Opened in 2018 and named after the owners’ toddler daughters, Little Beast is tucked into one of the upperest of the upper-crust neighborhoods in Northwest DC – Chevy Chase. Even though the daughters are now pre-teens, the original name thankfully remains because “Mid-sized Beast” doesn’t have the same ring.
DishingPizza is charmed by the Maurice Sendak-like monster murals adorning the walls. Although Dishing Pizza visited at a quiet time, it’s easy to imagine a wild rumpus on the cute covered patio of this neighborhood hotspot. Young, wealthy parents and children alike would bemoan their finished pizzas, crying, “Oh please don’t go—we’ll eat you up—we love you so!”1
Little Beast is a rare beast, indeed, serving both wood-fired and Detroit pizza. Since Little Beast sells only whole pies, DishingPizza opted for Detroit-style, which is relatively rare in the area compared to the dime-a-dozen wood-fired pizzas.
The pizza is almost perfect. The nicely flavored sauce ribbons top a thick slab of delicious cheese, delighting DishingPizza’s palate. The focaccia-like crust is soft and chewy. DishingPizza’s only nit is the edges, which lack the burned-in char of cheese on a hard crust.
The Little Beast pizza is small, and each bite feels like a delicacy to be savored. And therein lies the problem. Detroit is a rough-and-tumble town where the origins of the Detroit-style ribbons of sauce carelessly slathered on top are attributed to the cook craving a smoke break and forgetting to spread the sauce under the cheese.2 If pizza patrons are thirsty in Motor Town, they’re served a glass of Pennzoil 5W-30.3
Sadly, the Little Beast pizza is also priced like a delicate morsel at a whopping $0.39 per square inch, making it, by far, the most expensive pizza real estate in town.4 To be fair, Little Beast sits in a neighborhood with an $1.4 million average house price. In contrast, Buddy’s Pizza, a highly regarded Detroit pizzeria, charges $0.17 per square inch. Is Chevy Chase, DC, more than twice as nice as Detroit? Probably so.
1 Sendak gave voice to the childhood fear of being eaten by monsters. Little Beast sidesteps this darkness, conjuring the monsters but serving pizza that tastes nothing like children.
2 Okay, maybe not strictly true, but it’s a good story, right?
3 Totally true. Detroiters are well-lubricated.
4 Little Beast Detroit-style pizza costs $56 per square foot, making it more expensive per square foot than an average Washington, DC apartment.
Little Beast Cafe & Bistro
5600 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20015
Type: Detroit style
Pizza Quality: 🍕🍕🍕🍕
Overall experience: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Pie (6″ x 9″ rectangle): $21
Price per square inch: $0.39
Nice outdoor space/seating and just down the street to the Avalon movie house.