(See the January 31, 2011 Review here.)
All hail the new King of Pizza in the Washington, DC area. I’m coming right out and saying that, as of late May / early June, 2011, Pupatella is the best by far, without any serious contender in sight. No, it’s not a competition, but if it was, this would win.
As usual, I started with a bottle of 2009 Case Ibidini Insolia white ($15 with the purchase of two pizzas, up from $13 in January).
Fried Zucchini Blossoms ($4 for 2) is one of the greatest individual food items I’ve had in all of 2011. No matter how much you think you might not want these, get them anyway. They’re done in an incredibly flavorful, tempura-like batter and have just the right amount of salt. Served on paper, there was no residual oil at all afterwards despite them having been deep-fried. Please, please do yourself a favor and get these. (Note: Pupatella was originally going to discontinue these at the end of May, but has decided to keep them into June. (A second order, tried about a week later, was a bit less perfectly fried (and thus left some residual (albeit high-quality) oil).) Go. Go!)
A weekly special White Pizza with Roasted Potatoes, Shallots, Rosemary, and Parmesan ($12) went into the stratosphere after putting a good, runny Egg ($2) on top, but surprisingly was distracted by a supplement of Prosciutto ($4) which ended up dominating the other ingredients. An extraordinary pizza regardless, this is the answer to all your breakfast fantasies.