Unlike its lesser competitors, 2 Amys has remained a restaurant rather than becoming a corporation. Montgomery Mall lacks a 2 Amys kiosk. Reagan National Airport glides along without a 2 Amys outpost. Franchisees may not use the 2 Amys branding to open a shop in Timbuktu. Bad news for Timbuktans, but if you crave 2 Amys, there’s only one place to go.
2 Amys opened in Washington, DC’s Cathedral Heights neighborhood during a tragic month in our nation’s history – September 2001. Head chef Peter Pastan has been committed to his craft ever since, likely baking and serving more than a million pies. 2 Amys also has an extensive selection of “little things” and charcuterie that many diners order as an opening act for the main headliner – the most authentic Neapolitan pizza in town.
Servers used to ask diners whether they wanted their pizzas sliced or left intact, as recommended by Peter Pastan. In today’s age of convenience, one must now make a special request if they prefer their pizza unsliced. Natch, Dishing Pizza requested its pizza remain uncut. For one, Dishing Pizza enjoys sawing through a firm crust, which, in 2 Amys case, requires some elbow grease and a bigass, serrated blade. Second, it enables Dishing Pizza to test the hypothesis that breaking the seal on a pizza causes the middle to become soggy, a common wood-fired pizza affliction, due to the absorption of tomato sauce.
Turns out that the middle of 2 Amys uncut pizza crust remains as dry as a Steven Wright joke.1 If Dishing Pizza followed a scientific method, it would have experimented with two 2 Amys pizzas – one cut and one uncut. But Dishing Pizza are pizzarians2, not scientists. Consequently, all peer-reviewed scientific journals rejected Dishing Pizza’s research on soggy crusts.
Dishing Pizza prefers unfussy, large New York-style pizzas. However, when dining at this temple of wood-fired Neapolitan pizza, Dishing Pizza concedes that 2 Amys is hard to beat in its category. While many pizzerias use high-quality ingredients, few create such magic with their crusts—perfectly blistered, yeasty, and chewy. A Margherita Pizza this good requires little more than a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, fresh basil, a simple San Marzano tomato sauce base, and excellent mozzarella di bufala.
Since its opening, 2 Amys has attracted young families, local residents, and the DC intelligentsia. The restaurant has a black and white tiled floor, a tin ceiling, butter-colored walls, and an airy atmosphere that creates a timeless and welcoming appeal for patrons of all ages. Remarkably, 2 Amys looks much the same today as it did 24 years ago when it first opened. Additionally, 2 Amys has a lovely rear outside garden patio.
1 One of Dishing Pizza’s favorite Steven Wright jokes: There’s a pizza place near where I live that sells only slices… in the back you can see a guy tossing a triangle in the air.
2 The Oxford English Dictionary needs to give Dishing Pizza credit for this word when it becomes an entry.
2 Amys Neapolitan Pizzeria
3715 Macomb St NW Washington, DC 20016
Pizza type: Neapolitan
Pizza quality: 🍕🍕🍕🍕
Overall experience: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Pie – 12″: $15
Pie price per square inch: $0.13