In regards to the title of this post- Gotham City was the first thing I thought of when I thought of a place with a lot of crime. Thanks to Domino’s Pizza for characterizing the city as such in those Dark Knight commercials.

Ok so any who Fritz Hahn over at the Washington Post just wrote about the rising crime in the popular night time destination. Reading the post made me connect the dots on a lot of stories I’ve heard in the local news. Fellow bloggers are also taking notice.

Hahn makes a really good point that I wanted to emphasize- it appears that a lot of the incidents are happening not on the heavily traveled 18th and Columbia streets- but the shady side streets that surround the area. It only makes sense, unless you are Pacman Jones, there probably won’t be anything happening around bouncers, secruity, and crowds of drunken people. Now I meant robberies when I write this- I’m sure lots of things are happening around drunk people, especially in Adams Morgan.

Adams Morgan has never been known for its saftey record- but I’m not saying stay away from the place as we all begin the long Columbus Day weekend. I’m just saying use your head and common sense and be safe if you do decided to walk down 18th street this weekend.

While I’m not really a proponent of fast food intake on a regular basis (and am all for a fast food tax), I do love me some Taco Bell.

It’s been a huge part of my life since I was, oh I dunno, 10 years old? My best friend and I would ride our bikes to the Border after a long day of fishing for Bluegill in Denver. He always got the pintos and cheese which I thought was a disgusting choice. I much preferred the Taco Bell Grande, minus the tomatoes. In high school my friends and I would hit up the Bell after a crazy night on the town and laugh hysterically about the gas that ensued. One friend purposely tried to maximize the amount of refried beans he consumed, purely for the fire power. As a poor college student, my friends and I would walk across campus in our pajamas to feast on a twelve pack of tacos. I guess you could say that it’s been a staple part of my diet for a long time now.

But now living in DC I am deprived of the grade F meaty goodness. Please don’t tell me to eat at the Taco Bell/KFC combo at 14th & U. That place is a disgrace to the Taco Bell establishment. “Yes, I’d like a burrito supreme with a side order of hepatitis. Oh, and a Mountain Dew with extra mildew in my ice cubes.” Luckily we are fortunate to have a nearby state called Virginia that is full of strip malls and fast food restaurants, enabling me to treat myself to a Mexican Pizza now and then, and for that I thank you*. My stomach thanks you.

If you’re listening, Taco Bell, hear my plea. We have McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, and entirely too many Subways. All I’m asking for is one good Taco Bell. Trust me, my friends and I will keep you in business.

* - I also thank Virginia for the hot women who seem to migrate into the city during the night and vanish when the sun comes up.

Photo by Porky Jupp.

The D.C. Council decided on Tuesday that in order to make up for a $35 million budget shortfall they would increase the tax on cigarettes by $1, bringing it up to $2/pack. That will put us in a tie with Arizona, Alaska, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, and Michigan for one of the highest “state” tax rates on cigarettes. Oh right, we’re not a state. We just pay an exorbitant amount of taxes. How easily I forget such silly things.

So what is the Council’s message here? My only guess is this:

People who smoke are evil. It’s a disgusting habit that’s bad for your health. Maybe if we charge you an extra dollar per pack of those devil sticks, you’ll quit smoking and live a healthy lifestyle like the rest of us. Maybe you’ll even start participating in triathlons like our super healthy mayor does. Die smokers, die!

Of course I could be missing something. I think they should also put a tax on ice cream, donuts, frappacinos with extra whipped cream, pizza, cheeseburgers, chili dogs, chili cheese fries, fettuccine alfredo, and mac ‘n cheese. If you eat enough of those things, you’ll die over time too.

I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for Pizza Hut’s stuffed crust pizza. You know, the one that packs as much cheese as possible into every crevice of the pizza pie? Wait - are there crevices on a pizza? That’s a little disgusting. Anyway, about once a year I find myself in the mood for some of this cheesy goodness and immediately reach for the phone to have one delivered pronto. My annual craving reared its greasy little head last week so I set off on what I thought would be an easy mission: find my local Pizza Hut.
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Local Bethesda pizza joint Corner Slice today shocked customers by reporting to be out of pizza. Actually, they had three slices of pepperoni-sausage pizza left but due to dietary restrictions, I opted to pass on that. 15-20 minutes until the next pizza would be ready, and people were standing in line like it was the methodone clinic or something.

