30 June 2010

I Ladri!

One of the simple pleasures in Italy is the food. It is abundant, flavorful, fresh and relatively inexpensive. Case in point is pizza. Pizza made in a wood fired oven by a pizzaiolo is relatively simple, made fresh and a pizza margherita will cost less than $7 or $8 each. Throw in an appetizer, bottled water, cold beer and a pizza for each and we usually had pizza in a pizzeria for less than $30.

Not so here in the DC area. The other night we tried another pizzeria we have passed by before and the pizza was acceptable but the price shock left a bad taste in our mouths. We split a pizza margherita, a salad and an appetizer and had two draft beers. By the time we left we were $47 poorer. More than 50% more for less food than what we would get in Italy.

When we lived in Albuquerque we were blessed by many great places to eat, and with reasonable prices. Visitors would tell us this but it never really became reality until we lived here in Alexandria. As a comparison check out these two menus:

Il Vicino
Ella's

Our experience is that Il Vicino does make some of the best wood fired pizza in true Italian style.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ridiculous prices for eating out in the US, high prices of big cities but all over the prices are higher and for what? Flour, water, tomato and a bit of cheese?!

Vicky said...

Ella's - you pay for the location in DC. Prices are outrageous! Save your money and go to any pizzeria in the best location of all: Italy!

Unknown said...

The prices at Ella's are the same all over Northern Virginia. Interesting that Il Vicino has a place right of The Plaza in Santa Fe (no cheap real estate there) with the same menu.

Gil said...

I figured out a long time ago that plumber, electricians, mechanics, restaurant owners, etc all want to live in nice house and drive nice cars like other people do. Therefore, we think what they charge is high.