Details have been strangely hush-hush about the Neapolitan pizzeria opening at 8008 Woodmont Ave. in Bethesda—housed in that new building with the neat faux brick mural. I’m not sure why the landlord and general manager have been so reticent—after all, this is only pizza we’re talking about, not the Pentagon Papers. In any event, here are the intriguing particulars (finally):
- The chef is Naples-born Dino Santonicola, who has been cooking pizzas in Italy since he was 13 (he’s now 35). He came to the United States in 2004 to help open a pizzeria in Seattle called Via Tribunali. “Twenty two years I’ve been doing pizzas,” Santonicola told me. “I’m not going to switch.” In fact, his early pizza mentor in Naples told him, “‘learn one thing in life and be the best at it. Don’t learn many things, you won’t be good at any.’”
- The pizzas will be baked in a 4,500-pound wood-burning brick oven that looks like an igloo for a family of four. The oven is supposedly the first of its kind for the Washington area—it’s called the SF Allestimenti, created by Stefano Ferrera and built in Naples. It bakes a pizza in 90 seconds at 900 degrees.
- Aside from 12-inch Neapolitan pizzas, the restaurant will serve calzones, salads, charcuterie, Italian cheeses and house-made gelato.
- The place is big—5,000-square feet and seats 130 people. It’ll also have two semi-private dining rooms, an outdoor patio and be decorated with iron chandeliers and mosaic tile.
- Prices will range from $6.50 to $9 for salads, $11 to $14 for antipasti and $8.50 to $13 for pizza.
- Check out the trailer at www.pizzeriadamarco.net.