In the choice between fighting the crowds for mediocre pizza and going somewhere else, I decided to venture down to California Tortilla, where they never run out of burritos.

Wayan’s DC Photos

How do you improve on the best pizza in Washington DC? Simple, add beer!

Moroni Pizza now has its liquor license so a cold Negra Modelo can arrive with your Diavola pizza, or in tonight’s departure from Italian to Salvadorean specialities, pescado entomatado.

They also added paint, paintings, and even a jukebox to make it cozy. Heads up to local artists: if you want to show off framed works, stop by and talk with the owners.

I will be the guy in the corner rubbing my belly in happiness.

Moroni Pizza
4811 Georgia Ave NW
(between N Decatur St & N Delafield Pl)
Washington, DC 20011
(202) 829-2090

Moroni Pizza in Petworth

Do you enjoy the fancy Red Rocks Pizza? I know I love its bar and outdoor patio. But like their all Flash website, they’re more style than substance. Yes, they have good beers, but the food… I’ve had better. Specifically, I’ve had Moroni & Brother’s pizza.

Now starting off, the restaurant on Georgia Avenue at Delafeild, isn’t much to look at. It doesn’t have outdoor seating. Its not packed with the young and hip Columbia Heights crowd. It doesn’t even have a bar.

You could best describe it as a humble first business by Denis and Reyna Velasquez, who have been managing Pizzeria Paradiso in Dupont Circle and Georgetown for the past 15 years.

But that would be an understatement.

Oh.My.God! The food is gooood! First off, the pizza, thin crust with multiple vegetarian options, is stunning. Better yet, they have a full menu that spans form Salvadorian tamales for breakfast to Mexican enchiladas for lunch to mariscos specialties for dinner.

My favorite: the whole marinated fish.

BB loves Moroni Pizza

See, I am particular about my tilapia. First I want it whole. No wasteful and tasteless fillet that insults the life taken for my meal. I wanna see the head, look my meal in the eye, and fight over the cheek meat - the best always. When I am done, even the cats go hungry.

And I’m not the only one that ♥ Moroni & Borthers. Just check out Prince of Petworth’s love, the review on Yep, and even Sveilks on DCist agree that Moroni rocks over the Red.

Better yet, Moroni delivers! Yes, you read that right. You don’t even need to visit the restaurant to enjoy their stunningly good food. Just pick up the phone and call 202.829.2090 for the best meal you’ll have all week.

But what I think is best of all is the owners attitude. From the very onset, they’ve been open to suggestions both online and in person. They are also quick to customize and overall, the nicest folk. Last but not least, unlike Red Rocks, you can always get a seat.

I agree with Tiffany’s recent post — I think it’s possible to find decent pizza in the area. For example, I like Tony’s New York Pizza in Virginia’s Fair Lakes Shopping Center. Tony’s often does great in reader’s polls and on top of great pizza they have superb calzones — real calzones, not the flipped-on-themselves pizzas some DC joints, like Pizza Movers, sell as calzones.

But I’d have to drive an hour to get there, so I pretty much never go. And that’s why DC is the worst place for pizza I’ve ever been in. Not because good pizza doesn’t exist, but because the appalling ratio of great to less-than-great pizza.

I live in Northwest DC and there are a ton of places that will deliver to me — Listrani’s, L’Appetito, Cafe Romeo, Philadelphia Pizza Company* and a few others. And some of these places aren’t bad at all … but none of them knock my socks off. I can do about as well cooking up a Wolfgang Puck’s frozen pizza.

I fear the day when I have friends in from NYC or Chicago or San Francisco and they suggest we get a pizza delivered. I’ll have to explain to them that, while we can get a pizza delivered, we can’t get a great one delivered. Will they, who will likely be used to living within walking distance of at least one phenomenal pizza place, even be able to wrap their heads around that?

