Two Amys -- and Twenty Emmas and Jacobs

When it comes to the D.C. food scene, I am a dilettante. I love to stay current by reading about all the places I would eat at if I lived there, but any firsthand knowledge is limited to restaurants that were good four years ago. So it came as no surprise -- at least not to friend and perpetual host Jen -- that I arrived in D.C. a couple weekends ago with a dining agenda.

Jen and Adam kindly accommodated my request to eat at Two Amys, despite having to endure a spectacularly annoying 45-minute wait alongside children who had not yet had their daily dose of Ritalin and were treating the sidewalk as a jungle gym. It turns out that Two Amys is one of the few Restaurants Serving Serious Food that is also Family Friendly. It also turns out that this is not a selling point for me.

What was a selling point, however, were the serious Neapolitan pizzas, including one of the more interesting toppings I have encountered on a pie. In true bipartisan spirit, we ordered two vegetarian and one meat pizza to share. One of the vegetarian selections was topped with a roasted eggplant-and-olive confit, which unexpectedly look like ratatouille atop pizza and had a rich, briny flavor that worked very well with the thin crust. The other two -- a Margherita and the other a salami -- were more traditional and solidly tasty. The pizzas are served Italian style, meaning that they arrive uncut, although I question just how family friendly that is.

The small plates at Two Amys are also a good bet. The risotto balls had Gouda cheese happily oozing out of the center, and the Spanish tortilla would be a staple at any tapas bar.

In the end, did I think the food merited a return visit in light of its clientele? I would definitely go back to Two Amys...for takeout.