D.C. has become more of a pizza town over the last few years. There are way more options than just the ubiquitous late-night jumbo slice, from plenty of Detroit-style pizzerias toone of the best slice shops in the country expanding across the city. But
what’s been missing in the city’s diverse pie options is a good Chicago tavern-style pizza. That is, until now.
La Merna is opening at 2153 P Street NW in Dupont Circle on Thursday, August 13, boasting those extremely thin-crust pies cut into one-bite squares.
Chicago transplants and husband-wife duo Bradley Shorten and Meg Schmitt opened La Merna in the old Duffy’s Irish Pub space just a few blocks off the circle. The two hope to not only fill that hole in D.C.‘s pizza scene, but serve fresh takes on classic Italian dishes. It’s led by a standout pizzaiolo who runs a shoe-box-sized popular pizza shop in a Chicago suburb, Kim’s Uncle Pizza, known for its gloriously crispy, cracker-like pizza crust.
Shorten’s pies stick out from the recent Midwest-style pizza additions, like Dog Daze Social Club andGiordano’s, with his commitment to crispiness and loading up each pie with toppings that stretch out to every inch of crust.
“We push the line on what a burnt pizza is, and sometimes we go over it,” Shorten says of the crust, explaining that he doesn’t want it to be “underdone” and have “the middle square to be crispy.” The dough is aged for nearly a week, fermenting before being sheeted out and cured, so it can bake to that crackly texture. He recommends ordering the pies topped with giardiniera and sausage, but there’s also a fungi option layered with taleggio cheese and sungold cherry tomato cream and a classic pepperoni and hot honey pie topped with daily made straciatella, alongside build-your-own options ($22 to $30).
La Merna is the first restaurant the spouses have opened together, after meeting years ago when Shorten was sourcing cheeses from Schmitt while operating his first shop, Pizza Fried Chicken Ice Cream, with his co-partners that now run Chicago’s lauded Pizz’amici. Those cheeses — ricotta, mozzarella, and stracciatella — are almost as central to the menu as the pies. Shorten says he’s always stuck to pizzas and breads, but Schmitt’s culinary skills and formal cheese-training in Italy inspired them to expand the menu to pastas, salads, and house-made toast slathered in salted butter and anchovies or stracciatella and melon.
Schmitt spent a few weeks in Bologna learning how to make the pastas, including ravioli stuffed with ricotta and ’nduja and topped with tomato butter and lemon cream; thick sheets of spinach fazzoletti with short rib ragu and plenty of mozzarella and ricotta; and fried gnudi, ricotta and spinach dumplings, with basil, provola, and vodka sauce ($14 to $32).
An upcoming late-night menu will include two Juicy Lucy burger options (another rarity in D.C.) with patties that are crispy on the outside and filled with molten cheese, a classic American with pickles and onions plus an Italian variant with tallegio cheese, caramelized onions, mushroom pate, and pancetta.
The bar serves plenty of interesting classic cocktails inspired by Midwest supper clubs. The Italian spirit-filled drinks menu includes a rhubarb spritz that utilizes rhubarb vermouth and sparkling rosé; a tomato martini with pickled sungolds and basil with the choice of vodka or gin; a limoncello gin and tonic balanced with black peppercorns; and a watermelon margarita with a ginger Tajín rim ($14 to $16).
The space is drenched in vintage pieces and moody lighting. “I think it looks really fun, and we’re looking for something kind of sexy but whimsical,” Shorten says. He has an interior design background as well, figuring out the layout of the restaurant himself before the couple hunted for vintage decorations across Wisconsin and Chicago, as well as antique shops around D.C. They even designed their own font, with the eclectic-looking typography mostly pulling inspiration from Italian movie posters. The lights go from golden and bright in the early evening hours to a sexy dark red as the night goes on.
The couple truly made a leap to come out to D.C. after a friend showed them the Duffy’s space, leaving Shorten’s pizza shop and Schmitt’s nationally distributed cheese company to be run by managers while they built out La Merna. “It felt right,” Shorten remembers.
La Merna’s soft opening extends to this weekend, withreservations already available on Resy (and booking up fast). Shorten and Schmitt’s extremely early success seems to be spreading by word-of-mouth, plus a sign in the window. “It was really busy,” Schmitt says of the first weekend in August. “We just put a sign in the door saying we’re opening for a neighborhood preview, so come on by, and we were filled up both nights.”
Up next, the couple plans to open a stewed meat-obsessed sandwich window next door by October that will probably only be open on weekends to start. Of course, they will serve Italian beef, as well as a thick-cut, hot salami sandwich with garlic cheese spread, pepperoncinis, and a little mustard, inspired by Schmitt’s upbringing in St. Louis.
La Merna is only open from Thursday to Sunday right now, opening at 5 p.m. and closing up at midnight on Thursday before extending to 2 a.m. hours for the rest of the weekend.
