2 Amys is not a romantic restaurant. The lighting is bright; the service is fine, no better; loud kids often dominate the soundtrack; no reservations are taken; and you might have to wait a while for a table.

And none of this matters. This is the best authentic Italian pizza in DC, and some of the best in America. The many neighborhood- and city-wide accolades are insufficient to describe 2 Amys’ uniqueness within the DC—and American—pizza landscape. The membership of 2 Amys in the Neapolitan appellation, “Vera Pizza Napoletana,” is not mere puffery; the 19 certified restaurants in America are serious pizza places. There are other restaurants in DC with wood-fired brick ovens; but it is a much rarer thing to find a staff that operates such a wood-fired brick oven correctly, searing a pizza at extremely high heat in no more than a couple of minutes, creating those telltale ink-black bubbles of singed crust.

It is a rare thing, too, to find a kitchen that applies so judiciously little tomato and cheese to the pizza, allowing them to serve as wonderful backups to a crust that sings the lead. If you’re not schooled in this brand of pizza, open your mind to fewer toppings and more taste: on the simple Margherita DOC—the crowning achievement here—the layer of fragrant sauce on the red pizza is almost translucent, while deep, rich buffalo mozzarella is dotted onto the pie like clouds across the Arizona sky. If you must get more elaborate with toppings, you might consider fresh cockles with a chewy touch; prosciutto di Parma sliced, for once, as thinly as it needs to be; broccoli rabe lightly sautéed in olive oil; or soft eggplant confit that’s just a touch sweet.

Pizzas are all personal-sized, so we recommend a family-style plan of attack: each person orders one pizza and they’re all passed around. And save some retroactive room for one of the many deliciously authentic Italian appetizers, like the refreshing Venetian sarde in saor (a vinegary dish with sardines, raisins, and pickled onions), which is plated more artfully here than we’ve seen it in Italy. As a result of all of this deliciousness, the queues outside and flurry within show no signs of subsiding.

And none of it matters.