knead on speed 2 for 2 minutes.

Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover; let rise in warm place, fee from draft, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Punch down.

Brush 14-inch pizza pan with oil; sprinkle with cornmeal. Press dough across bottom of pan forming a collar around edge to hold filling. Top with desired fillings. Bake at 450 F for 15-20 minutes depending on oven.

NOTE: We divided the dough to make three small pizzas. We baked it at 500 F on a pizza stone for 7 minutes.

Chef Geoff-- Downtown

2008-08-18T18:06:00.003-04:00

Ahhh, I love the summer. It's the time of the year for the beach, barbecues, and basically doing all those things that I'm not able to do during the school year. For me, this means being a Lady Who Lunches. So, Steph and I decided to put on some cute Ladies Lunching outfits, grab our sassiest purses, and head out to Chef Geoff's for a weekday meal and a nice glass of wine.

And while it may not be a Lady Who Lunches thing to do, I decided I would partake in one of their pizza pies.

Actually I thought the pizza tasted okay. But I have to say, the presentation left something to be desired. It was a good sized pizza, but it looked like the cheese and veggies had just been slopped on there as an afterthought. This was offensive to my pizza loving sensibilities. If you're going to put it on the menu, then you have to RESPECT THE PIE.

Liza's rating: 2.0 stars

BJ's Chicago Pizzeria-- Maui, Hawaii

2008-08-03T18:20:00.003-04:00

Well, we're back from our honeymoon and frankly, we wish we were still there. Maui and Kauai were both incredible. But, we had to come back to DC sometime, because our beloved blog was being sorely neglected.

But you wouldn't expect us to spend a whole vacation without trying at least one new pizza place, would you? Of course not.

So, one night when we were in Maui, we ventured out to Lahaina town for dinner. We were told that the best pizza there was at a place called BJ's. Don't have to tell us twice-- we were all over it.

Bj's has Chicago style, deep dish pizza. Now, I absolutely LOVE a good deep dish pie. Gary is not as much of a fan, but he was game.

This is kind of a blurry picture (but you can see Gary's wedding ring glinting in the background... awwwwww) but it shows how this pizza has stewed tomatoes on the top-- yummy. The crust was fabulous and it was hot and gooey, just like a good deep dish pizza should be.

I was a huge fan. Gary liked it, but Chicago style is not really his thing. But, we'd both recommend this pizza place if you are lucky enough to find yourself in west Maui!

Liza's rating: 4.0 stars
Gary's rating: 3.0 stars

2008-07-14T00:43:00.000-04:00

Your favorite bloggers are gettin' HITCHED!

2008-06-19T18:43:00.002-04:00

That's right kids, your favorite pizza bloggers are off to get married! I'm heading out to Detroit tomorrow, and Gary will be flying there on Tuesday... and then next weekend... we're tying the knot! So, the blog will be on hiatus while we're getting ready for the wedding and going to Hawaii for our honeymoon. We'll have lots of pizza adventures to share when we return, I'm sure... till then, have a great summer and keep eating PIZZA!

Grilled Pizza-- Verdict = Yummmmmmmmmmmm

2008-06-01T08:44:00.003-04:00

This week we found out that our friends Steph and the Chef were making some pizza on the grill, so naturally we invited ourselves over to partake in the taste-testing. Turns out that grilled pizza is delicioso! Check out this pie: mushrooms, artichokes, red pepper, and mozzarella cheese. It tasted as good as it looks!

Summer's here... time for grilled pizza!

2008-05-28T06:45:00.000-04:00

Gary and I just went to our first BBQ of the summer on Memorial Day, and we're looking forward to more food on the grill throughout the summer. We might need to try out some grilled pizza... check out this great article in this morning's Washington Post.

Happy Summer, everyone!

Jumbo Slice-- Adams Morgan

2008-05-18T18:16:00.005-04:00

Is there anything better at 2:00 AM than a Jumbo Slice? I think not.

Pete's Apizza-- Columbia Heights

2008-05-02T18:50:00.005-04:00

I'll start off this blog entry by saying that we know it's not really fair to review a restaurant the first week it's open. But we couldn't wait to try out Pete's Apizza, a new place serving New Haven style pizza. Gary and I have previously reviewed Comet Ping Pong, another local place that features New Haven pies... could Pete's measure up? Your bloggers were ready to find out!

We ventured out to Columbia Heights last Wednesday night. Even though it was only the third night it was open, Pete's was packed. All the tables were filled, people were standing around, and staff was running around frantically. We stood awkwardly at the door for a while until I finally asked another patron what the deal was. She said we needed to go up to the counter to order.

There's a large board with the menu above the counter, but unfortunately it was too small to read. Luckily there were takeout menus available, though. We decided that the prices for a full pie were a little steep ($20ish for an 18 inch), so we each got some cheese slices and a salad.

We got a number and found a seat, and runners came around with the pizza. The whole situation was pretty chaotic. Gary tried to get another slice at one point, but "5 minutes" for a New Haven pizza (white pizza with clams) to come out of the oven turned into 20... we finally left.

But these types of glitches are probably to be expected the first week. Unfortunately, the quality of the pizza suffered as a result. Our slices were cold and frankly, not very good at all. New Haven pizza is known for its crispy crust, but this crust was bland and undercooked. The sauce had a weird aftertaste. To me, this pizza was not at all reminiscent of New Haven pizza (and I lived there for two years, so I know what I'm talkin' 'bout!).

Hopefully Pete's can get some of its issues worked out in the coming months. Until then, Liza and Gary's rating is: Incomplete.

Capitol City Brewing Company-- Capitol Hill

2008-04-20T18:47:00.007-04:00

Liza's middle school holds an annual Faculty and Board vs. 8th Grade basketball game every spring. So on April 18, she joined her spirited co-workers at Gonzaga High School in Washington, D.C. for the pivotal matchup.

Now the Faculty team consisted of fully grown men and women, including one gentleman who had to be 6-5 and 220 pounds. The 8th Graders were challenged in size, but they had speed and a few sharp-shooters. It's the classic matchup of size vs. speed!

It was the 8th Graders who rushed out to a 21-6 lead, nailing down three pointers to the delight of the parents in attendance. Finally, the Faculty figured out that if they walked the ball down the court and passed it to the big dude underneath the basket, this would be "Cupcake City, Baby!" (Dick Vitale homage.) The Faculty settled down and came back to take a 53-48 lead late in the fourth quarter.

