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:

Read More “Y&H Takes a Second Slice at a Few Local Pizzerias” »

French Non-Resistance: Petits Plats goes Italian with Pizze.

It’s a sign of the times that local restaurateurs continue to place their trust in the good ol’ Italian pie. Cheaper to produce than many other dishes — and one with an expansive, built-in fan base — pizza has become the low-risk option for a number of new and/or established restaurateurs as they ride out the recession.

Two of the District’s newer Italian operations, Ristorante Posto and Potenza, made sure to include pizza ovens in their build-outs.  Restaurateur Ashok Bajaj has installed one, too, in his forthcoming Bibiana Osteria-Enoteca on New York Avenue NW. Vapiano continues its colonization of the D.C. market with its fast-casual pies, and the Fairfax-based Paisano’s plans to roll out 10 more ‘za outlets by the end of next year. Hell, even a Frenchman decided to bite the bullet and open a pizza take-out.

Now, two more pizzerias look to join the ever-expanding ranks.

Read More “Restaurateurs Keep Rolling Out the Pizza Joints” »

Thanks to the power of the internets, the first two spots on this week’s list belong to posts from last week: one on the departure of Bill Catron from Brasserie Beck and the other on the Cameron Perks tragedy. After that, the Top 5 looks like this:

1. The Sounds of Slurping: Get Ready for D.C. Noodle Shops
2. Ray’s the Net Is No More. It’s Now Ray’s: The Catch
3. Beard Semi-Finalists Just Announced: D.C. Is Well Represented
4. So Where the Hell Can You Find Jamie Stachowski Charcuterie in This Town?
5. Pizze in Woodley Park: Taking Aim at the Jumbo Slice Culture

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” »