Strip District Terminal Gets Some Pizza + Pizza Horoscopes
The Strip District continues to bolster its stock of pizza, but what do the swirls of grease have to say about your future?
Hi there!
The Strip District is a cornucopia of treats. A fantastical buffer that stretches eight or so blocks, serving up a variety of food and international delectables. Of those options pizza makes up a handful. You got Iron Born serving up Detroit-Inspired pies, Newish Papa J’s presenting flights of pizza, Bella Notte (one of my first pizza reviews), Pizzeria Davide, and maybe one or two I can’t remember that are hidden in the PA Market.
All these pizzas serve a slightly different style, so you can do a thorough pizza tour without too much repetition. Now there’s a new stop to add to the list: Aslin Beer.
Aslin is a brewery based in Virginia/DC area that has a few locations across the North East. As far as additions to the Terminal go, they’re one of the best. Nice open space, decent beer and a casual place to hang out or grab a coffee. The one thing they never figured out was their food. What food pairs great with beer, easy to serve at scale and is enjoyed by a large swath of the population?
The answer didn’t immediately come to the Aslin crew. When they first opened they served up simple burritos filled with French fries. These were good, but I left incredibly bloated. The bubbles of the beer plus all the starch may as well filled my gut with cement. They upgraded their kitchen to include hamburgers, fried chicken sandwiches and elevated bar food. I thought it struck the perfect balance of quick, casual food that was pretty good, but still gave you that shot of grease you need with a cold one.
I was surprised when I received this mass email from the Aslin crew on June 22, 2023:
At Aslin, our core values are Quality, Integrity, Community, and Innovation. With that in mind, after reviewing your feedback and our kitchen's current capabilities, we have decided to close the kitchen for the short term to refocus our team’s efforts on providing the best possible guest experience. The taproom will continue operating as always, but over the next few weeks, we will be re-dedicating ourselves to our Core Values. Ultimately, we will be relaunching our menu to feature new innovations our team has been working on.
Uh, did not have that on my 2023 Bingo card!! Okay just kidding, I don’t have a bingo card for announcements from breweries regarding their kitchen. I do appreciate the candor and willingness to change. Where would they go from here? Back to burritos? What food pairs great with beer…easy to serve at scale…and is enjoyed by a large swath of the population…?
Pizza! Of course.
Last week Aslin announced that their kitchen has reopened and they’re going all in on pizza. It’s called Izzi and I’m wondering if it has anything to do with the 1996 Atlanta Olympic mascot (Izzy). It looks good, I’m eager to try it and learn about their process. Thanks to loyal newsletter reader and family member, Maria, for snapping me a photo of the menu from the front door of Aslin. Can it stand out in a crowded field of pizza in the Strip? Is this another instance of a shop in the Terminal replicating what is already present on Penn Ave to the annoyance of business owners around town? If nothing else, there’s a place to grab Fry-Chos where there wasn’t before.
Pizza Horoscopes for September
Peppero (January 1st – February 22nd): Welcome to fall, the fall of your grandiose and mystical plans to construct the world’s largest bucket of sauce. What’s stopping you from getting that gigantic bucket of sauce sizzling on the oven? Is it the incredible gas bill, the lack of skill you have to smelt together the iron needed to make the bucket? Whatever is holding you back is merely a fabrication of the mind. And think about what constitutes a giant bucket. Perhaps you won’t make it in the World Record for Humans, but to a colony of ants your bucket is quite glorious.
Mozzini (February 23rd – May 9th): Your life is filling up with curds, no matter how you cut them or disperse them you find your pockets, refrigerator and other containers full of them! Where did they come from you may ask yourself. Is there a curd curse? A curd goblin? To thwart this beast you should create a shrine to the curds and wish away the bad curd vibes.
Dougheo (May 10th – July 4th): The yeast fizzles at first before bursting into a tremendous display of life and potential. How will this newly activated yeast seize the day? Will they create a strong gluten network that creates a massive crust even a giant could latch onto? Or perhaps it will create a few gas bubbles that explode in the oven. At the start of the day we have unlimited potential, you choose how to live it. Choose yeasty.
Sicilaurus (July 5th – November 6th) The thicker the crust, the crunchier the bite. Shards of crust erupt from the pizza as you munch onto it, causing your compatriots to dive for cover. You know you should approach pizza more gently, but when you see that golden crust with a few spots of char you can’t help yourself. You give yourself over to the lust for that crunchy bite and that’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Keep crushing no matter how much pizza shrapnel you create.
Greasonis (November 7th – December 31st): Finally you are getting the appreciation your deserve. Your desire to chronicle every grease stain on your shirt and pants is paying dividends as the public zeitgeist begins to think that grease stains are “cool.” You are cool. In fact, you are the epitome of cool. You stuck to what you believed in, never wavering, never quivering in the winds of doubt. Your scrap book of grease stains will soon be turned into a coffee table book, all because you believed in yourself.
Wow, weird pizza horoscopes. Were they correct? Let me know. I’m only interpreting the pizza stains left on the pizza box.
If you enjoyed this please consider sharing with a pizza pal!
Pizza ya later!
-Dan Tallarico, Pizza Journalist