Il Canale

La Regina

My good friend Jess was back in town visiting her beau Adam. TWSF met up with them for a Sunday dinner in Georgetown after a trip to our new favorite spice store. Adam suggested we go to Il Canale, an Italian restaurant specializing in traditional thin-crust pizza. Il Canale is located in Georgetown's Little Italy, which is very little (about half a block). Il Canale is known for their wood-fired oven, a direct import from Naples, Italy and authentic dishes that stay true to their old world origins.



We started with the bruschetta appetizer because Chuck (of course) was already starving (Chuck's note: spice shopping is exhausting). For drinks, Chuck, Jess and I ordered personal carafes of wine for $10 apiece. The wine was very good and the carafes wound up pouring two generous glasses. After consulting with the waitress, Adam decided to be adventurous and ordered a limoncello. It looked like he swallowed a bug after his first sip. Needless to say he was not a fan and described the drink as tasting like Robitussin (to his defense it was unlike any limoncello we had ever seen). The waitress graciously exchanged it for an Italian beer.

Il Canale offers a nice selection of red and white pizzas as well as antipasti, salads, pasta and traditional Italian dishes. The waitress explained that all of the pizzas were made with ingredients imported from Italy and adheared to strict Italian pizza making practices. With a description like this, we all decided to order a personal pie. Jess and I both ordered the La Regina, with tomato sauce, imported bufala mozzarella, bufala ricotta, and prosciutto crudo. Chuck played it safe with a classic Margherita pizza, and Adam opted for the Parmigiana with tomato sauce, parmigiano shavings, and imported bufala mozzarella.

The pizzas were all very good, we could actually taste a little bit Italy coming through the imported ingredients and brick oven. They were big enough to feed the boys, who cleaned their plates, and filling enough for Jess and I to take half home for lunch. The food and drinks was reasonably priced and the pizza was some of the best TWSF has eaten in DC. So for those of you who picture jumbo slices when you think of DC pizza, head on down to Il Canale to see how pizza is supposed to be made.

Classic Margherita