Flippin' Pizza

A few Saturdays ago, Evan and I joined my parents at Flippin' Pizza, the winner of the 2009 Washingtonian pizza contest.  Interestingly, Flippin' Pizza first started in California but now boasts several locations in the D.C./Maryland/Virginia area. Flippin' Pizza brags that its pies offer diners "a slice of New York," and as a native New Yorker I was interested in (and admittedly a bit skeptical of) this brazen claim.


Although FP occupies a modest location off of Broad Street in Falls Church, VA, the small shop was busy on a Saturday evening with feasting families and hungry customers stopping by for carry-out.  Due to FP's ordinary interior, take-out seemed the more popular method for enjoying this store's cheesy pies; however, we chose to absorb the full experience by eating at one of the tables and watching the pizza-makers stretch, flip, and toss balls of dough into thin, eighteen inch rounds.


We decided to order two pies for the four of us: an artichoke white pizza and a margarita pizza with sausage.  First up came the artichoke, my favorite of the two pizzas.  Generously sized and foldable, the slices were covered with mozzarella cheese and bite-sized, mild artichoke hearts (one of my favorite pizza toppings).  The best part of this pie was clearly the dough, which provided a chewy, slightly sweet, and doughy yet crispy base for the toppings.  Unfortunately, the sauce on this pizza was all wrong.  Instead of sprinkling the pizza with fresh tomatoes or spreading a memorable sauce all over the pie, the pizza-makers at FP decide to top each slice with a salty marinara that tasted like jarred spaghetti sauce.  The sauce on the sausage pizza seemed more palatable and was spread out over the pie.

Overall, I enjoyed my first trip to Flippin'; however, I am not so sure that what I tasted was worthy of the "Best Pizza" award by Washingtonian.  I do look forward to returning (perhaps for a $3.50 slice and soda) and sampling another pie.

Caitlin:  B+

Evan:  B