For the past few months or weeks (I don’t actually know) there has been a competition to find Northern Virginia’s best pizza. As previously noted here, and here,and here, and possibly here, I like pizza. Here is a confession: pizza makes me kind of sick, but that doesn’t stop me. Naturally this contest caught my eye. Fireworks was on the list, and that was my pick. I picked a loser.
This picture is blurry, I know. I was taking it as the manager/owner was standing there and I got nervous. But the important thing to note is that the winner was Ciro’s NY Pizza.
Never had I ever had Northern Virginia’s best pizza? Obviously, this needed to change. STAT. As we drove up, I was nervous that I had actually been there because I had been to a place in the same shopping center. I walked in and was quickly assured this was a true Never Have I Ever.
I had no idea what to do. There are pizzas behind a glass sneeze guard that you look at, and order. Then they are put into the oven to warm up.
(This isn’t actually Ciro’s) I panicked. I didn’t know what to order. I went with mushroom and pepperoni (pictured above) and pizza margherita.
Pizza margherita is my favorite kind of pizza, but this set up doesn’t do it justice. You see that fresh mozzarella? It is meant to be melted. When you warm it up in an oven, it is still pretty solid. This takes away from the overall experience. That was my biggest complaint. I like it when the pizza is piping hot, wood-fired, if you will.
Jenny is giving it thumbs up, but she had the same thoughts as me.
All in all, I believe I ordered poorly the set-up offered. The dough was good-and that is important. The sauce was good as well. The basil was fresh and the people watching was first rate. I wish I had taken notes on some of the first rate people watching. Alas, I didn’t.
Sorry, Kyle (not pictured, that’s Travis), Ciro’s hasn’t won me over. It was good, but doesn’t win the title for me of Northern Virginia’s best.
-Hannah
