When in search of pizza, my first instinct is not to duck into a wine store. But in Middleburg it probably should be. Knead Wine references pizza in its name, but the stacks of bottles do little to encourage anything besides sipping. You just have to enter knowing a little background.
Knead Wine is the brainchild of Allie Nault and Jarad Slipp, former estate manager at RdV Vineyards. Slipp also happens to have a degree from the Culinary Institute of America and the title of master Italian chef. In short, you should trust the sommelier to both select your wine—mostly $20 and $45 bottles at Knead Wine—and make your pizza.
Pies are named for rock guitarist legends, from Clapton to Hendrix. My dining companion and I went with the EvH (as in Eddie Van Halen) and the Trucks. Though we were told pizzas were personal-sized, two less-than-famished people could likely share one 12-incher.
The crust, as Slipp told me last August in a phone interview before opening, is his sturdier take on a Neapolitan pie. The blistered crust shares the supple chewiness of a Neapolitan, but not its lightness, making it more portable, but still plenty appealing.
Of the two pies I tried, the EvH is the gold record-earner, with its subtle combination of sweetness and heat. Tangy tomato sauce is applied liberally, blending with mozzarella. Crisp pepperoni are covered in pickled jalapeños and chile-spiked honey. But the heat isn’t excessive, nor is the sticky sweetness–both only enhance the basics of what is, in its essence, a well-crafted pepperoni pie.
By comparison, the Trucks, lightly blanketed with tallegio, kale, potatoes, garlic, red onions, and pistachio, eats more like an ambitious bread than a crave-worthy, sensuous pizza. But there are nine more pies to try, and I’ve got doughy work to do. // 5 W. Washington St., Middleburg
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