Ema Rossi Pizzeria — Restaurant in Aspen Hill

This place was great tbh. It is authentic Neapolitan. Our server was quite knowledgeable about most of the things I asked him like "the pizza was made using 67% hydration dough using 4 basic ingredients" (flour water salt yeast). Though he did not know how long it was fermented for, I'd ballpark it to be a direct dough for 24-36 hours. They strive for authenticity so many things are made the Neapolitan way.

Crust - Very light and airy, perfectly proofed (slightly over, which is fine). This tastes quite similar to mine, theirs had more air though due to not doing an extra pre-bake stretch. The bottom had great leoparding, with terrific air development in the crust. Sauce - Thin, unsimmered crushed tomatoes so it comes out a bit wetter. Strong tomato taste, this leads to a bit of sogginess in the center of the pizza if you let it sit for a bit. This is the "real Neapolitan" sauce so it is made the Neapolitan way though that might not be preferred for some. Cheese - actual buffalo mozzarella in large chunks on the Margherita! Most restaurants won't give you this. Tastes great. Presentation - Perfect pizza presentation, these are on 13 inch plates, I would ballpark the pizza to be about 12.5 inches.

They use an Acunto Forni pizza oven, shipped from Naples, tiled in San Francisco. They apparently drove it across the country thereafter probs to save on the insane shipping.

The person who stretched and topped the pizza was very skilled, technique is slightly different than mine but because the dough was very well proofed! She could stretch it very easily to 14 inches. I'm estimating the wooden peels they use to be around 14x16 and it's stretched edge to edge. The pizzaiolo had masterful technique of managing heat, positioning, turning, and topping. I'm kinda amazed she did it all herself but it was a slow period during the day.

The dough is rested in front of the pizza oven, so I would guesstimate they do 3-4 hours of 80F ish proofing before or during service. Total bake time was between 60-90 seconds depending on how heavy the toppings were.

The Bianca and Patate were very good.

We added calamari, asparagus, and the veal bolognese with the 3 pizzas for a party of 4+toddler. The price was around $18-$20 for each pizza.

Conclusion: I give this place a 5/5 for Neapolitan style pizza. If you are not used to the Neapolitan sauce, you probably won't like that it becomes quite moist/soggy...

Jan 2023 Came here for lunch and the food was very good and the service decent. The place is located in a busy shopping area, so you might have some trouble finding parking spots close by. The inside is clean, cozy, and decently lit. They have ceiling fans too, and it was a little bit annoying for me because I was seated at the perfect angle for the fan blades to cross directly in front of a light bulb, causing the light to "flicker". I sorta got used to it, and it didn't seem to bother anyone else. The place has about 10 tables and a few high chairs at the bar. There are also tables outside, both normal and high tables. The outside tables are mostly under an overhang, so you can sit there if its raining.

The staff are all friendly and seem to like talking to the customers if you're interested. I would say that they were moderately attentive. Our assigned waiter was also working tables outside, but quickly helped us when we got their attention. The other waiter, when they noticed we were sharing our food family style, offered us bigger plates than the usual small appetizer plates. The bus person was pretty lax in clearing empty dishes, even when I saw our waiter ask them to clear our table so they could bring us dessert (our waiter ended up clearing the table themself).

We arrived during the weekend brunch, but ordered from the normal menu. Note they give you paper menus and do not take them back. All of the food we ordered was pretty tasty and the prices were decent for the quantity and quality of food. I personally really liked the Penne Verde and the Funghi pizza. The Fried Calamari was very chewy. The greens in the Mista salad were not crispy; I believe they were sitting in the dressing too long since the Arugula salad was fine. The pizzas are about 12" big, with a chewy but not dense crust. The Melanzana 2.0 pizza was slightly salty, likely because of the capers. The Tiramisu was ok, though they put way too much rum and coffee; it was all you could taste. The Pistachio Ricotta Cake had a strong pistachio flavor.

Last few notes. They serve water by giving each table a large glass container so you pour yourself water. Tuesdays apparently are half off bottles. So if you're interested in alcohol deals, I suggest you check that out.

All in all, I would...

On a Wednesday evening after work, I had dinner at Ema Rossi Pizzeria, a cute Italian restaurant located in the Rock Creek Village Shopping Center. Unsure of how busy they would be, I made a reservation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they have indoor seating as well as heated outdoor seating.

Shortly after being seated, we asked for wine recommendations. Our server was nice enough to give us samples of two different wines. We ended up sharing a bottle of Salus Pinot Grigio.

For appetizers, we shared an order of Polpettine Al Forno, which consisted of veal and beef meatballs in spiced tomato sauce garnished with grated pecorino and shredded basil in a cast iron skillet and served with bread. I liked how the meatballs tasted and didn't have much filler. In addition to the meatballs, I ordered the Mussels in White Wine Broth, which was also served with bread. The mussels were well shucked and the white wine broth was flavorful. The broth consisted of white wine, cream, garlic, shallots, herbs, and salt/pepper.

For entrees, each of us got our own pizzas - Parma Pizza and Fichi Pizza (with smoked mozzarella instead of gorgonzola). They were pretty similar except the Parma Pizza was tomato based and garnished with a grilled lemon and Fichi Pizza had fig jam and finished with a balsamic reduction. I liked how pizza was thin and the crust was crisp and airy. We didn't eat all the pizza and left room for dessert.

For dessert, he ordered the Brownie Sundae while I ordered Gelato. The Brownie consisted of a large brownie topped with vanilla gelato, drizzled with hot fudge and caramel, and garnished with walnuts. The Gelato consisted of a large scoop of vanilla gelato and a large scoop of chocolate gelato. I was surprised that the vanilla gelato only had a hint of vanilla. The chocolate gelato tasted like a brownie that melted in your mouth. I hope next time I return, they will have other...