Cats and Pizza
Thursday, May 18
This is Kippy, everyone's favorite being at the boathouse. This cat is living his best life. There are ten or more clubs/schools rowing out of the ACBA, so Kippy has many food bowls, plenty of food, and a ton of friends. He yells for me in the mornings when I'm one of the first people there. He knows his favorite people. I see them call for him and he
This morning we went out in quads. I'm happy to follow someone else to work on my timing. The rowers here are exceptional. I'm fortunate to have this time with them. I miss my team at home still. I miss rowing sweep. But a month of five-day-a-week sculling is really great.
Mike is coming home this afternoon from Denver. We plan to go to the Library of Congress for the cookbook panel and then to Della Barba for pizza. DB was one of the places recommended by Rachel at Boogy and Peel. The cats and are all happy to have Mike back in town. We all missed him, though Digital probably won't admit it. Annie sings the song of her people when he arrives. After work we walk over to the Jefferson building. I've learned to make reservations, and it's a good thing. The Library was much, much busier tonight. They have the Waldseemüller map from 1507 on display as well. It looks crazy, at an odd angle, but what's most interesting is this map only precedes the map you have always known the Mercator Projection by about 60 years. The Waldseemüller is actually a bit more accurate about the size of Africa. As we learned in the West Wing episode Crackpots and These Women, this map shows correct sizing of all continents. But I digress...
Tonight they are showing several remarkably old cookbooks from the collection. There's also a panel discussion with local chefs and two LoC librarians who have written a book about the cookbooks in the collection. Last year, I found a section in the Main Reading Room filled with cooking guides and recipes from all over the world. I'm not so interested in the panel. I'm here to see what other books they keep locked away in the back. There are some interesting pieces including the first American-published cookbook, an article in the Farmer Cabinet (first use of the word cocktail), and menus from old DC bars, now defunct. Of course, most are hands off. I'll have to return another day to thumb through them as a researcher. I'm investigating for some future dinner parties. Stay tuned.
After a couple glasses of champagne at the bar, we head towards Lincoln Park and Della Barba. Their specialty is that they don't specialize. They make New York, Detroit, Chicago, and Sicilian pizza. Normally that's a red flag that none of it will be any good, but Rachel said they are fantastic.
It's a cute, small place. Lots of room for tables outside, but none there yet. I grab a table, and a friendly guy in a fun pizza-maker-hat comes out and asks if it's our first time there. We tell the waitress that we are now on a pizza quest. This idea has arisen since Rachel handed us three must-try places and then Grace sent me the collegiate pizza bingo game she's been playing. She nice and helps us on a path to try all four varieties with taking four large pizzas home as leftovers. The first to come out is the Sicilian style (they call it Nonna). It comes as a slice, so we ordered one to split. When she brings it out cut in two and on separate plates, we ooh at how nice it looks. She states that, "Joey is a little 'extra' and got excited when I told him y'all are on a pizza journey."
Turns out Joey is the owner and they've only been open about five months after a couple years as a pop up. He's thrilled we were sent by another DC pizzeria. Each pizza he brings out is delicious. Joey is ecstatic about the burnt cheese that forms on the Detroit style, and so am I. It might be my favorite of all of them. The NY style is thin but the bottom is crispy. This seems to be a thing in DC. I know the next pie I get in Atlanta will be at least slightly unsatisfying without this crispy bottom. I'll have to figure out how to do it at the house.
More pizza coming up!