But in the last few minutes, the Faculty collapsed and the 8th Graders scored the final nine points to win 57-53. Students and parents rushed the court in celebration! "Unbelievable, Baby!"

Ah, but this was all in good fun. After the game, Liza and I, plus three members of the Faculty, headed to nearby Capitol City Brewing Company on Capitol Hill, right across from Union Station, for a beer and a bite.

In terms of beer, we ordered as per our heritage. I had a Dark Irish Stout, while Liza ordered a Hefeweizen, a fine German beer.

Pizza was on the menu, and we decided to split a 12-incher. They only had three options for pizza, and we opted for the Vegetarian with 'shrooms, tomatoes, cooked onions and cheese.

I had low expectations for this pizza, as I figured it would be typical bar food.

I was right. This was sub-par pizza.

First of all, they had cut the round pizza into four big slices--which I hate. No matter the size, I like my pizzas to have more than four slices. Eight is normal, six is fine. But four? I feel ripped off, somehow.

In terms of quality, let's start with the crust. It was terrible. It was tasteless. This was an extra thin crust reminiscent of crust in store-bought pizza. (Elio's, anyone?)

I picked up my first big slice and the whole thing drooped, with the pizza toppings falling off. Arrrrgggghhhh!

The pizza had a good tangy taste courtesy of the tomatoes. But the carmelized onions didn't really add any flavor, strangely enough. And I could barely taste the 'shrooms. All in all, it was a very bland pizza topping on a terrible crust.

Liza agrees that "the crust of the pizza was horrible."

"It was like eating pizza on a tortilla," she said.

'Nuff said. Go to Capitol City Brewing Company for beer, not pizza.

Gary's Rating: 1.5 stars
Liza's Rating: 1.5 stars

Mia's Pizza -- Bethesda

2008-04-20T08:46:00.004-04:00

A few weeks ago, Gary and I ventured up to Montgomery County to visit a financial planner as we get ready to join our money-- and lives!-- together. (Wedding in 70 days... wowza!) Since I've wanted to go there for a while, we took this as a great opportunity to head to Mia's for dinner.

I'd just like to note that traffic in Bethesda at rush hour is a nightmare. Okay, now that that's out of the way, on to pizza...

We got some salads, and split a margherita pizza (my favorite). We sat right next to the big wood burning oven, and the pizza came to us hot, topped with a little drizzle of olive oil around the crust right before serving. It was cut into four giant slices.

I enjoyed the pizza from Mia's. It had a nice crispy crust and good flavor.

Gary would like to note that Mia's had the nicest smelling restrooms he has ever encountered.

But what about the pizza? Gary feels that it was not that memorable. It was a nice pie, but didn't have anything "wow" about it.

All in all, we would go to Mia's again if we were up in Bethesda. Would we fight traffic to get there? Probably not.

Liza's rating: 3.0 stars
Gary's rating: 2.5 stars

The Great Pizza Cookoff!

2008-04-09T20:45:00.046-04:00

This entry will be a departure for the blog... we're going to rate some homemade pizza! Gary and Liza were all jazzed about getting this shower gift: an All-Clad Pizza Stone. So, we decided to invite our bocce team over for a pizza cookoff... The Pizza Olympics, if you will. With 5 pizzas to sample, we felt like we had completed a pentathalon by the end of the night.

Each of the eight participants scored all pizzas (except his/her own)on a 5 point scale in the categories of flavor, creativity, and presentation with a possible total of 15 points.
Each team used the same dough, purchased from A. Litteri.

So without further ado, here are the challengers, their pizzas, and the average scores for each:

Liza and Gary's Butternut Squash Pizza
First up was our pizza. The pizza stone cooked the crust perfectly, if we do say so ourselves. It was crisp on the bottom and a little chewy on the side. We started by roasting some butternut squash, cremini mushrooms, yellow onions, and rosemary with a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. We then put the cooked mixture on the pizza, added some pecorino and parmesan cheese, and baked for about 10 minutes. A little cornmeal helped slide the pizza on and off the stone.

Some of the comments:

"I didn't think I'd like it because I'm a picky eater... liked it more than I thought"

"Squash surprisingly delicious"

Average point total: 12.06

Shannon and Justin's Girl Pizza
Justin calls this a "girl pizza" because it doesn't have any meat on it. But it has lots of veggie goodness. Shannon started by precooking the crust for 5 minutes after sprinkling it with a little Italian seasoning. The pizza had a base of alfredo sauce. Next came a layer of spinach, lots o' cheese, onion, artichokes, and Roma tomato slices.
Comments ranged from "A lot of cheese! (too much for me)" to "YAY Cheese!" Liza thinks the spinach made this pizza.

Average point total: 11.66

Chef and Steph's Thin Crust Pizza
You may remember Neil (aka Chef) and Steph from a previous blog entry at Cafe Pizzaiolo in Arlington. They arrived and quickly got to work on crafting their pizza, a thin crust offering that was perfect
considering most pizzas were more on the bready side. Their pizza included roasted red peppers, tomato sauce, salami, fresh mozzarella and fresh basil.
This was some fine 'za. First, it got consistently strong marks on presentation, including two 5s! The sauce had a tangy flavor that was accentuated wih the roasted red peppers and maybe even the salami.

Some of the comments:

"Good taste, but not enough cheese."

"Too salty."

Gary enjoyed this pizza a lot, so he wants to add that he liked this pizza better than the one at Cafe Pizzaolo!

Average Point Total: 11.66

"The Beast": Warren's Enchilada Pizza

As soon as Warren arrived, he quietly began work on his pizza concoction. Other competitors kept a wary eye as Warren laid on a base of enchilada sauce. Then he added some munster cheese, chicken, orange pepper...(woah, this pizza is getting wild and crazy)...red onion, green chiles and cheddar cheese.

He used the pizza stone to cook it in the oven. After 10 minutes, he pulled his concoction out and added fresh cilantro and dashes of sour cream. It looked like a Jackson Pollock painting...

Liza admitted she was a little scared of Warren's "Beast" before she took a bite. To her surprise, she liked it!