*Don’t ask me ask me how Philadelphia Pizza Company got its name — as far as I can tell its only location is in DC and it bills itself as “New York Style Pizza.”

Piola

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

It’s a funny thing about DC. You can get almost every kind of ethnic food here, and yet you can hear every kind of whining that you “just can’t get decent ______ in DC.”

I hear it a lot about pizza, and always from people whose idea of good pizza was formed in Chicago or New York and not, you know, Italy. I usually think those people are full of crap- I’ve had plenty of perfectly tasty pizza here, and it seems to me that anything served on a platter, family style, and eaten with the hands is the ultimate anti-snob food.

2Amys is widely regarded as the best traditional Italian-style pizza in the area. And I’d have to agree, but I hardly ever go there because it’s a pain to get to by public transport AND by car.

So when a friend of ours enthusiastically recommended Piola on Wilson Boulevard in Arlington, we were pretty excited and headed there last night. It’s in Rosslyn, right near where Rosslyn meets Courthouse, next door to the perennial Arlington favorite Cafe Asia. Piola is an international chain- ordinarily I don’t get excited about chain pizza, but when the chain’s country-of-origin is the same as that of the type of food they serve, I make an exception.

We chose to sit outside due as much to the fantastic weather as to the too-loud jazz trio that would have required us to shout across the table to be heard. Upon opening our menus, a single sheet of paper slid out of mine, describing that evening’s “Non-Stop Pizza” special for $11.95. The special, as you might guess, is all you can eat for approximately the same price as a single pizza. There’s a list of pizzas that are available on that night’s special, and when you order it, the wait staff just starts bringing you slices of whatever they happen to be carrying from the list. So it’s good if you’re hungry and want to try a lot of different kinds. They do it every Sunday night. (Yes, I know these kinds of specials are designed to ensure that the less fresh ingredients get used up as the restaurant re-stocks for the week. Do I care? No.)

The pizza itself was really tasty- very thin crust, as opposed to the slightly thicker Neapolitan style crust at 2Amys (Piola does Neapolitan style pizza as well, but I haven’t tried it). The variety of toppings is interesting- particularly this odd, creamy, Brazilian cheese that appeared on one of my slices with chicken. When fresh tomatoes are one of the toppings, the tomatoes are added after the pizza is baked, leaving them cool and fresh as they sit in the melted cheese.

Having thoughtfully chewed through a slice or two, Tom and I concluded that Piola’s pizza is “80% as good as 2Amy’s, but 100% more convenient, which counts for a lot.” We would have provided photos of the pizza itself, but honestly, it didn’t stay on the table long enough for a decent photo.

vapiano

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

When my friend Jonathan told me about Vapiano, I wasn’t sold til I heard about the gimmick. I mean, I like Italian food, who doesn’t, but it’s got to have a hook to make it worth my while as part of the repertoire of places that I go for delicious foodstuffs. See, Vapiano’s really just a glorified cafeteria. You walk in, you order your food from a small menu at pasta and pizza stations, and they made it while you wait and watch, then you grab a table with your friends and sit down.

The gimmick is this: when you walk in, you get a Chipcard. That chipcard is your bill, that you take with you everywhere in the place. Bring in two people, or two dozen and everyone gets Chipcards, so settling up the tab is as simple as checking out at the counter, no need to worry about who sucks at math, who always undertips, etc. That much is certainly worth it.

The food itself? It’s good but not great. The fusilli carbonara was rich and cheesy, but missing something that I couldn’t put my finger on, and the ravioli was fresh, but just off its game. They do make the pasta fresh in the restaurant, which I appreciated, but the various preps for the types of pasta seems…too prepared in advance. Either give me the illusion you’re making it from scratch, or don’t present me with the ugly truth.

The other matter is drinks. $2 for an 8oz. bottle of Coke? You’re kidding, right? In this town of free refills? Charlatans. The Peroni on tap? Nice touch. But seriously, no fountain sodas?

Vapiano’s got two locations in the DC area, one in Ballston on Wilson at Glebe Road, and just open, at 1800 M St. NW in DC, and a third location in Chinatown, come August. It’s worth a trip, just to see how they operate.