We, the Pizza

I'd been pretty excited to try former Top Cheftestant Spike's new pizza joint since I heard it was coming to town, but I also wanted to wait out the hype that comes with any new DC opening (and with "celebrity" chefs in particular). Last night I finally made the trip to the Hill to give his pizza pies a shot.

Upon walking into We, the Pizza, I felt like I could have been in Good Stuff Eatery (which is directly next door). The decor and arrangement and feel is nearly identical. However, the ground floor of We, the Pizza felt hotter than it was outside - perhaps due to the multitude of pizza ovens they have set up. And after finishing the meal upstairs and coming back down to leave, it seemed as though something had been burning because the whole ground floor was smoky and hot.. not ideal.

The good news was, there was hardly a line at all so my dining pals and I ordered immediately. Since I'd reviewed the menu prior to arriving (duh), I already knew what I wanted to try.

I ordered two slices on my inaugural visit: the White Pizza (Today’s ricotta, fontina, roasted garlic, Parmesan, mozz, sea salt, olive oil, fresh Italian parsley) and the Roasted Potato and Pancetta Pie (Roasted local spuds, pancetta, caramelized onions, our tomato sauce, mozz, fresh rosemary). Each came in at $4 a slice, which seemed a little steep, given they weren't astronomically large and that they priced a basic Pepperoni slice (which John picked) at the same rate.

Things didn't start off great when, upon taking the first bite of his Pepperoni slice, John said, "This tastes like Alberto's," which is a late-night basement pizza joint that serves up similarly priced slices (but at least twice the size). I mean, we love Alberto's, but I think We, the Pizza was going for more sophistication.

The potato pie was nothing to write home about. Given it was the first potato pizza I'd ever eaten, I was expecting to be blown away by the flavor, and I felt it lacking in salt or seasoning, which was surprising given that's precisely what you'd expect from pancetta. The only thing that really jumped out was the rosemary, which appeared in sporadically huge chunks and was thus overpowering to the point that I had to take some off the slice.

The white pizza was probably the best of the night. I'm a sucker for that salty, garlicky flavor, and this one really hit the spot. The only complaint I have about it was that by the time I got to it, it was about room temperature. As someone who likes my food piping hot, I felt like they could have reheated the pizzas in the oven for a tad longer. I'd rather have the possibility of burning the roof of my mouth from that first bite than eating lukewarm food.

All told, the pizzas were good, not great, and while most of my issues are minor (pizza not hot enough, no ice in the soda fountain, smoky kitchen area), they add up to just a mediocre experience. It seems like We, the Pizza has a bit of an identity crisis - in its attempt to serve up simple, New York-style slices while also trying to be slightly "gourmet," it gets stuck somewhere in the middle. If I lived on the Hill I could see myself stopping in for a random slice when in search of a quick dinner, but I'm not sure I'll be so quick to travel across town for it again.