Warren's pizza drew big-time points for creativity. He earned a whopping six 5's for creativity, but also a 1. Like Liza, Gary was also pleasantly surprised at the pizza and definitely detected a Mexican flavor, which was the point. (Someone take this recipe to Banana Cafe!) Unfortunately, it appears Warren lost points for presentation after a mishap trying to get the dough on the pizza stone. However, the pizza stone was useful in another category-- the crust was excellent, and he earned solid marks for flavor... and that's what really matters.
Comments:

"How can something so hideous taste so good?"

"Loved the cilantro taste. It made the pizza."

Average Point Total: 11.24

Kate's Goat Cheese Pizza
By the time Kate's pizza came around, we were all pretty stuffed. Unfortunately, I think her scores suffered a bit as a consequence. However, she still had a pretty fierce pizza. It was a thin crust pizza with a base of tomato sauce and topped with red pepper, red onion, goat cheese, and parmesan. (A plan to add bacon was aborted at the last minute when it seemed that it didn't travel too well.) The goat cheese gave this pizza a nice tangy zip.

As one judge stated, "Goat cheese is the perfect dessert."

Average Point Total: 11.08

So overall, the pizza cookoff was a smashing success. Not a dud in the bunch! So, faithful readers, are there any pizzas here you might try at home? Do you have a favorite pizza that you like to make?

Adventures in Pizza Bloggerville

2008-04-04T19:36:00.001-04:00

Hi faithful blog readers... we've been busy with all manner of wedding stuff, so we've been a bit neglectful of the blog. However, we have not been stopping our pizza travels! A couple of highlights (and lowlights):

On March 7, we traveled up to Gaithersburg to go to our Engaged Encounter weekend. Engaged Encounter is a program run by the Catholic Church where you go with your fiance and talk about your feelings and get all ready for marriage and stuff. Actually we thought the program was good, but even a lovey dovey couple like us have a limit to how much touchy-feely talk we can take.

Before we arrived at the lovely hotel, we stopped at a little place called Sam's Pizza and had some 'za. It was... eh. Your basic takeout pizza. Lotsa cheese and bland sauce.

It seems unfair to criticize this little hole-in-the-wall joint (which has plenty of other fare on the menu)...but...hey, if you serve pizza, you better be prepared to serve the best.

I (Liza) had the pleasure of going to Michigan for my spring break last week... my family threw me a really lovely shower. The best part: VEGGIE PIZZA was on the menu!

And not just any pizza, but Detroit style pizza. If you've never had a Detroit square, you absolutely must have one before you die. It's deep dish, but not Chicago style... it's better. Trust me on this. Look at this picture of pizza deliciousness!!

While I was in the Big D, I also stopped at Buddy's Pizza for lunch. This pizza ranks as one of my favorites of all time... if you ever find yourself in the Detroit area, stop in!

Back locally, Gary and I had a pizza from Bistro Italiano, in Capitol Hill near Union Station, a couple weeks ago. I was all jazzed to find a cute little Italian place in the neighborhood. We went there for dinner and saw about a million people come in for takeout pizza. I was optimistic--have we found our new neighborhood pizza place?

So we got takeout a few days later, and alas... not so good. In fact, it was kinda bad. It was a good-sized pizza, but the sauce had no flavor. The crust was floppy. We were bummed.

Sam's pizza: 1.5 star
Bistro Italiano: 1.0 star
Buddy's Pizza (Detroit): 4.0 stars

Sette Osteria -- Dupont Circle

2008-03-01T12:30:00.006-05:00

Last Wednesday night, we ventured out to Dupont Circle... or as Gary likes to call it, "The Pont". Gary insists that all the cool people in NW DC call it "The Pont" (or maybe it's "Da 'pont", I'm not sure). If there is anyone in DC who actually refers to Dupont Circle as "The Pont" in normal conversation (or in any conversation for that matter), kindly raise your hand now.

Mmmmmkay, didn't think so. Anyway, we had been to Sette Osteria for pizza in our pre-blog days and thought it was excellent, so we figured it was time for another visit to see if it was still living up to its previous standards.

Gary ordered a melanzane (eggplant, roasted red peppers, onions) pizza-- he's a big eggplant fan-- and I got a pizza called La Regina. Okay, here's my quibble with Sette Osteria. They have a "margherita" pizza that has mozzerella, tomato sauce, and basil. The La Regina pizza has buffalo mozzerella, tomato sauce, and basil. Peeps, a margherita pizza is supposed to have buffalo mozzerella! I am just saying.

Inaccurate naming aside, the La Regina was excellent. The cheese was fabulous, it had just the right amount of sauce, and it was flavorful and sweet. The crust was nice and crispy-- almost a little too crispy in my opinion. I like when there's a little chewiness to the crust. It was good for reheating, though.

Gary was served some mushroom pizza. We knew it was a mushroom pizza because the waitress said, "Mushroom pizza" before putting it in front of him (well, actually in front of me first... it was all quite confusing). Gary said, "I had the melanzane" and the waitress said, "Yes, that's the melanzane." Gary, being a dude, just shrugged and dug in. (It's food, right?) As he was about to take a bite, one of the runners swooped in and took the pizza and gave him the right one. I'm not sure what happened to the 'shroom pizza, but I think it got served to the lady next to us. At least Gary didn't put a big ol' bite into it!

Gary's review of the melanzane pizza: "I thought the pizza tasted excellent. Mine had a strong red pepper flavor that I liked, even though it kind of dominated the eggplant. But eggplant doesn't really have a strong flavor anyway. The quality of the pizza was top notch."

Gary goes on: "I liked the crust a lot. It was crispy, and not overdone. I also liked that the menu had a 'history of pizza' section. Who doesn't need a little reminder of the history of pizza? I know I do."

Gary's rating: 4 stars
Liza's rating: 3.5 stars

Busboys and Poets-- U Street

2008-02-17T21:31:00.005-05:00

We wanted to go to Coppi on U Street for some afternoon 'za on a chilly Sunday, but it turns out that it doesn't open until 5 p.m. on Sundays. Who can wait? Not us.

Just down the street is Busboys and Poets, a place Liza and I have been to before for peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Yes, you read that right. Liza is a devotee of PBBs, and while the combination seems a bit odd, I can testify that it's a pretty okay sanny.

So we walk in to Busboys and Poets.

In an instant, we are smothered in urban hipness. Those who know me understand that I am not the hippest of people, but I try hard. Let me tell you, my hipness quotient improved dramatically just being in Busboys and Poets.

