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Adams Morgan Jumbo Slice

We live in Adams Morgan in Washington, DC. It is a neighborhood better known for its bars than its restaurants. It does have one culinary distinction, the jumbo slice; which is a really large slice of pizza. Right now you are probably saying, “Hah, I have had a large slice of pizza”. Truth is though, you haven’t… these are really big slices, big enough to satisfy any drunk hunger. The pan they use to bake these monster pies is 3 feet wide.

Drunkenness generally goes hand in hand with a jumbo slice. However it is not something Carolyn and I have been doing much since Elena. Eating pizza on the other is something we are doing almost weekly. After a bit though you can hit a bit of a pizza rut though. In an attempt to spice things up we thought we would give jumbo slice a try… sober!

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There is some debate on who on 18th Street has the best jumbo slice. The City Paper and the Travel Channel have both looked into it. While it was cool to see Adams Morgan on TV, the Travel Channel show Food Wars seems to have the most annoying format possible. It is a 30 minute show that looks to settle an outstanding debate in the food world; for instance, which Jumbo Slice is better. The show seems to think it is necessary to recap what happened before the commercial break, and there were a lot of commercial breaks. I guess this is what you are forced to do when you have try and stretch a single taste test into a half-hour show. So, instead of trusting main stream media we decided to find out for ourselves.

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There are two main purveyors of jumbo slice on 18th Street: Pizza Mart and the aptly named Jumbo Slice. We got a slice from each and split them. I setup a blind test so we could sample the pizza without being influenced by either of their glitzy ad campaigns.

Slice 1:

  • Sweet Tomatoey sauce
  • Thicker cheese
  • Extra cheesy flavor in the cheese

Slice 2:

  • A little tangy
  • A more pleasing pizza taste

Both slice started out pretty good, but by the time I got towards the end of the slice #2 remained enjoyable while the other got a little boring. That said, it is nothing a little inebriation won’t solve.

Slice #2 was from Pizza Mart, which gets the win for Flavor. However Jumbo Slice’s slice was also good, so it all depends where on 18th Street you are. The crowd outside Jumbo Slice is always a little rowdier which makes for great people watching. Factor that in and I think Jumbo Slice might win for Flava’.

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(This either makes Elena look small or the Jumbo slice look huge)

7 thoughts on “Adams Morgan Jumbo Slice

  1. You should be ahamed of being dramatic because of all the small business owners your white yuppie-ness has hurt. Adams Morgan has great restaurants of all ethinic types. Everything from Middle Eastern to Ethiopian to French to Cajan to El Salvadoran to Mexican — to modern veggie, and Asian fusion and on and on. You supposedly live here but thougthlessly make a post picked up worldwide that is misleadling about the charaacter of the offerings.

    • I think we have to be honest about the State of Dining in Adams Morgan. I love that I have bunch of different options within a block from me. There are a lot of good local choices… but none of these are destinations. I would not recommend someone come across town because they probably have a similar restaurant that is just as good, right by them. If I was from out of town, I don’t know if I would recommend Adams Morgan for the dining alone. The restaurants here, while good, do not represent the best for the city has to offer for most types of food. While Adams Morgan was probably much more unique in the late 90’s, other areas like Columbia Heights, 14th st, Chinatown, H st, and 8th have exploded and are attracting all of the new and fun restaurants. Some of the restaurants in Adams Morgan have not kept up their game and are resting on their laurels. It is great to have places that have been around for a while, but a lot of them could use a refresh because their menu and appearance are not aging so gracefully.

      I love the neighborhood and living here and I am so happy there are so many choices nearby. However what attracts people from outside the neighborhood is not the eating… but the drinking and even there we are under-delivering and catering towards slobs.

      Where I am going with this is that Adams Morgan used to be a hot spot, but the DC has kept moving on at a rapid pace and we haven’t kept up. Adams Morgan is great, but it could offer even more and some of the other neighborhoods are showing us what that could be.

      Also, let’s not confuse wanting good food, with being Yuppie, good food doesn’t need to cost a lot or be trendy… and seriously, who uses the term “Yuppie” anymore, I thought it was “Gentrifies” that we were supposed to be vilifying these days.

    • Definitely true… I was just being a little dramatic. Between Old City, Amsterdam, Shwarma King & Spot and Mama Ayesha there is also a pretty good selection of middle eastern food. Unfortunately I don’t think we get the recognized for much else.

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