Flippin Pizza - Fairfax, VA

Another google maps search resulted in this pizza parlor that I wasn’t previously aware of. When I entered the restaurant, it was clearly part of a small chain that is trying to modernize and increase its brand recognition. I don’t understand what the fascination for the word “flip” is supposed to be in the name, since almost all pizza places that hand-toss their dough flip it at some point. Perhaps there is something different that the company does while making the pizza. Regardless, I chose to order their Brooklyn Calzone. I noticed that the pizza was definitely a “New York” style, flat with lots of cheese and a thin sauce. The calzone came in two sizes, a small and a large. The small one was incredibly small… literally the smallest calzone I’ve ever seen. It could fit in the palm of my hand. The prices ran $8.50 for a small one and $13.50 for the large. The bigger one, which I chose because I knew I’d still be hungry otherwise, I had to wait to see since they did not have a medium on display. When it arrived only 10 minutes later, I noticed that it was about a standard medium size, according to my personal opinions as I have been rating calzones in this log. One of the other things that I noticed was that, for three guys working there who appeared to be super busy, this calzone was presented beautifully. I think this might be been the “best looking” calzone I’ve eaten so far. It was pre-sliced for me into three sections, had artisanal air-pockets cut into it for the baking process, and it was garnished extremely well. It was served with a small cup of marinara sauce, which was pre-prepared before the day as it was in a Dixie cup with a lid and was cold. The Brooklyn calzone has a lot more ingredients than usual calzones in this area, boasting mozzarella, ricotta, pepperoni, meatballs (sliced), mushrooms, and garlic. There were healthy amounts of ricotta in the calzone, which is always a favorite of mine. The pepperoni was super-fresh and you could taste the oil mixing with the cheeses. The meatballs’ consistency were alright, but when eaten singularly didn’t have a whole lot of flavor. The mushrooms were a nice touch, and added an element of moisture to the dish. What really throws this calzone over the average edge is the garlic. Not all restaurants put garlic in their calzone, believe it or not. The dough was quite delicious and baked perfectly, it wasn’t “dough-y” as some restaurants concoct, but thin and crispy. It was very similar to Ledo’s type of dough, but not overly brushed in butter. One thing I did notice was that having the calzone cut into thirds caused it to lose heat quite quickly, and the meal had cooled off before I could finish it resulting in congealed lumps of cheese. All-in-all, this was a very good calzone. I score this calzone a B- because of its dastardly price of over $13 given its size. Although, to be fair, there was clearly more effort put into this one than most of the calzones that I’ve eaten so far. However, as a consumer, there comes a point where the value of paying for quality is lower than the intrinsic value of the product. Nobody would pay $400 for a perfectly manufactured pencil, when a normal one would do just fine.