This place is way cool--a combination bookstore and cafe and bar and restaurant. If I were 20 years younger, I'd be hanging out here every day drinking four cups of coffee and shots of Bailey's Irish Cream. There are comfy sofas scattered throughout the main area, a spacious back room with more tables, free Internet, a steady rhythmic musical beat and racy art on walls. Oddly enough, the movie comedy "Captain Ron" (not a classic) was playing on the one flat-screen TV above the bar...Now one might think this movie starring Kurt Russell and Martin Short is not very hip, but in retrospect, it's perfectly eclectic.

Busboys and Poets is more than its offerings, though.

It's the people. These are urban hipsters, a mix of all races and identities. These are young pros focused intently on their laptops, typing up reports that will almost certainly change the world (or at least provide us with better cell phone service). Pretty much the only type of people you wouldn't find in Busboys and Poets are Republicans.

It's about 2:30 p.m. on a Sunday, and Busboys & Poets is packed. There's a 30-minute wait for a table! As mentioned previously, this place is spacious, so to see it packed at the time of day was surprising--and a tribute to the hipsters of the world.

Liza, who is hip already, guided me through a maze of people to the bar. We sat down and perused the eclectic menu. Listed last: Pizza.

We were all over it.

Liza and I spent time on Saturday on a Virginia wine-tasting tour, so neither of us were in the mood for alcohol. I ordered a Sprite and Liza ordered a Diet Coke. Not very hip, I know.

Our friendly bartender took our order: Poet Pizza. As a literary devotee, I like the sound of that. It had portobello mushrooms, roasted red peppers and sundried tomatoes and garlic sauce.

One bite, and thoughts of the world's great poets raced through my mind: Yeats! Frost! Baudelaire!

Seriously, this was surprisingly good pizza. Lots of mushrooms and peppers piled on top, with the tomato and garlic sauce giving it a good tangy taste. I wasn't really that hungry when I walked into the restaurant, but I couldn't stop eating this pizza. Good stuff.

The pizza was a little greasy--one time a slice fell apart after one bite, and there were grease blotches all over the bar. Amazingly, none got on my clothes. Also, there was more crust than usual.

I can overlook these flaws, though.

Liza: "I liked the flavorful sauce, but I wasn't a big fan of the crust. It wasn't crispy enough. I liked that we were able to pay--including tax and tip--less than $25 for the entire meal."

Liza and Gary's rating: 3.5 stars

Super Cool!

Cafe Pizzaiolo-- Crystal City

2008-02-15T10:11:00.003-05:00

We have been bad bloggers and have neglected updating our beloved pizza blog recently. A couple weeks ago (has it been that long?!?) we went to Cafe Pizzaiolo in Crystal City, which came highly recommended from our friends Steph and Neil, who accompanied us.

We got there at noon on a Sunday, which was right when they opened. Ours were the first pies out of the oven. We ordered a margherita pizza and a pesto pizza.

Both pizzas were excellent, with a crispy crust and tasty ingredients. The margherita did not have buffalo mozzerela, just regular ol' mozzerella, so that was a drawback in my opinion. The pesto was very flavorful.

Steph mentioned that the crust did not seem as crispy as it usually did-- she speculated that it was because it was the first pizza of the day... kind of like how the first grilled cheese or first pancakes out of the pan are never as good.

We followed up with some wonderful gelato, and then headed off to see a movie at Potomac Yards.

All in all, a very solid pizza.

Liza, Gary, and Neil's rating: 3 stars

Steph's rating: 3.5 stars

Turkish Pizza!?! Cafe 8 -- Capitol Hill / Barrack's Row

2008-01-27T11:03:00.001-05:00

Gary and I had one of our first dates at Ellington's on Eighth (awwww), so we were a little sad to see it go. In its place popped up Cafe 8, a Turkish / Mediterranean place. We'd heard some good things about it from friends, so on Friday night (aka "date night") we decided to give it a try.

I loved the decor of the place-- it is actually much more inviting than Ellington's was, with warm colors and candles everywhere. We had a cozy table by the fireplace.

So, how does a Mediterranean restaurant make it into the pizza blog, you ask? Because Cafe 8, we found to our delight, has Turkish pizza! They are called pides (pronounced PEE-days) and they are kind of a cross between a pizza and a calzone. The pizza dough is spread out, the toppings are put inside, and the edges are folded over so it has an oblong shape, kind of like a little canoe, or an calzone with an opening. Another thing that makes it different than a traditional pizza is that it doesn't have sauce, but many of the varieties have tomato in it.

We had a pide with eggplant, olives, and a traditional Turkish cheese in it. I thought it was excellent. The crust/bread was soft and buttery, and the cheese was mild but flavorful.

Gary's thoughts: "It was good... but a little too bready... although the bread was good."

Personally, I loved Cafe 8. From the little appetizers (falafel, stuffed grape leaves, hummus) to the salad (feta, cucumbers, and tomatoes), to the baklava for dessert, everything was tasty. And as an added bonus, the prices were quite reasonable, which is hard to find in this town. Gary liked it too, but was a little less effusive in his praise. He didn't think the pides were very "pizza-y".

Cafe 8 does have a woodburning oven, and they actually have regular pizza on the menu, too. So perhaps we'll have to visit again and try the traditional pies.

Our scores for the Turkish pizza:

Liza: 3.5 stars
Gary: 3.0 stars

UPDATE: I had a "regular" pizza at Cafe 8, and it was pretty... eh. 1.5 stars. Stick with the pides!

Matchbox - Chinatown

2008-01-21T11:51:00.000-05:00

Saturday, January 19th was an important day for us. This is because 1-19-08 was designated "Liza and Gary's DAY OF FUN!!" (two exclamation points). Yes, it was going to be a day all about US. So of course, it included pizza! But we'll get to that in a minute.

The morning started out at the Bed, Bath, and Beyond in Chinatown. How is this fun, you ask? Well, because we were registering for gifts, that's why! This is why weddings rule-- you can actually go to the store, pick out stuff that you want, and then people go buy it for you. What the heck?!? This is the best thing since trick-or-treating, if you ask me. So we went around the store and Gary got to use this nifty little scanning gun to put all the stuff on the registry. (I think this was created specifically to get men into the store.) It was sa-weet... but I must tell you, even though it's awesome, even the greediest among us get a little gifted out after an hour or so of picking and scanning.

