Tag: washington dc

#92 Timber Pizza Co.

October 10, 2020

Washington, D.C.

We continued our pizza trip after Pizza di Joey and drove down to Washington, D.C. for a second stop. Timber Pizza Co. was ranked at #92 on the 2018 and the 2019 101 Best Pizzas list, and #95 on the new 2020 list. It’s not open for lunch – but it’s open for “breakfast” until 1 pm on the weekends, and then opens again at 4 for dinner. We made sure to get there before 1 pm on Saturday because we had other dinner plans.

We ordered two pizzas here, and brought them over across the street to a small park that was right next to a farmer’s market. We tried the regular margherita (Cheese Please), and then one with bacon, mozz, mushrooms, and smoked paprika (The Penelope). They usually have a variety of salads and empanadas also, but the menu is currently limited due to COVID and they are only doing take-out. You can order wine or beer to go.

Like Pizza di Joey, Timber Pizza Co got it’s start as a pizza truck. More specifically, as a wood-fired oven attached to a pickup truck. Their restaurant is small, order-at-the-counter, and is known as the best casual pizza place in town.

Somehow, James’s pizza shirt managed to stay clean even while eating this pizza. We weren’t able to finish these pies, but brought home a few slices to eat the next day. They were good pizzas, so we think they deserve their spot near the end of the list. The crust was decent, although nothing really special. The toppings and flavor combinations were unique, though, and many combinations we hadn’t seen before. We really liked the smoked paprika!

We were aiming to hit Inferno Pizzeria in Maryland on the drive back home, which has also been on the list a few years. When we called to order we heard that they were out of dough, which was disappointing. Apparently you need to call around 2 pm, and they are only open Wednesday through Saturday for dinner. Noted for next time.

Instead, we stopped back in Baltimore to Underground Pizza Company for some Detroit-style pizza. It was a good last-minute decision.

To visit:

Timber Pizza Co
809 Upshur Street Northwest 
Washington, DC 20011

BarbaraLeave a comment

#38 Pete’s New Haven Apizza

July 24th, 2017

Washington, D.C.

Now that our pizza road trip posts are over, we’re picking back up with reviews of the last few pizza places that we visited on the original 2015 list back in the summer 2016. Wow, that was almost 2 years ago now. It still feels crazy that we’ve been doing this so long. We can still remember each pizza pretty vividly. (Well, I can. I think some of them are starting to blend together for Eric.)

We made it over to the last pizza place that was in Washington, D.C. on the last day of a long weekend there (see this post where we last left off). The final pizzeria in DC was Pete’s New Haven Apizza. You probably know by now that we LOVE New Haven pizza, so our expectations were pretty high. Even more, Pete’s ranked in pretty high on the list.

We ended up ordering two pizzas because there were three of us splitting these. The specialty pizzas here are all named after places in New Haven, so we ordered one of “The Green” which was topped with artichokes, spinach, and roasted tomatoes (hold the olives), and one of the “Elm City”, which had caramelized onions, wild mushrooms, and roasted chicken.

The story is that one of the co-founder’s fathers is from East Haven, right on the New Haven line, so the co-founders all are familiar with the New Haven style. BUT these pizzas aren’t really true New Haven style. The crust is a little thicker and round. There’s none of that classic New Haven char. The toppings were great, though, so we aren’t complaining. You could really tell how fresh the toppings were (none of that frozen spinach going on here!).

This was probably our favorite pizza in DC, even though it wasn’t really a “New Haven Apizza”. We can see why 2Amys could get the slight edge from the critics and we do like a good Neapolitan pie, but honestly, if we had to choose we’d go for something a bit more substantial that could hold more toppings.

We went to their original location, but they also have a few locations now around the city.

To visit:

Pete’s New Haven Apizza
1400 Irving St NW
Washington, DC 20010

BarbaraLeave a comment

#33 2Amys

July 23rd, 2016

Washington, D.C.

After our lunch at Pizzeria Paradiso, we headed around town for a bit of sightseeing and LOTS of walking. So much to do in D.C.! We were hungry again by the time dinner rolled around (SO MUCH walking), which was good because our second pizza stop of the day was at 2Amys, which was opened back in 2001 as the first D.O.C. pizzeria in Washington, D.C.

We may have mentioned D.O.C. certification in our previous posts, but in case you missed it, D.O.C. (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) status is the highest standard for Neapolitan pizza making. Pizzerias that have obtained D.O.C. designation have met strict requirements established in Italy. These include, but are notlimited to, the following:

  • Pizza must be cooked in a wood-burning dome oven that operates at about 800ºF.
  • Specific ingredients need to be imported – San Marzano tomatoes, all natural Fior de Latte or Bufala mozzarella cheese, fresh basil, high quality olive oil. No shortcuts here.
  • The dough needs to be made by hand or on low speed with a mixer. No mechanical shaping of the dough!
  • The border (crust) can’t be higher than 1.5 cm. The diameter can’t exceed 28 cm and the total weight needs to be under 200 grams.
  • Pizzas shouldn’t bake for more than 90 seconds.

