2Amys serves gourmet, European-style pizzas. I lived in southern Germany for 5 years and that experience altered my preferences for German, Italian, and Greek/Balkan cuisine toward lighter, less sugary sauces and fresh tastes where the individual ingredients are very distinct.
About 2Amys
2Amys was founded by Peter Pastan and Tim Giammetti (the Amys in the name are their wives) to recreate as authentically as possible the Neapolitan-style pizza that the owners had eaten in Naples, Italy. (By the way, some people consider Pastan's Obelisk Italian restaurant to be the best eating establishment of any sort in the District.)
Their pizza is ultra-thin with a puffy outer crust and the sauce has a sharp, very fresh-tomato character with strong salt overtones. I got the Margherita Extra (tomato sauce, mozarella di bufala, basil, and cherry tomatoes) with the addition of fresh garlic and salami.
(The Margherita Extra is one of three D.O.C. pizzas at 2Amys, meaning it has received a Denominazione di Origine Controllata certificate of authenticity from the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana.)
The pizza was terrific. The sauce had a bit of a bite and instead of all of the ingredients being rendered down and mashed together, you could clearly identify each ingredient in the pizza. As you can see in the picture above the whole basil leaves still looked green and fresh even after cooking.
The crust also was slightly charred from the wood-burning oven, which I thought gave it a nice distinctive flavor but may not be to everyone's taste.
As I was leaving, the family next to me was raving over the polpettine (meatballs) and the bruschetta they had gotten for appetizers. The bruschetta had such an unusual toasted appearance that I didn't recognize it and I had to ask them what it was.
It looked so mouth-wateringly good that I made a note to get it the next time I'm there.
My Next Visit
I'll definitely have to return soon, but 2Amys isn't all that convenient to reach. It's just off Wisconsin Avenue about a mile from the nearest Metro station, so the only real option to get there is driving.
I took Connecticut Avenue down from the DC Beltway and even on a Saturday traffic was moderately heavy, though parking wasn't a problem.
Update (12/21/08): I made it back to 2Amy's and while I still love their thin pizzas, I can't recommend their stuffed pizzas (calzones) which are too heavy on the ricotta.
More Pictures
From the outside, 2Amys is somewhat non-descript:
Inside, it's much nicer, and this is the bar area where I sat because there was no wait. (They don't take reservations.)
From this angle you can see the front area of the restaurant, as well as diners waiting for a table. 10 minutes after I took this shot the bar was jammed and there were people waiting outside on the street for a table.
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