Seeing my enthusiasm starting to sag, Gary suggested we go around the corner to Matchbox to get some lunch. Pizza? I'm always in!

When I'm hungry I get a little grouchy, so the lunch did not start well when we had to wait for 20 minutes for a table-- not because there were no tables available, mind you, but because the hostess forgot about us. This is the kind of thing that burns me up, but Gary just laughed at me. Whatevs. (PS-- Gary said we didn't wait 20 minutes. Well... it FELT like 20 minutes, I'm just saying.)

But on to the pizza. We each got a (very yummy) salad and split a veggie pizza (are you sensing a veggie theme here?).

I thought the best thing about the pizza was the sauce. It was sweet but had a little bit of spicy zing to it. The vegetables had a nice roasted flavor. The crust, however-- I was not a fan. It was floppy and seemed rather undercooked, even though the edges were burnt. The crust didn't seem to rise at all. And-- the ultimate good crust test-- it did not reheat that well.

Gary described the crust as "rubbery and soft." He felt the sauce was a little too spicy. He did, however, like that the pizza was not too filling and left him ready to take on the rest of the DAY OF FUN!!.

So, feeling re-energized after our lunch at Matchbox, we went on to E Street Cinema to see Juno (two thumbs up), finish up our registry at BBB (we registered for a Dyson... YAY), head home for some movie watching (The Terminal with Tom Hanks... I give it an "eh"), and then out for drinks with friends that evening at a local pub.

All and all, a pretty damn good DAY OF FUN!!

But not the best pizza we ever had.

Gary's rating: 2.5 stars
Liza's rating: 2.5 stars

Armand's, Capitol Hill (Jan. 12)

2008-01-21T11:27:00.000-05:00

Ahhh, football season is almost over. Five grueling months come to an end. What better way to celebrate than to watch the AFC and NFC Divisional playoffs...(Playoffs? We're talking..Playoffs? Playoffs?)...with pizza and beer!

So I huddled in for an evening of football and fun at Liza's lovely abode. We phoned in an order for Armand's, known for its Chicago-style deep dish pizza. And we drank Dock Street, an excellent Philadelphia beer not easy to find in these parts. Good stuff, I'm tellin' ya'...

For Armand's, we ordered a medium vegetarian pizza, which included onions, 'shrooms and green peppers. The pizza delivery dude arrived fairly quick, so kudos.

On to the pizza...I'm an east coast boy, so I've never been a big fan of deep dish 'za. This was the first time I had Armand's and it was quality. It had just the right amount of sauce, with good, sweet flavor, and toppings. Very tasty. I ate two slices and I was stuffed.

Liza, your thoughts? "I liked that the sauce was a little bit sweet. I like the deep dish pizza. It has a substantial crust, which makes it good for re-heating."

True to word, Liza ate the rest of the pizza the following day, and commented that it "re-heats well."

For takeout, Armand's proved to be a fine choice.

One last comment from Gary: A few hours after eating the pizza, I did not feel too well. I had to lay down (which was fine, because football was on). My tummy was gurgling. Could have been the beer, but I doubt it. Liza felt fine, though, so we'll give Armand's the benefit of the doubt.

Gary rating: 3 stars
Liza's rating: 3 stars

Happy New Year from your DC Pizza Blog!

2007-12-30T09:54:00.000-05:00

Hello all,
It's been a great year of pizza and happiness. Now we just need your suggestions. What pizza places should we review in the new year? Two on my list are a place in Crystal City everyone's been telling me about... I want to say it's called Cafe Pizzaiola? And Mia's in Bethesda. Any others?

American Flatbread -- Ashburn, VA

2007-12-21T14:29:00.000-05:00

Ever since this place got a good review in the WaPo, I've been wanting to check it out. The problem? I hate the suburbs, and Ashburn is about as suburban as it gets. Now, I grew up in the 'burbs, mind you, so I am allowed to make fun. I just have one question for you suburbanites: why do you have such big cars? What the heck is that all about?

Anyway, my friend Maria, who has been living in Denmark, was stopping in DC for a couple days during her whirlwind Christmas tour of CONUS (which apparently refers to the "continental United States") and was staying in a hotel out by Dulles airport. And since Gary actually works out in BFE / Redskins Park / Ashburn VA, I thought, what better time to try out American Flatbread?

In spite of getting lost about a half dozen times (thanks Mapquest), and getting flipped the bird by two different guys (it's always a man, isn't it?) in gigantic automobiles, and me screaming, "I hate the *@#?!& suburbs!!" about twenty times along the way, we finally made it there in one piece.

The interior of the restaurant is really cute and cozy. We got a seat right next to the wood-burning oven, which was quite nice on a blustery winter night. AND-- we had no wait in the nearly empty dining room (okay, score one for the suburbs-- no wait-- NICE).

I like the philosophy behind the restuarant-- they use fresh, organic, locally grown ingredients. Always a good thing. And their menu items have funny names like "Evolution Salad" (which was quite good, I might add).

On to the pizza. Wait, no, it's not "pizza", it's "flatbread." Mmmkay. I don't know what the point of that is... but whatevs. We got a veggie one with mushrooms and carmelized onions, and a pepperoni and peppers one.

I can't say the pizza, er, FLATBREAD, was bad. But I can't really say it's good either. Whenever I asked Gary for his rating, he'd get a confused look on his face. I kept saying, "I don't get this pizza." I don't even know how to describe it, really. Maria, for her part, thought it was awesome. Apparently, the only pizza in Denmark is Pizza Hut, and it costs about a half a million dollars. And with the exchange rate with the Euro, that's nothing to sneeze at. I asked for Maria's rating, and she said, "Ten." I explained that the highest rating was four stars. She reconsidered, and said, "Ten." I think all those days of eating pastries and fish has muddled her palate.

The crust was really crunchy. It was kind of like eating a pizza on overcooked Cosi bread. Which isn't necessarily BAD, it's just weird. The toppings did taste fresh, and the onions were yummy. There wasn't a whole lot of sauce; in fact I could hardly taste it.

I guess my main issue with the pizza is that it sort of made me feel... blah. Like I ate a big brick of crusty bread. I didn't have my usual pizza afterglow. Sitting on my couch after we returned to the city, Gary looked over at me and said, "I'd make a pass at you, but I have a giant pizza sitting in my stomach." That pretty much sums it up.