Pizzerias that want D.O.C. status need to be approved by a special association, which was established to protect this style of pizza and its traditions. It is basically a lot of extra work for the “star of approval”. 2Amys has gone through all of this and has had its D.O.C. status upon opening, one of about 100 approved pizzerias in the US currently.

So, the big question is obviously: does this make for better pizza? It certainly means that Neapolitan pizzas are more standardized, so you know that you are getting a consistent taste. In our experience, this doesn’t always mean better. Sometimes you like to know what you are getting into when you visit a pizzeria, but other times you are looking for a sourdough crust, or a Neapolitan style pie that has a bit more stability. Sometimes we just don’t want a soupy center.

That being said, 2Amys does serve great pizza. It was probably our favorite pizzeria in the D.C. area. We enjoyed a few beers, and two of their pizzas. The first was a traditional marinara pizza, which had thinly sliced garlic on top of the sauce and is one of the three D.O.C. pizzas on the menu. We had one of the prosciutto pizzas as well, which was also very good with a nice, perfectly charred crust. Finally, we tried one of the “stuffed pizzas”, stuffed with ricotta and fresh mozzarella. That one was filling, but delicious. If you want good (certified) Neapolitan pizza, you’ll love it here.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have room to try any of the other delicious-looking appetizers, or the homemade ice cream. For another day.

To visit:

2Amys
3715 Macomb Street NW
Washington DC 20016

BarbaraLeave a comment

#50 Pizzeria Paradiso

July 23rd, 2016

Washington, D.C.

Last summer we had friends who were living in D.C. who kindly offered to let us stay in their spare room for a weekend so that we could eat pizza. And also, so that we could hang out with them. But, mainly to eat pizza. We drove down to Washington, D.C. on a Saturday morning. As usual, Eric missed our exit getting into town. Let’s just say that we were both very hungry (hangry?) by the time we got to our first pizza stop, Pizzeria Paradiso.

You may not think of D.C. as a pizza town. We didn’t. Neither, apparently, did the owners of Pizzeria Paradiso, who opened this restaurant in 1991 because there was a lack of Neapolitan pizzerias in the city. The restaurant has expanded over the years and now has three locations around the D.C. area. They’ve also added in birrerias (“beer halls” in English) to keep up with the microbrewing scene that is growing around the D.C.area. These beer halls can be found at the Dupont and Georgetown locations. We’d recommend going for happy hour, because they have a lot of great options. And everyone knows that pizza and beer go great together.

It was hard to choose pizzas here to share. We ended up ordering one of the Siciliana pizzas, which was just a veggie pie, and then one of the specials which came with heirloom tomatoes and fresh mozzarella and thinly sliced red onion. They also had a large selection of salads and paninis here. Pizzas also come in two sizes, so you can pick small or large depending on if you feel like sharing and also how many other pizzas you are going to be trying that day (we obviously went with smalls – this was not our only pizza stop for the day).

The pizzas here are wood-fired. As with many Neapolitan-style pizzas, the crust here is the focus. It was crispy around the edges, but not too well done.This isn’t the place to come if you want a good char on your crust. It was also a little droopy in the center with the weight of the toppings, but that’s just Neapolitan-style for you. We wouldn’t say it was the best Neapolitan in D.C., but it certainly gets props for being the first!

To visit:

Pizzeria Paradiso
2003 P Street NW
Washington DC

BarbaraLeave a comment

#58 Matchbox

February 6th, 2016

Washington, D.C.

We drove down to Washington, D.C. for a baby shower one Saturday last year, and figured we’d might as well knock off one of the D.C. pizza places from the list. Washington D.C. isn’t really known for any particular style of pizza, so we were interested to see what kinds of pizzas made the list here.

This first trip to D.C., we decided to go to Matchbox, for the primary reason that it was the closest to the location of the baby shower, and we didn’t have to drive any further around the city. We went to the Chinatown location, but they have two other locations around the city.

The Chinatown location is the original restaurant that was started back in 2002. It looks small from the outside because it is really a narrow brick townhouse (that looks like a tall, skinny matchbox) that has been refashioned into a restaurant. There was plenty of seating inside, though, and we were seated up on the second story balcony.

 

Matchbox may be known for their brick oven pizzas, but their menu is pretty extensive, with good-looking salads and sandwiches, and specialty cocktails. They also serve brunch, which looked like it would be AMAZING.

We ended up splitting a pizza, since they let you pick half-and-half from their menu, and we really wanted to try more than one combination. We ended up going with half of the Fire+Smoke (roasted red peppers, onion, garlic, smoked gouda, and chipotle pepper) and half of the special veggie white pesto pizza.

We both preferred the Fire+Smoke, although they weren’t kidding when they warned us about the spice!

Apparently, Matchbox is trying to break out into the national chain market, so there may be one popping up near you. They currently also have restaurants in Virginia, Texas, and Maryland.

It would certainly be worth going back here for some of that Brunch pizza.

To visit:

Matchbox
713 H St NW
Washington, D.C. 20001

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BarbaraLeave a comment