Pete's Apizza: New Haven Pizza in Columbia Heights
Has anyone tried this place yet? They do a white clam pizza, but it's round not rectangular. Also the price seems a bit steep. Maybe the usual flour/gas price hikes kicking in?
monkeyrotica
Apr 30, 2008 08:02AM
I did. I had a slice of the clam and a slice of the sausage and mushroom. While they were tasty, I wasn't wowed. But -- I don't know if it's because I'm not familiar with New Haven style, or if getting slices is different than getting a whole (fresh) pie, but they seemed overdone (hard and dry, kind of crunchy). That said, the salads looked delicious and a nearby table got a pie, which didn't look crunchy. CH neighborhood boards are giving it a thumbs up.
Slices were $3.25 (clam) and $3.00 (2 topping). They expect to have a beer/wine license in about a month.
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I'm pretty sure New Haven style is supposed to be chewy, but not crunchy. I'll have to check this place out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apizza
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Thanks for posting this, just returned from lunch there. Agree with the posts here so far, the crust seems dense, and too crunchy. Actually, almost pre-fab, but not quite. It's not New Haven pizza, but it's not bad. A little more work on the dough (that has to be the problem, rising at wrong temp or something), and it will be pretty good. Definitely will go back, it's a place that sells good slices and that fills a desperately need niche.
As far as other factors, they seem confused behind the counter, running around with no direction, moving slowly at times, and not having enough pizza made during lunch rush. The guy cutting the pies almost seemed as if he'd never done it before, took minutes to get one pie cut. They could lose the pretty plates for slices, a paper plate is fine with me. They should get this worked out with time, though. I hope so. And fix the crust.
One more thing - as I was eating the slice I could swear I detected goat cheese. I'm going to assume it was the pecorino in the shaker. Man, that's fresh pecorino, you almost never taste the grated cheese that strong.
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They were just featured on Daily Candy today so they may have already been getting a rush...
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hey everyone-
FYI--new haven style=thin, crisp, sometimes charred crust, usually sweeter sauce, in a coal fired oven. i'll have to check out this place sometime when i'm in the d.c. area and compare it to my fav--sally's ;)
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JRW is correct, new haven style is thin, charred and definitly crisp compared to local stuff and also baked in a wood-fired brick oven, Tried Sally's last year, supposedly Sinatra's favorite..stood in line for 1 hour..great sauce, great pie..
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So is this close to 2Amy's style - or something different?
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I never viewed 2Amys to be New haven like, but I guess since they both try to be authentic in the Neapolitan style, they are close.
For those who are wondering, check this link. http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives...
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2amy's is close, but NH style is oilier, grittier (corn starch on the bottom) not as cheesy, better sauce, and as stated above, more charred/well-done. a big difference is the temp of the respective ovens -those on Wooster St approach 700-800 degrees IIRC, I BELIEVE no DC oven comes close; let us know if I'm wrong!
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I went to try their gluten free pizza, and it was delicious, but I definitely had a reaction to it. They should work on the cross-contamination more before they market to celiacs.
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Are they cooking the gluten-frees and the regular pies in the same oven? I'd think it would be pretty difficult to keep pizza flour off the oven and flip. They could get a separate gluten-free pizza flip.
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After I had already paid and waited 15 minutes for takeout, the guy handed it to me and then explained it. It is cooked in the same oven as regular pizzas, but they put it on a pan inside, so it's off fo the bottom. I'm really not horribly sensitive, I take my chances here and there, but this was a really awful glutening. Also, the girl who was ringing me up didn't know they had GF pizzza, so hopefully the employees will learn more about how to be gluten free as the place settles in. I was really disappointed, though. $18 for a "gluten free" pizza, and I could have gotten a $5 gluteny Domino's instead!!!
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I went today and I think Pete's Apizza is delicious. New Haven style pizza is supposed to be crispy and slightly charred. The crust as Pete's was delicious, and, I have to say, the first crust I've had in DC that couldn't leave behind on my plate. It's worth the trip.
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Went there for the first time, expecting to love it & was a bit underwhelmed. It's definitely not up to the standards of the great ones in New Haven. For Washington, though, it's pretty good. Slices of clam and regular tomato/mozz are incredibly thin, crust to my mind (an mouth) was a mix of chew & crunch but certainly not very charred. Clam pie had nice garlicky underpinning; tomato/mozz pie lacked zip in sauce & cheese, which might've compensated for any crust shortcoming. Also, pizzas seemed to me like they were in the oven a minute or so too long . . .cheese seemed a little overly browned.
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I went to Pete's with my husband last weekend for the first time and really liked it. I've never had New Haven pizza (I'm from NY) but he has. I tried the white clam, which he tasted and said was pretty good. I thought the pizza in general was tasty and I really liked being able to get slices. I miss that about NY a lot. However, the best thing about the dinner was the antipasta plate we got to start. It was a combination of four salads which were so tasty. There was a beet salad, a carrot salad, one other and a quinoa salad with broccolini which was amazing. I've never had quinoa that actually tasted good, but this was great. I chatted with the owner and he said he would show me how to make it in the kitchen some time. I'm totally taking him up on that.
Overall, I thought it was really good, and most of all it was easy. We didn't have to wait for a table or deal with 6 thousand stollers like at 2 Amys. DC definitely needs more casual places like this for a quick, good bite to eat.
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