Restaurant Review: We, The Pizza

Coming from a college town, and as a Chicago native, I'm used to being spoiled with a plethora of pizza joints, and often some pretty good ones. Now in DC, I'm in a bit of withdrawal. I've been here for over a month and have found only one pizza place, and tonight I ate there for the first time.

We, The Pizza is located on Pennsylvania only a few blocks from my apartment, making it very convenient. I had heard only great things from my friends in my building, who had already tried it. Personally, I wasn't that impressed.

Like I said, I'm from Chicago, so I'm a big deep dish fan. Personal favorite is Giordano's. So naturally when I saw a thicker looking pizza at We, The Pizza, that's what I went for. I ate a slice of their Sicilian Pie, a cast iron pie pizza with chunky tomato sauce, mozzarella and fresh basil. It was $5 for a very thick slice, and with a drink the total was $7.77. For me, that's a whole meal and a decent price for DC. It wasn't bad, but it was not my favorite. I honestly would prefer a generic brand, like Domino's or Papa John's. The ingredients were spaced very randomly on the pizza. A giant chunk of tomato here, a glob of basil there. Just overall it was not impressive. I'd like to try some of their other varieties though. Could have been just the slice I had, but my roommate didn't appear too impressed with her slice of sausage and peppers pizza either.

I like the name, cute, creative. All these DC restaurants do cute, patriotic puns. As a visitor here I'm a fan. The atmosphere though is kind of dry and dull. I was hoping for a little more excitement from the name.



The Facts:

Menu: We, The Pizza offers more than just pizza. They have pasta, salad, wings, subs and gelato. They also serve specialty sodas and beer.

Price: Pizzas aren't unreasonably priced, especially for DC. Slices range from $3-$5. Medium pies are $16 and large are $18.

Location: 305 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20003; closest metros are Capitol South or Eastern Market

Hours: 11:30 a.m. - 11 p.m. Monday-Saturday, Closed Sunday

You can eat in, order to go, or do curbside pick-up

My Rating: *****

Miss Thompson goes to New York too

Since most everyone in Washington DC seems to be employed by the government, the city practically shuts down on government holidays. Since this past Monday was President's Day, I took a weekend trip with some friends from my building to visit New York City.

On the Subway with Rachel and Abby

We had a great trip! I have a newfound appreciation for DC's metro system. New York's subway was incredibly complicated! Thank God for the iPhone subway map app. Without it we would have been completely lost. DC's metro is clean, whereas New York's smells like pee. DC also has these convenient little signs that say when the next train is arriving, and you usually don't have to wait too long. In New York, they don't have these signs and you often have to wait FOREVER!



We got into the city on Friday night after a very long ride on the Megabus. I would not recommend the Megabus to anyone. It is cheap, but it is terribly disorganized. Also, they tell you you'll get to ride nice, double-deck buses with nice seats and WiFi, but both on the ride there and back, we ended up on standard coach buses with tiny, uncomfortable seats, no leg room and no WiFi.

Times Square with Abby and Garrett

When we finally reached New York, we got to our hostel in South Harlem. Sketchy neighborhood for sure, but inside it was very nice, especially for the $20/night price! Address was 242 W 116th St.

After a slightly scary trip to Mama's Fried Chicken down the street from our Harlem hostel, we hit up Time's Square. We found one of my favorite Belgian beers, Hoegaarden at an Irish pub there, and a wide variety of massive margaritas at Chevy's.

Saturday, day 2, we visited Chinatown and Little Italy. The good purse shops on Canal Street were unfortunately shut down, so I didn't make off with any cheap "Chanel" handbags. We ate brick oven pizza and drank wine at a restaurant in Little Italy. We headed up to Times Square again, where we visited Toys R Us and the M&M's store. That night we hung out around Columbia and some bars there. We missed 25 cent wings at the Lion's Head by minutes, but we did get to make a quick stop at Tom's Restaurant, you know, that restaurant they're always at in Seinfeld :)

Day 3 was a busy one. We hit up the Staten Island ferry, which gave us incredible views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. We walked to the financial district where we all grabbed the bull by the balls. Then headed to ground zero, which, nearly 10 years later, is still core shaking to see. We had dinner at Ruby Tuesday's in Times Square, which was not cheap like your typical Ruby Tuesday's... this was fancy shmancy Ruby Tuesday's. There I achieved by goal of drinking a cosmopolitan in New York City :) 

Our final day we spent in Central Park. It had snowed the night before, so it was absolutely beautiful. Overall, it was an incredible trip.

US Rep from Illinois in New Zealand for the quake

And I got to cover it!

Click HERE to read my latest story "Area congressman in New Zealand when quake hit."

Front page byline! Asian carp

Click HERE to read my first front page story, entitled "Asian Carp Called the Biggest Threat to Great Lakes in Years."

Here's a YouTube video where you can see Asian carp in action.

The real way to learn economics

Of the many many subjects I have studied, from kindergarten in 1995 to college, by far my least favorite has been economics. I've never been able to wrap my head around it... until recently that is.

My high school econ teacher was wonderful. He tried to explain the subject using analogies involving dolphins and tucking his hand into his shirt sleeve when talking about the "invisible hand" theory. He made econ fun, but it never fully sank in. In college, my professor was an evil little man whose 8a.m. class was the first and only class I have fallen asleep in. The class gained a notorious reputation for being impossible, even among the engineering brainiacs down the hall from me in the dorm. Needless to say, I didn't learn much from this class either.

So when I walked into the Rayburn House Office Building for an interview about the implications of China's economic surge on the Illinois manufacturing sector, I was pretty nervous. I had done my research of course, but my previous failures in the realm of economics still daunted me. When the interview was over, I was shocked to hear a complement from the Congressman on how much I seemed to know on the subject. He said I was well prepared. When I returned to my apartment to write the story, I discovered from my notes that I had actually conducted a good interview on economics! And when I wrote the story, I knew what I was talking about!

So moral of the story, for me at least, the best way to learn economics may not be from a text book or amusing analogies, but to throw it in the context of something you do understand or enjoy, like politics. Or maybe it's to have to talk to a US Congressman about it haha.

My story ran on Sunday. Check it out HERE!

AT&T fails in our nation's capitol

When it comes to living in Washington, DC, there is severe draught in bars.

No, I'm not talking about local watering holes, there are plenty of those. I'm talking about cell phone reception.

I was beyond excited to receive an iPhone for my 21st birthday this past December. Getting this "life-changing" device, however, meant switching from my T-Mobile plan to AT&T. Owning an iPhone really has been a life-changer. In many ways it has made my life a lot easier. Props to Apple for an outstanding product.

But AT&T... we need to have a chat.

I expected to have reception issues when I went back to Columbia, MO for college. I did on T-Mobile, everyone does on every service... it's the middle of Missouri. You have to drive two hours to get to any sort of civilization. But Washington, DC??? It's the nation's capitol, and yet I'm experiencing the worst cell phone service of my life. Yesterday I attempted to conduct an phone interview in my apartment, located directly on capitol hill. I ended up having to reschedule it for today when I could be in my office on a landline because my iPhone kept cutting out. I just don't understand how the capitol of the greatest nation in the world, from where countless communications are essential to transmit each day, can have worse telephone service than Columbia, MO.

In the end, I would never trade my iPhone back for my old Samsung that did nothing but text. I rely on my iPhone for DC Metro schedules, emails, news and Twitter updates. It's my calendar, my alarm clock, my weather service, my camera and my map for the many many times I get lost.

But as a journalist, I need to make and receive calls. So step it up AT&T. If you were president, you'd be impeached.