Oliver Pastan opened Bar Del Monte in 2024, adding casual sophistication to DC’s eclectic, historic Mount Pleasant neighborhood. Bar Del Monte occupies a 1920’s filling station, later converted into a mid-century auto repair shop. Pastan’s renovation features large, light-filled windows, exposed brick, and polished concrete floors. With its airy interior and clean, crisp lines, it’s like eating in a Ruscha painting.
Bar Del Monte (l) and Ed Ruscha’s 1966 Standard Station (r)
Bar Del Monte defies expectations. On paper, the place seems to cop a ‘tude. They don’t take reservations, they don’t offer takeout1, they have a lovely rear garden with no table service that’s just for sipping wine while waiting for a table2. The daily menu is posted on Instagram, reflecting the chef’s whims and what’s fresh3. Finally, they are a wine bar and don’t serve beer4 — c’mon, really?
DishingPizza expected to love the pizza and hate the vibe. Turns out that the experience is tops. The worker are warm, cheerful, and attentive — flawless, really. The hospitality combined with the marble tabletops, shiny, exposed pipes, stained glass, and high, tin ceilings provide a first-class experience. If only the pizza equalled its surroundings.
On this night, the margharita pizza came with roman sheep ricotta instead of mozzarella di bufala. The pizza, baked in an 800°F wood-burning oven, emerged with pronounced blistering of the thick cornicione5. The inner crust is so thin, its measurement requires a micrometer. The slightly salty crust had absolutely no middle-flop — highly unusual for wood-fired pizza. However, the ricotta is applied to the pizza cold, after baking, so the pizzaiolo can bake the hell out of the pie without worrying about burning the cheese.
DishingPizza may be a philistine6, but it does not cotton to ricotta standing in for mozzarella on its pizza. Furthermore, DishingPizza believes it’s a cheap trick7 to work around the floppiness problem by eliminating the cheese. Additionally, while a fan of char, even DishingPizza found it excessive — a server comes around to the tables specially to clean up the black detritus besmirching the pristine marble surface.
If the owner’s surname sounds familiar, it’s because Oliver has pizza-royalty lineage. His dad, Peter Pastan, has run the legendary 2 Amy’s for 25 years. Nepo babies have excessive privilege and impossible expectations. Colin Hanks may be a fine actor, but he’s no Tom. Mamie Gummer is great, but she’s no Meryl Streep. Similarly, Oliver Pastan is a classy pizzaiolo, but he’s no Peter.
The Bar Del Monte experience ends on a high note. The check arrives on a plate with a Hot Wheels car, a sweet nod to the site’s history.
Bar Del Monte
3054 Mount Pleasant St. NW, Washington, DC 20009
Pizza type: Neapolitan
Pizza quality: 🍕🍕
Overall experience: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Pie – 11″: $25 (This is a non-tipping establishment so gratuitiy is baked into the price)
Pie price per square inch: $0.26
- They claim, Our food is best fresh, and we do not do takeout. We can wrap up a slice or two in some foil and have little takeout boxes for small leftovers, but nothing large enough to take an entire dish home. DishingPizza agrees that wood-fired pizza makes miserable carryout, but Bar Del Monte serves plenty besides pizza, so this policy comes across as haughty. ↩︎
- It’s a 38-seat restaurant that doesn’t take reservations and has long wait times. Tossing a few tables outside ain’t the worst idea in the world. ↩︎
- So, if there’s a dish you especially love, check Insta because there’s a good chance they won’t have it. ↩︎
- Okay, there’s one or two anemic pilsners on the menu, but that doesn’t count. ↩︎
- The cornicione (pronounced cornee-CHO-nay) is the rim of crust surrounding the pizza. ↩︎
- In DishingPizza‘s defense, how many philistines know about corniciones? ↩︎
- Not the I Want You to Want Me Cheap Trick. ↩︎