So would I travel back out to the 'burbs for American Flatbread pizza? I'm thinking... no.

Liza and Gary's rating: 2 stars

Italian Pizza Kitchen -- Van Ness

2007-12-12T17:31:00.000-05:00

Last Friday Gary and I (yes, it's me Liza, back to writing the blog... AHEM GARY) ventured up to his neck of the woods and went to Italian Pizza Kitchen in Van Ness. Some friends of ours have been encouraging us to go there, and since we do happen to be DC's pizza experts, we decided to give it a try.

Let's just say right off that the service was horrible. And the restaurant was freezing. I had to wear my coat during the whole meal. This is not a good thing. But they were playing some old Italian movie on the wall, so that gave it some atmosphere, I guess.

But most important-- the pizza. I really liked the crust-- it was thick and chewy and crunchy. The toppings left a bit more to be desired; they didn't have a freshness that you'd expect on a quality pie. But the thick crust made it good for reheating the next day. In fact, I think I might have liked it better the next day. My suggestion for Italian Pizza Kitchen-- order takeout and save the leftovers!

Liza's rating: 2.5 stars
Gary's rating: 3.0 stars

Deeeeeeeeeetroit Pizza, y'all

2007-12-02T18:24:00.001-05:00

I know this is a DC pizza blog, but I found this commercial and couldn't help myself. Anyone who lived in the Detroit suburbs in the 70s will be singing along. Notice it's a square pizza, which is typical Detroit style 'za.

Comet Ping Pong, Upper NW DC

2007-11-24T10:46:00.000-05:00

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...

My pizza might actually love me

2007-11-14T20:15:00.000-05:00

My friend Sarah sent me this quote from Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert:

"...Before I left room he gave me the name of a pizzeria in Naples that I had to try because it sold the best pizza in Italy. I found this a wildly exciting prospect, given that the best pizza in Italy is from Naples, and the best pizza in the world is from Italy, which means that this pizzeria must offer...I'm almost too superstitious to say it...the best pizza in the world? So Sofie and I have come to Pizzeria da Michele, and these pies we have just ordered--one for each of us--are making us lose our minds. I love my pizza so much, in fact, that I have come to believe in my delirium that my pizza might actually love me, in return. I am having a relationship with this pizza, almost an affair. "

"Pizza Wars" in the Washingtonian

2007-11-13T17:18:00.000-05:00

Here's a pretty good article from the Washingtonian on the rise of "boutique" pizza parlors in DC:

Pizza Wars By Todd Kliman

Thanks to an explosion of boutique pizza places, 2 Amys and Pizzeria Paradiso are no longer the last word in tasty pies. Is this the start of a real Washington pizza culture? Or just a trendy boomlet?

Click here for the full article.

Red Rocks-- Columbia Heights

2007-11-05T19:56:00.000-05:00

We're nothing if not trendy, so when we saw Red Rocks reviewed in the WaPo, we had to try the pizza at this new hotspot. We're also nothing if not geographically challenged-- when I told Gary we were going up to Columbia Heights, he looked at me strangely and said, "Is that in DC?" Yes dear, that is in DC.

Red Rocks really is a cute little place. It's in a converted rowhouse. We sat upstairs, and Gary mused that "we're eating in what used to be someone's bedroom." Indeed. I suggest asking to be seated upstairs; the downstairs was LOUD and crowded. They have some great happy hour specials, which we just barely made under the wire (we had the $4 house wines).

Service was a little slow, but friendly. I was a bit put off by the fact that every piece of dishware on the table had a chip or crack in it. But I digress. The pizza...

... was fabulous. I had my usual margherita, and Gary had a pesto pie.

The margherita was perfection. The crust was thin, light, chewy; the sauce had both a tang and a sweetness to it, and the cheese was SO fresh. The pesto pizza was good too, but that margherita... I am getting hungry just thinking about it.

Liza's rating: 4 stars, yes, 4 stars, people!
Gary's rating: 3.5 stars

As an aside, we went to Wonderland, a bar just down the street, for a drink afterwards. THEY HAVE MS. PACMAN. This makes Wonderland the best bar ever.

Nicola's Trattoria-- Foggy Bottom

2007-10-26T16:15:00.000-04:00

Last night we went to dinner at this little Italian place called Nicola's, which is on 23rd Street NW between M and N. Since that's not really our neck of the woods, we probably would never have found it except for Open Table. If you're not using Open Table for reservations... why the heck not? We got 1000 Open Table points for dining at Nicola's, so we said... what the hey. We were up for a drive on a rainy Thursday evening...

We hadn't updated the blog for a while, so I (Liza) decided a pizza was in order. Gary got a pasta dish, and we split a salad.

I had some quibbles with the meal-- like, a slice of pear in the salad still had the grocery sticker on it... HELLO-- but Gary thought it was some of the best Italian food he's had in the city. I must admit, the pasta was super yummmmmmmmy.

However, the pizza fell flat. I ordered a 9" mushroom pizza, that had mozzerella, portobella mushrooms, garlic, and sundried tomatoes. Sounds great, right? Unfortunately the pizza was just bland tasting. The crust was not well cooked (it looked white) and it was floppy.

Gary liked the pizza better than I did, because he's having the leftovers for dinner tonight. I'll be flying off to Chicago, but I can't say I'll miss having it again.

Our summary review of Nicola's-- go for the pasta, but pass on the pizza.

Liza's review: 1.5 stars
Gary's (pizza) review: 2.0 stars

The Source-- Wolfgang Puck pizza now in DC! (and not the frozen kind)

2007-10-16T07:52:00.000-04:00

Monday night we ventured out to Wolfgang Puck's new restaurant, The Source, which is located downtown in the same building as the new Newseum. Since Puck is famous for his fancy-schmancy California pizzas, we decided to go sit at the bar, watch a little Monday Night Football, and try a couple of his chi-chi pizza pies.

There's a restaurant upstairs, but we sat at the bar in the lounge downstairs. It was kind of funny-- being a new restaurant, they were way overstaffed but yet we still got kind of odd service. It took us a while to flag down a bartender, and at the end of the evening she gave us dessert menus and then... left. No dessert for us. Bummer.

Apparently the staff is supposed to serve pizza slices with two forks put together like chopsticks. (Watching the staff actually try to accomplish this is rather humorous.)

