The seriously creamy buffalo mozz at Pizze

Restaurants constantly evolve, which is why I try to revisit as many as possible in between checking out the new ones that come along. I particularly try to revisit the places that I have previously panned, like the trio of pizzerias below.

To be fair here, I didn’t really pan any of them —  save, perhaps, RedRocks in Columbia Heights. I think it would be more accurate to say that I expressed reservations about Pizze in Woodley Park and Pizzeria Paradiso near Dupont Circle.

So let me start with the best of the re-evals:

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The guy manning the Wood Stone oven at Pizze, the new Neapolitan-style pizzeria in the basement of Petits Plats, is a work in progress, much like the place where he’s employed. A manager is giving him instructions on how to put together my Margherita pizza. After rolling out a beautifully thin skin of house-made dough, the neophyte ladles out a too-generous portion of tomato sauce, strategically drops clumps of fresh buffalo mozzarella all over the round, places a handful of basil leaves on top, and then sprinkles salt and drizzles some olive oil over everything.

I have to admit that, before the dude even places my pie in the oven, I want to change at least four different things about his preparation: I want less sauce, more salt, and more basil. And I really wish I could convince him to add the basil after the round has been in the oven for a few minutes, so that the leaves won’t shrivel up until they look like dehydrated ancho peppers. Oh, and I’d prefer to see that olive oil drizzle after the pie has been cooked, not before.

Regardless, the newbie pizza man watches over my pie like a cat stalking a mouse. I like his singular attention to the task. He uses a peel to rotate the round as the crust nearest to the gas flames begins to blister; he wants to make sure no part of my pizza is scorched to death. By the time he finally takes the pie out of the oven, I’m practically foaming at the mouth in hunger.

Read More “Pizze in Woodley Park: Taking Aim at the Jumbo Slice Culture” »