2 Amys

Still darn tasty, still too many kids. Oh well. The back area houses the bar and a number of smaller tables for which you still need to contact the hostess. However, it’s a lot quieter than the front seating area. Expect long waits, particularly on weekend nights. Around 10pm on a Friday the place was still packed, although they did find me a table after about 15 mins.

Several olive varieties are now available as a small side, and the wines-by-the-glass are acceptably tasty.

-dave

[original review 2004-09-03] Somehow I had imagined a fancier space. Nope, it’s your basic, tile-lined neighborhood pizzeria...but what a pizza! The foundation is a superb crust — crisp, airy, and strong enough to support the toppings despite its thinness. The D.O.C. varieties are characterized by the strict toppings, but you can put together a pizza pretty much any way you want. The toppings are _fresh_ and perky; I dressed up a margherita with their house sausage, and it was wonderful. The basil was moist and aromatic, and the sausage itself is juicy and well-spiced including a nice dose of coriander. And I’m an instant convert to the delights of mozzarella bufalo. But the vongole pizza was even better, with bits of garlic and capers and cockles-in-shell dotting the grana landscape.

I had started with the baked olive appetizer, which is a mix of green and purple olives in a ramekin with herbed oil, served piping hot. The olives were very nice to begin with, but the herbed oil really made the dish. Fried anchovies, perfectly battered and served with a lemon wedge, really got your mouth watering for the pizza to follow.

The cannoli filling is generously flavored with orange zest and freshly filled, although (gripe alert) the filling wasn’t piped all the way through. I enjoyed the semifreddo, but it didn’t particularly stand out.

Off the back of the dining room is a smaller area with a wine bar and several hams hanging from a rack. The chalkboard indicates that they offer tasting plates of the current selection of hams and salami, and of a few cheeses...I’ll have to check this out next time.

-dave

I’m afraid I must downgrade 2 Amys because, although the food is outstanding, the place is kid central all the time. Last time we went they were half full when we left, and we were only one of two tables that had no children. It sounded like a f***ing daycare center in there. That’s partly the fault of the clientele, but partly the fault of the interior design, which is wide open with very little sound-dampening material. Contrary to popular opinion I do not despise children; I despise noise. Why oh why can’t people nowadays be bothered to a) teach their children manners, and b) realize that the little darlings don’t have to be dragged everywhere?

[original review from 8/26/04:]

It’s amusing to see the phrase “pizza d.o.c.” on a menu. Yes, that is the same designation used for formally recognized foods in Italy, Denominazione di Origine Controllata, and yes, that means that “Neapolitan Pizza” is a legally conrtolled food, and no, I’m not going to explain the regulations further.

As a member of the Verace Pizza Napoletana Association, 2 Amys provides the real thing. They also provide other dishes and pizzas that do not fall under the DOC. To start there are oven-roasted olives, deviled eggs, salt cod croquettes, and meatballs. The menu also lists five different salads, eight pizza (non-DOC) combinations, stuffed pizza, cheese courses, and desserts. The pizza toppings range from the usual — onions, mushrooms, olives — to less often seen cured meats, vegetables, and cheeses.

Everything we sampled, including some specials, was wonderful. But then when it comes to pizza I am firmly planted in the less-is-more camp. If you’re used to American-style pizza, be warned.

Arriving on a Wednesday night at 7:30, we had a 20-minute wait for a table for four, which I gather is typical. The space is clean, airy, bright, and loud, with simple wooden tables and tile floors. 2 Amys is exactly the kind of neighborhood joint that makes me wish I live in the neighborhood.

Bliss. But then, it’s pizza by the same genius that came up with Pizzaria Paradisio.

I had one of the certified Neopolitan pizzas, a Margherita with cherry tomatoes. Those little tomatoes popped, delightfully. I started off with the roasted olives (and you can blame Pastan for that, too, as I only started liking olives after being offered them every time I went to Paradisio), which were fantastic in the herbed sauce. My only quibble was that they had been salted with a bit too heavy a hand.

Dave & ebeth have pretty much covered everything else- I’ll definitely be back, but I probably won’t walk there next time- after walking three miles, I was quite hungry & thirsty, and we weren’t seated for another 15 minutes. eeek.