But anyway, you might expect some service issues the first week a place is open. We didn't care, we were there for the 'za and MNF and Joey Harrington, because he's so dreamy. (<-- Only Liza thinks this! Signed, Gary)

Liza got the margherita, Gary got some fancy pizza with shrimp, pesto, peppers, and other goodies.

The margherita was okay. It was more of a California style, with tomato slices instead of sauce. The crust was thick-ish and chewy. The pesto pizza was SO flavorful. Really good stuff.

So for the first week on the job, The Source is doing just fine by us.

Liza's rating: 3 stars
Gary's rating: 3.5 stars

It's National Pizza Month!

2007-10-14T21:44:00.000-04:00

Did you know that October is National Pizza Month? In honor of the holiday, here's a few pizza facts:

National Pizza Month began in 1987.

The people of America eat around 350 slices of pizza each second, or 100 acres per day.

Pizza is a $30 billion a year industry.

In the U.S., there are about 61,269 pizza parlors.

Everyone in the United States eats about 23 lbs., or 46 slices, every year.

Each year in the United States, 3 billion pizzas are sold.

Children ages 3-11 prefer pizza over all other foods for lunch and dinner, according to a recent Gallup Poll.

36 percent of all pizza orders want their pizza topping pepperoni.

We consume around 251,770,000 pounds of pepperonis every year.

Americans prefer meat toppings to veggie toppings by a ratio of 62 to 100. Women order twice as many vegetable toppings than men.

Some popular pizza toppings in Japan are squid and Mayo Jaga (mayonaise, potato and bacon). In India they like pickled ginger, minced mutton and tofu. The people of Brazil prefer green peas for their topping. Russians serve pizza covered in mockba (a mix of sardines, tuna, mackeral, salmon and onions.)

Tom Sietsema likes 2 Amys, too

2007-10-13T10:21:00.000-04:00

2 Amys was reviewed in the Fall Dining Guide in the WaPo:

"Thanks to the arrival of American Flatbread in Ashburn, Bebo Trattoria in Arlington and Comet Ping Pong in Washington -- as well as the ongoing good work of Matchbox and Pizzeria Paradiso, both in the District -- pizza enthusiasts have more places than ever to dig into pies of distinction. Still, the place I gravitate to most often is 2 Amys, home to Neapolitan-style pizzas that are as good for their crusts (yeasty, crisp and blistered from a wood fire) as for their toppings (which run to such mouthwatering enhancements as chanterelles with squash blossoms and grana). Named for the wives of the two owners, 2 Amys isn't just about great pizza. To start, there are lovely "little things," including lemon-kissed fried mussels, and first-class charcuterie (salami-like cured boar is a current favorite). And I wouldn't dream of leaving without a bit of cheese or something sweet, maybe grapefruit panna cotta with a lashing of caramel sauce. The wine list brims with unusual finds (and truly helpful descriptions), and a mere question about one of them might prompt your server to pour you a gratis taste. Diners pay a price for the thrill of first-class dough, though: The main dining room, with its tile floors and pressed tin ceiling, bounces noise around. Discerning adults know to head for the more intimate bar in the back."

Papa John's at FedEx Field

2007-10-07T21:36:00.000-04:00

Okay, I have never been more hot than I was today. It is frickin' October, people, and I sizzled like a piece of bacon as I sat in the sun watching the Lions / Redskins game at FedExField. WTH? And on top of that, the Lions got whooped, 34-3.

Anyhoosle, I got a cheese slice at the field. The pizza is Papa John's and I split the slice with guest judge Jenn.

Any pizza you get in a stadium is rubbery. That's just the way it is. But, it had a decent crust and the sauce is sweet, which I like.

It's also a thick crust, which you don't find much outside the Midwest. (For more on the topic, check out this excellent blog, Slice.)

But, it's still stadium pizza. Okay for a nosh during the game but not something I'd go out of my way to find.

Liza's rating: 1.5 stars

Jenn's rating: 2.0 stars

PS-- Highlight of the day: I got to meet former Michigan State running back TJ Duckett.

OMG, a Celebrity Chef Made My Pizza!

2007-10-06T09:04:00.000-04:00

Last night we went across the river to Bebo Trattoria in the Crystal City neighborhood of Arlington, VA. This is a relatively new restaurant from celebrichef Roberto Donna. I could list all his accomplishments, but let's just sum up by saying the dude was on Iron Chef... OMG! (For a TV obsessed Gen Xer like myself, this is big stuff.)

We had heard good things about the pizza, but bad things about the service. Actually, we had quite good service... you might even say "hovering"... so I guess they have taken the bad comments to heart. The only weird part was that when we walked in, the host asked us if we had reservations and we said no, so he told us he had a "special room" for people without reservations. And he seated us in this curtained off area by ourselves. Odd. But then more people got seated there so it wasn't so weird. Anyway.

We split the mista salad as usual, and they served it in a bowl. Then I thought, why doesn't everyone serve salad in a bowl? Salad should be in a bowl, right?

We also both got a nice glass of wine-- Gary, unlike the guy in Sideways, almost always has a merlot. Someone told me that when dining in authentic Italian restaurants you can't go wrong with a Chianti. (I have always shied away from Chiantis because of the Silence of the Lambs connotations...) Well, I ordered a Chianti and it was SO smooth. I usually opt for more fruity wines but this one was excellent-- I may become a Chianti convert.

But this is a pizza blog right? So down to business. I got a red pizza with eggplant, and Gary got the margherita pizza. When our pizzas were served, the waitress said that "the chef was making the pizza today" and by "the chef" she meant THE chef, the man, the celebrichef himself, Roberto Donna! Whoooohoooo! So I was ready to dig in and realized the pizza wasn't cut (just like at 2 Amys) and it was hotter than hell. Or a woodburning oven, one of those two. So our waitress kindly came back with a pizza cutter and cut up our pies.

The pizza was most like the pizza I ate in Italy (which makes sense, since the chef is Italian, duh). It was characterized by a crust so thin that you could read a newspaper through it, and it was quite crispy. Gary complained there wasn't enough cheese, but that's how they make pizza in Italy-- thin crust, light on the sauce, light on the cheese, with a drizzle of olive oil.

