The family and I spent last week in DC doing the tourist thing, and the first place we made a point to visit was 2AMYS. We got there Saturday, 3/12, around 6pm, and the place was hopping. We hung out at the wine bar while waiting for a table giving us a chance to unwind with a little vino and try some of the small plates such as the goat bocconcine w/ fig jam, the burrata di bufala, and a selection of cured meats. The cheeses were nice as were the sliced meats – though I thought the meats were a little overpriced given the portion size.
The wait didn’t turn out to be too long, and before we knew it, we were seated. Starting out with the mixed greens w/ lemon, red wine vinegar, and olive oil proved to be a good choice. Next, we ordered a couple Margheritas, a Vongole (the promised cockles turned out to be Manila clams), and a Norcia. When the pies arrived, the only thing going through my mind was ummm, these look pretty tasty. Unfortunately, my first impression ended up being the high point of the meal.
They served the pies uncut (and didn’t offer to cut them) which turned out to be more problematic than you might otherwise expect. The crust was very tough, so tough in fact that it was difficult to cut with the steak knife they give you. Even the thinnest part of the curst was difficult to cut, and the thicker parts of the crust were gummy. When cutting through the cornice, unless you gently sawed back and forth through it, it would just squish it into a sticky mass. Bite into it and tug, and you were likely to pull a tooth out of your head. OK, it wasn’t quite that bad, but it was without a doubt the toughest, gummiest crust I have at a big name place – if not anywhere for that matter. The flavor of the crust was OK, but it was really difficult to get past the chew.
The sauce on the Margherita was typical of what you would expect with a respectable flavor, and the buffalo mozzarella is always appreciated. Maybe it could have been drained a little more as the center of the pie was so wet and sloppy, there was simply no way to cut it without all of the topping sliding off leaving the bottom crust like a lonely wet noodle.
The Norcia had a nice combination of flavors – the salami, in particular, was excellent. Though, like the Margherita, this pie was very tough and wet and nearly impossible to cut without making a mess.
The Vongole, was salty to the point of being hard to eat. It is definitely a pie for beer and not red wine. I’m very tolerant of salt; I don’t know how someone who isn’t would have eaten it. Also, I’m not a big fan of putting inedible things on top of a pie – like clam shells – but since they only put seven of them on the pie it wasn’t much to avoid…
I didn’t have an opportunity to time a pie, but as I was leaving, I must say I was a little surprised (and impressed) to see that they had at least nine pies baking in the oven at one time, though I had to wonder if stacking them in like cord wood wasn’t part of the problem.
Bottom line: Nice place with friendly service and reasonable prices overall, but the pies were a disappointment. I wanted to go back and give them a second chance later in the week, but my family refused they were so underwhelmed the first time.
