I’ve recently just wandered across a couple new (to me) places in the neighborhood. Both are about 2 blocks from the abode, which is comfortably within the acceptable radius, and not only are they good, but they are certainly worth recommending:

• Una pizza napoletano - As you’ll read in various blog postings and reviews across the internet, the owner is a neapolitan pizza purist, plain and simple. There are only 4 types of pizza on the menu, and it’s safe to say that they’re all excellent. Make sure you get there early: We arrived at 8PM, were told at 8:30PM that we would be the last people served that evening (they close when they run out of dough), and were eating by 9:15PM. This isn’t exactly our idea of a great meal, but the food overcame the wait. At $18.95 per 12″ pie, it better be able to overcome a lot.
• S’mac - Two doors down from the pizza place above is S’mac. As they only serve pizza at Una pizza napoletano, it only seems appropriate that they only serve macaroni and cheese at S’mac. Of the many varieties, we tried the Gruyere with slab bacon and the Cajun with peppers and cajun sausage. I knew it was good when I saw they had tomatoes as an optional topping. To me, a true mac and cheese must have tomatoes. It’s usually bustling inside, but the few times I’ve been by, the line never grows longer than a few minutes wait. A tip: The medium sized portion is way too big for dinner, and basically constitutes two meals. Next time, I am going for the small. The large size will have to wait until I have some kind of dinner party (they have bake-at-home offerings too).

All in all, I’m never surprised to be surprised in the neighborhood. I really need to get out more.