An unofficial guide to our favorite DC pizza

Score a great slice at these places according to the EdibleDC team

Saturday, February 9, is National Pizza Day. We’re a little pizza obsessed at EdibleDC, and now seemed like the perfect time to share our favorite places to grab some pizza around the District.

Timber Pizza Co. (Order via Caviar)
809 Upshur St NW, Washington, DC 20011

Timber Pizza Co (Photo by AJ Dronkers)

Launced by Andrew Dana and Chef Daniella Moreira this neighborhood pizza place in Petworth has a cozy atmosphere, unique combinations of pizza and an open wood fire oven. They’ve been written up in Bon Apetite and even our local Michelin Guide, so it can be hard to get in. A little hack we like to do is call ahead for pick up and or use the Caviar delivery app. Favorites include The Bentley and the Green Monster. You can read our first story on Timber Pizza Co. when they grew from their pizza truck to brick and mortar here.

All Purpose Pizzeria (Order via Caviar)
1250 9th St NW, Washington, DC 20001 or
79 Potomac Ave SE, Washington, DC 20003

All Purpose Pizzeria (Photo by Joe Goodman)

The little sister to super star Red Hen, now boasts two locations in Shaw and the Capitol Riverfront. Some of the pizzas are change seasonally, but our guilty pleasure is the Meadowlands which includes mozzarella, parmesan fonduta, roasted chicken, buffalo sauce, pickles and gorgonzola ranch. We recommend a reservation here or going for lunch when it’s less crowded or ordering via Caviar. For National Pizza Day this Saturday, $1 of each pizza will go to No Kid Hungry and the St. Baldrick’s Foundation and will feature special pizzas from guest Chefs Kyle Bailey and Victor Albisu.

Ghibellina
1610 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20009

Located along the 14th Street corridor in Logan Circle, Ghibellina, is nestled between some of our favorite DC restaurants. Ghibellina is the perfect place to go if you need wider menu options for your family or group. Their $10 pizza happy hour is hard to beat Monday - Thursday 4 - 6:30 pm and Friday - Sunday 3 - 6:30 pm. Oh and our favorite part, cutting up your pizza with your very own pizza shears.

Matchbox (Order via Caviar)
Multiple locations Chinatown, 14th Street, Capitol Hill, Rockville, and Pentagon City with Silver Spring and Bethesda coming soon

Matchbox Banana Peppers & Pepperoni Pizza (Photo by Deb Lindsey)

We’ve been frequenting this popular local chain since 2008. Their steady growth across the region is a testament to a great product and consistent service. Pro tip: This is a great for place families and large groups plus we really enjoy the ability to customize your pizza with half one flavor and half another. Favorites here include the Prosciutto & Fig as well as the Fire & Smoke. Matchbox is also available via Caviar.

Pizzeria Paradiso (Order via Caviar)
Multiple locations including Dupont Circle, Georgetown, Spring Valley and Hyattsville, MD

Pizzeria Paradiso oven (Photo by Juliana Molina)

We love Pizzeria Paradiso so much we wrote a story about founder Ruth Gresser. The team there is always doing something interesting, including a spent grains pizza that uses the waste of a local brewery to make pizza with proceeds going to local charity. This month they launch the “United States of Pizza: Women’s Slice of the Pie” a new weekly, rotating menu of state-themed pizzas which honor and highlight bipartisan female elected officials. Women make up 50.8% of the U.S. population and 25% of our nation's leadership, a recent surge thanks to the 2018 elections which saw a record number of women running for and elected to office. As a woman-owned business, Pizzeria Paradiso wants to highlight these women and their states with pizzas themed after popular food traditions from their respective home state. Delivery available via Caviar.

Wiseguy Pizza
Multiple locations Chinatown, Foggy Bottom, Navy Yard, and Rosslyn, VA

Our favorite question to ask Chefs is where they like to eat when they aren’t working. More often then not Wiseguy Pizza came up as the late night hot spot for DC chefs when they got off work. It probably doesn’t hurt their closing time ranges from 2 AM - 5 AM and in a city like DC that is known for being the “city that sleeps,” that’s pretty unusual!

Comet Ping Pong (Order via Caviar)
5037 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008

#facts #pizza #piechart Image via https://www.letterfolk.com/

87 Likes, 4 Comments - Comet Ping Pong (@cometpingpong) on Instagram: "#facts #pizza #piechart Image via https://www.letterfolk.com/"

Comet Ping Pong is a staple for residents living in Forest Hills, Wakefield, Chevy Chase border of DC. We love to stop at this little strip mall for Politics & Prose bookstore, coffee at the Little Red Fox and of course pizza at Comet Ping Pong.

