Italian Pizza Kitchen – Van Ness Area – Washington, D.C.

I was excited for this place. Two separate people I know recommended this location to me as a great place for calzones in Washington D.C. Living in Virginia, I don’t get the opportunity to get into the city very often, but I made the trip out for this one. The restaurant is a cozy corner café. Upon entry, me and my friends were seated and placed our orders. The food arrived after about 15 minutes, all three of us ordering a calzone to share. They ordered the Italian Calzone, and I ordered the Napoletana. All the calzones ran $12.95, no matter which version was chosen. I went with the Ham calzone so I could establish a baseline, since the menu boasted ricotta cheese. When it arrived, I noticed that it was the common size of medium-large, which put me at ease. Upon the first bite, I would describe the dough as fluffy, the calzone appeared to be baked in a regular oven. The outside was crisp and well timed. The dough itself wasn’t sweet, nor was it sour. It was regular dough. The presentation of the dish was also one of the best I’ve seen. The chef opted for the risky striations cut into the top of the calzone for visual effect. An aged parmesan was liberally sprinkled over the top. I knew it was a higher quality cheese because its strong concentrated flavor took over a lot of the dish in the parts that it touched. Inside was a nice low-moisture mozzarella with a medium quality ricotta cheese, curdy and seasoned with basil pocketed towards the front. The ham that was used appeared to be a standard pizza topping style ham, cut in quarter inch thick strips and without heavy curing. The cheese inside was not all the way congealed due to the chef paying attention to the dough as the indicator of readiness. This is often the struggle with calzones, cook the dough perfectly and the insides haven’t gotten hot enough to cook correctly, or cook the inside correctly and risk a burnt crust on your dough. Some chefs seem to cut the striations in the top of the pocket in order to allow the hot convection air to cook the insides as well as the outside, but the risk there is that, while eating the calzone, it loses its heat too quickly and becomes cold halfway through. The calzone did suffer from this common issue. However, the marinara sauce was fantastic; earthy, with a hint of spice, albeit only given in a very small carafe. Overall, I enjoyed the calzone. I had a bite of my friend’s Italian calzone and, I think that if I visit again, I might end up ordering that one. I score this Calzone as a B- due to the price for the issues present with it. Presentation was great, timing was great, a few issues with the flavor and quality of the ingredients, but overall not just average.