Bacio Pizzeria has been a quiet presence on a quiet street in the Bloomingdale, DC neighborhood since 2011. Founded by a Turkish couple and currently run by Turks, Bacio is another delightful example of the DMV’s ethnic diversity in pizzeria ownership.
In novels, sometimes the setting is considered another character.1 Similarly, Bloomingdale’s backstory is a part of Bacio. Bloomingdale, a vibrant Northwest DC neighborhood, began as rural estates. Named after a 50-acre 1800s estate, it transformed into one of the city’s first streetcar suburbs in the late 1880s. Today, it is renowned for its handsome Late Victorian architecture and rich civil rights history.2
Despite Bacio’s Turkish roots, its menu is pure Italian. However, Bacio’s pizza roster is a cute nod to the local geography with two notable geographically unrelated exceptions:
- Crispus Attucks (c. 1723–1770) was an American sailor and rope-maker of African and Native American descent. He is widely recognized as the first person killed in the Boston Massacre, making him the first American casualty in the American Revolution.
- Common Good references Bacio’s long-standing partnership with the nearby Common Good City Farm in Washington, D.C. Bacio purchases fresh basil harvested at the urban farm, and they named this veggie-packed pie in honor of the farm and its mission to benefit the local community
In addition to the wide assortment of stock pizzas, Bacio also offers a choice of crust (thin, hand-tossed, or gluten-free) and sauce (tomato or pesto). A friendly server advised going with the hand-tossed crust, which DishingPizza heeded. The results were delicious.
The pizza had a wholly unique crust – firm, chewy, and textured. The crust’s flavorful crunch comes from cornmeal mixed into the flour. Cornmeal is such a pleasant addition to pizza dough that it’s surprising more pizzerias don’t use it. Topped with fresh, organic tomato sauce and excellent mozzarella, Bacio composes a superb pizza — triple aces and easily earning a DishingPizza ‘best of’ award.
Although Bacio serves pizza that rivals the best of the DMV, the joint is a sleeper. The locals crow about the quality of the pizza, but the word hasn’t spread. So, Bacio remains a diamond in the rough, unknown to the wider area. Consequently, DishingPizza waltzed in on a gorgeous, cool summer evening and snagged a table on Bacio’s adorable covered patio. By all that’s holy in the DMV pizza bible, people should be lining up for these tables. Bacio’s is a happy, vibrant scene. The servers are delightful, as are the other patrons. The combination of a beautiful summer evening outdoors, excellent pizza, and a leafy, historic, diverse street brings out the best in folks.
If Bacio were under certain Italian ownership3 the website would be plastered with awards and accolades, either earned or imagined, and the place would be closed at least two nights a week. The Bacio website contains nary a compliment, and the hardworking proprietors are open every day. While many pizzerias should cool it on the egomania, Bacio could benefit from a skosh of marketing savviness.
DishingPizza is loath to toot its own horn, lest readers believe it’s an Italian enterprise, but it’s breaking a big story here. Customers should flock to Bacio before the word gets out.
Bacio Pizzeria
81 Seaton Place NW, Washington, DC, 20001
Type: New York-ish
Pizza quality: 🍕🍕🍕
Overall experience: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Pie (14″ round): $17.75
Pie price per square inch: $0.12
- Yes, this is as pretentious as it sounds. ↩︎
- Developers initially used legally binding, racially restrictive deed covenants to keep the area exclusively white. Bloomingdale became a national epicenter for legal battles fighting against these covenants. Over the last two decades, Bloomingdale has experienced significant urban revitalization and is now a vibrant, diverse neighborhood. ↩︎
- Many Italian pizzaiolos are notorious braggarts. ↩︎