Angelico’s
Multiple locations Mt. Pleasant, Tenleytown, Georgia Ave., Glover Park, Arlington, VA, Odenton, MD, and Fairfax, VA

We like to support local as much as possible and became addicted to this delivery/take-out pizza place in Mt. Pleasant. Highly recommend Angelico’s Special with tomato sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, Italian sausage, ham, caramelized onions and roasted red peppers.

&pizza (Order via Caviar)

Photo courtesy & pizza.

Hometown fast-casual that now boasts locations from Miami, Boston, New York and beyond is perfect for quick grab and go, build your own or late night hunger. We especially love their recent collaboration with Broccoli City in Shaw where they have a full service bar and proceeds benefit Broccoli City.

2 Amys
3715 Macomb Street NW

No list of pizza in DC would be complete without mentioning 2Amys. Chef Peter Pastan has been making Neapolitan inspired pizzas in near the Washington National Cathedral for almost two decades. It’s a go-to for any DC pizza loving fan, and the rest of the menu there is exceptional. Grab a seat in the bar if there are no tables. We wrote an in-depth story about a wheat farm Peter helped opened in California spurred by his passion for bread and wine.

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@aj_dc

AJ Dronkers is the Associate Publisher and Digital Editor of EdibleDC. You can find him eating and drinking his way through the District, and at SoulCycle burning away the calories later.

‘Spent’ Grains Get a Second Wind

By Chris Breitenberg, Photography by Amber Breitenberg

With the help of local farmers and chefs, brewers are turning a waste problem—the spent grains left over from making a batch—into a protein-rich feed for livestock and new products for the local food community. 

And it turns out, cows like beer (or at least the byproduct of making it) as much as we do.  

Spent grain amounts to 85% of the byproduct from the brewing process. In 2012, US brewers produced approximately 2.7 million tons of so-called spent grain. 

To make beer, brewers steep, dry and then kiln a variety of grains to produce malt. The malt is milled and mashed, leaving behind leftovers—grain husks and a cereal mash—that are often thrown away. But though it’s no longer useful to the brewing process, the grain isn’t totally spent.  

In the hands of farmers, spent grain becomes a desirable foodstuff for cows, pigs and other farm animals. Rich in protein, the brewing byproduct provides a nutritional boost, reducing the need for supplements like soy or fishmeal. Barley, the most common spent grain, hardens animal fat, leading to richer cuts of pork and beef. 

The symbiosis extends beyond animal nutrition to the bottom lines of both businesses. Many brewers give it away, which allows them to eliminate grain disposal costs while providing substantial cuts to the feed bill on the farm. 

 Kip Kell of Full Cellar Farm and Justin Cox at Atlas Brewery are in on the act. Like many spent grain relationships, farmer and brewer met informally, in this case, at the H Street NE Farmers Market run by FRESHFARM Markets. Now Kelley picks up 1,200 to 1,800 pounds of spent grain from Atlas each week. 

 “As a farmer aising animals, feed is your biggest expense,” explains Kelley. “If you can find a way to decrease that cost without giving yourself additional work, it is a big win.” 

 “It makes a lot of sense to partner with Kip to remove our spent grain,” Cox adds. “He gets free animal feed, the grain is recycled rather than thrown out, and I get to help out a great farmer who provides me and my neighbors with fresh produce.” 

 Home brewers have long supplied home bakers with grains for bread, and now local chefs are seizing the opportunity as well. Spent grains are showing up on dinner plates across DC in the form of hamburger buns, coffee cakes and granola.  Bluejacket, a brewery in Navy Yard, sends some spent grains to the in-house restaurant, The Arsenal, for pasta-making. The rest goes out to farmers who supply pork to area restaurants.  

The grains are working their way into local dough, too. We The Pizza’s menu has featured spent-grain crusts. Pizza Paradiso and DC Brau have partnered for the past five years on a spent-grain fundraiser that supports the nonprofit Bread for the City. 

 Who’s next in this space? Distillers have long been part of this ecosystem and their growing number in the DC area makes them a more common source. Copper Fox Distillery in Sperryville, Virginia, supplies farmers on the east side of the Blue Ridge Mountains with its signature smoked and spent barley. The recently opened distillery Republic Restoratives in Ivy City is exploring outlets as well. 

 Though trending recently, the spent grain exchange dates to prehistoric times. According to the Beer Institute, a national trade association for American brewing, archaeological findings suggest that the practice of farmers feeding their animals spent grains supplied by brewers dates back to the Neolithic Era. 

 The association believes the 2014 Food and Drug Administration ruling on the Food Safety Modernization Act, which ushers in new rules for animal feed, will maintain the light regulation needed to keep this age-old relationship humming.