Last Friday, a working dinner turned into an hour-long “where should we go, what should we get” discussion, culminating in carryout pizza from the Capitol Hill Matchbox. It was a great decision, and turned out to be a good selection of pizzas.
A small Veggie ($12) with cremini mushrooms, Spanish onions, roasted poblano peppers, roasted garlic, mozzarella, fresh herbs, and fingerling potato crisps was a perfect foil to a small Sausage & Sundried Tomato ($12) with ricotta, mozzarella, fresh basil, and balsamic reduction.
I was very skeptical about the balsamic reduction, but it really worked pretty well on this pie, countering the mild saltiness of the sausage and making for an irresistible, chocolate-covered pretzel-like combination.
The veggie was my idea, and the most interesting thing about it were the fingerling potato crisps (little homemade potato chips) which had to be made in-house, because I’ve never seen them before, and the oil used for them tastes a lot like the oil used in their onion straws (not a bad thing, as Matchbox seems to have a habit of using good, clean oil).
I want to say Matchbox is the Pie-Tanza of Capitol Hill, but as much as I like Pie-Tanza for its restraint and crust, I like Matchbox even more for both. The crust is thin – almost matzo-like except a bit chewier – and could easily be overwhelmed by aggressive toppings, but as busy as these pizzas (especially the Veggie) sounded, they were full of finesse.
As take-out, these came up to room temperature in a hurry, and were still every bit as good as when they were hot. A very good showing for Matchbox.