THE WASHINGTON POST MAGAZINE 41rule breaker. The association reprimanded 2 Amys via letter
several years back when someone reported that the staff was
shaping pizzas on a peel rather than a counter. (The horror!)
Does it really matter? As much as I appreciate tradition, I
also care about taste. 2 Amys puts out a pizza that seduces me
with char marks reminiscent of leopard spots, lips that rival
Angelina Jolie’s, pleasant chewiness and a lovely yeasty flavor.
My preferred topping, Pozzuoli, continues to scatter zesty
housemade sausage, silky red peppers, nutty fontina and more
on a 10-inch canvas. You will be asked if you want your pizza cut
or left intact. Go for Door No. 2. The latter option keeps wet
toppings from slipping into cracks and making a soggy crust,
and it’s the way Pastan recommends it.
Quality and consistency go hand-in-hand here, year after
year, particularly where the “little things” are concerned.
Dishes I remember ordering early in the life of the restaurant
continue to set the standard. No place makes more alluring
deviled eggs than 2 Amys, whose deep golden yolks come from
farm-fresh local eggs (plus curry and dry mustard) and whose
emerald sauce — a puree of parsley, chives, capers, garlic and
olive oil — seals the deal. One is never enough. I could easily
start a graze-a-thon with salt cod fritters, too. The long-
standing appetizer springs from a whip of salt cod made on-
site, potatoes, heavy cream and garlic; the balls are fried to a
light crunch and give way to fluffy fillings. Pastan appreciates
history, but he’s hardly a sentimentalist. Those oven-roasted
olives everyone liked? “I don’t care to ever do them again.”
Something about the aroma of bay leaf and garlic wore on
him.
The menu at 2 Amys almost serves as a calendar. Winter was
serenaded with blood orange and other colorful citrus slices in a
salad sharpened with red onion and whispering of Sicilian
oregano. The list also underscores the owner’s wit. You’ll find
marvelous “piggy” rillettes, bordered in an inch of fat, under the
heading “French things we pretend are Italian,” for instance.
Better still, the extensive wine list, grouped by price, showcases
select quaffs starting at $40 a bottle.
Pizza might be the shiny bauble in the window, but a handful
of dishes lead you to think of 2 Amys as an upscale ristorante.
Sample the vitello tonnato and tell me it wouldn’t look at home
at Tosca, Centrolina, Modena or any other respected Italian
establishment. Thin slices of blushing veal dolloped with
mayonnaise-rich tuna sauce are lit with lemon, anchovy and
fried capers, the last of which delivers a nice pop amid the
softness. Steak in a pizzeria feels oh so right when it’s super-
beefy, richly marbled dairy cow, butchered by hand and dry-
aged on-site for up to 100 days. (“Tuscan Steak Night” is
typically weeknights only. )
Desserts show the same thought lavished on other courses.
2 Amys’ moist almond cake comes with wine-poached cherries
and superb vanilla ice cream, and candied grapefruit zest
enhances the ricotta filling in the handmade cannoli. Delicate
cookies call to me, too, most recently lemon poppyseed.
During the pandemic, Pastan got a second domed oven and
placed it in the back of the dining room to help his staff
From top: Salt cod fritters with garlic aioli; chef
Peter Pastan; a citrus salad with olives, onion,
Sicilian oregano and chives.