This dark subterranean haunt looks straight out of old Brooklyn, but there are no goons in the corner booth, just a steady stream of couples on dates and urbanite families.
This is an all-organic restaurant, and one with a quirky bicycling obsession: Look at the photos on the wall and you’ll see that nearly every one is of a cyclist or a race.
To eat cheaply, stick to the pizzas, the best reason to come, and half orders of pastas. The wide and round Neapolitan-style pies are generously sauced and strewn with toppings. The simple Margherita best shows off the thin, yeasty crust, but we’re also partial to the Soppresatta, with cured Italian sausage, fresh mint, and cremini mushrooms, and the Siracusa, with crumbles of feta and pork sausage.
With the restaurant’s organic bent, you’d think vegetables would be a strong suit, but the mixed-mushroom pizza is bland, and many salads are sloppily dressed. Still, there’s usually a nighttime wait for one of the handful of tables, which management tries to alleviate by delivering carryout orders to cars idling outside.
Open nightly for dinner.
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