I found the pizza to be quite yummy, but Gary wasn't impressed. However, it must be noted that he is suffering from a cold, so his taste buds may not be up to the usual blogging standards.

All in all, I think my American tastes prefer the pizza at Sonoma, but for authenticity, you can't beat Bebo. Gary didn't like the pizza as much, but as noted, he's playing hurt.

As we left, we saw "the man" himself in the kitchen-- they have an open kitchen located right near the door, and passersby can see the chef working. He was making a pizza and looking happy as a clam. If nothing else, you'll know that at Bebo, your pizza is made with love.

Liza's rating: 3.0 stars

Gary's rating: 2.5 stars

Jerry's Pizza and Subs-- National Airport

2007-10-02T19:51:00.001-04:00

On Friday night we were in the Northwest terminal, waiting for our delayed flight, starving. Anyone who's flown out of the A terminal at National knows that the food options there are nill. So, we opted for a couple of cheese slices from Jerry's.

When you have to blot the grease off your pizza with a napkin, it's not exactly screaming "quality." The crust was burnt, the cheese was rubbery, and the sauce was blah. The best thing we can say about Jerry's is that it didn't give us food poisoning.

Liza and Gary's rating: 1/2 star

Sonoma Restaurant and Wine Bar - Capitol Hill

2007-09-25T07:55:00.000-04:00

Last night Gary and I had our first pre-wedding class at St. Peter's-- we had a book group with other couples talking about readings on the 8th, 9th, and 10th Commandments. So after all that deep thinking, we figured we should discuss the topics some more over a little wine and pizza, so we went a few blocks away to one of our favorite Capitol Hill restaurants, Sonoma (at 2nd and Pennsylvania, SE). Since the 8th Commandment says I shouldn't lie, well, this blog will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

One of the reasons I love Sonoma is that not only do they have a huge wine list, but they also have a 3 ounce pour called a "taste" in addition to the standard "glass", so you can get a really nice wine at a reasonable price. It can be a challenge to get a table on the weekends, but on 9:30 on a Monday night, there were lots of open tables. We had a nice spot outside on Pennsylvania Avenue.

We split a mendocino salad and a red pizza with mozzarella and wild mushrooms. We agreed that the thing we love about Sonoma pizza is the sauce. The red sauce is sweet but has a little bit of a spicy bite to it. Delish. The wild mushrooms are so flavorful and the crust has a nice crunch. My only quibble with Sonoma pizza is that the crust gets a soft in the middle, making their pizza kinda "floppy". But still, a damn fine pie.

Gary's rating: 3.5 stars

Liza's rating: 3 stars

Ella's Woodfired Pizza -- Chinatown

2007-09-22T21:22:00.000-04:00

The great thing about Ella's is they have good pizza FAST. We got there after 7 PM last night (Friday), and were able to make our 7:50 movie a few blocks away at E Street Cinemas. (We saw Across the Universe-- Liza gave it a big thumbs down, Gary thought it was merely okay. Says Liza: "If you're going make a movie with Beatles songs, RESPECT THE MUSIC" -- but this is all fodder for another blog.)

As is our custom, we split a mixed green salad (which was better than 2 Ames, BTW) and we each got a pizza. Liza had the traditional margherita (tomato sauce, mozzerella, and basil) and Gary got the wild mushroom pizza with goat cheese and spinach.

All in all, this pizza was good eatin'. The margherita had a nice combination of light sauce, cheese (although an authentic margherita pizza uses buffalo mozz, I'm just sayin'), and olive oil. The crust was crispy but didn't have the chewiness you expect from a woodfired 'za.

Gary describes his pizza as "run of the mill"-- good to "scarf down" but not rich in flavor. The ingredients lacked the smoky goodness of the veggies on the pizza we got at 2 Amys.

Ella's is a nice pizza, but not among DC's elite.

Gary's rating: 2.5 stars

Liza's rating: 2.5 stars

2 Amys -- Cathedral Heights

2007-09-22T21:04:00.003-04:00

2 Amys, 3715 Macomb Street NW, is one of our favorite pizza places in DC. It seems like it's everyone else's, too. In fact, we're going to make our first million by opening an ice cream stand right outside of 2 Amy's, so we'll have a built-in customer base of people sitting outside on the steps waiting an hour for a table on any given weeknight. Since we're usually starving by the time we get there, we typically end up across the street at Sushi Sushi rather than waiting for a table. But, on Saturday, September 15, after a long morning of car shopping, we ended up there for a late lunch. In a word-- yummmm. We decided to forgo the delicious fried risotto balls and split a mixed green salad and a pizza. Although the pizzeria is known for its authentic Neopolitan style margharita pizza, on this day we opted for one of the day's specials-- roasted eggplant, peppers, garlic and smoked mozzarella.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Heavenly! (The pizzeria is, of course, only a stone's throw from the National Cathedral. Coincidence? We think not.) The best thing about the pizza at "2 Ames", as Gary calls it, is the crust, which manages to be crispy, smoky, and chewy all at the same time. This is the gold standard of DC pizza!

Gary's grade: 4 stars
Liza's grade: 3.5 stars

Pizza Lovers Unite!

2007-09-22T20:57:00.000-04:00

Hello and welcome to our pizza blog!

Pizza has been a passion of mine since I was just a kid growing up in Fraser, Michigan. I used to make my Mom take me to Carmen's, our local pizzeria, to get their famous (well, famous to me) $1 deep dish slice. Yummy!

These days, Carmen's is "Pizza Castle" and is half pizza place, half dollar store. Gotta love the 'burbs. But this hasn't diminished my love of pizza in the least.

While deep dish is still my favorite, I've come to appreciate the authentic Italian thin crust pizzas, too. These days I drag my very patient fiance, Gary, around DC searching for the best pizza in the city.

Gary is a pizza fan who grew up in Philly-- South Jersey, to be exact. Growing up, his favorite pizza spots were Three Brothers in Hammonton, NJ and Mack 'n' Manco in Ocean City, NJ. This past summer, he took me to another favorite, Angelo's, in Ocean City, where I got run over by an old lady in a motorized scooter/wheelchair contraption. So, I'm not feeling a lot of love toward Angelo's, although the staff got me some ice, which was nice.

Anyway, feel free to comment and chime in with your favorites! Is there a pizza place you want to see reviewed here? Let us know.

Happy pizza-ing and enjoy the blog!
-Liza