You have to order carefully to get out of this lively U Street pizza parlor and organic restaurant with a bill of less than $50 for two, but it can be done. It helps that most of the main courses are available in appetizer as well as full portions, and a couple of appetizers, or a salad and an appetizer, make a satisfying meal.
Chef Elizabeth Bright-Mattia specializes in the cooking of Luguria, the coastal region of Italy just over the border from France. The menu changes seasonally and is supplemented by daily specials featuring what's in season.
The spring menu featured a wonderful salad of fava beans with tomato, pecorino cheese, and Italian parsley. Fresh fava beans were featured again in Gnocchi Primaverili–house-made gnocchi with green peas, fava beans, young asparagus, baby artichokes, and Italian bacon. The pizza of the day, cooked in the wood-burning oven, had a hearty topping of Merguez sausage, feta, ricotta, and cucumber–an inspired combination.
Desserts vary from day to day but usually include several flavors of gelato and a calzone filled with Nutella.
