Joe Squared and Dominion Ice Cream, Charles Village

Oh, pizza.  I eat so much of you because you are my boyfriend's favorite food and because I am a very awesome girlfriend.  But unlike said boyfriend, who will eat any pizza and never has anything bad to say about it, I have standards and there are some pies that I love more than others.  Luckily, Baltimore has some fantastic pizza and I am always reading great recommendations for different establishments.  I really enjoy a nice thin crust, so I knew that I had to give Joe Squared a try.

I'm not going to lie.  Joe Squared has been on the "must try" list for a while now, but I had been intimidated by it.  Maybe it's the neighborhood or the reviews I read that said that a lot of the diners there are hipsters and it can be off-putting.  Maybe.  But the pizza beckoned, so we took the Circulator as far north as we could and walked the rest of the way to Joe Squared.  And I'm glad that we did.  It really wasn't scary at all.  The service was very attentive and friendly and the food was fantastic.  Yes, there were a lot of hipsters there, but they weren't rude and there were families, as well. 

To start, we got  the hot buffalo wings ($9).  These had a very unique flavor, sort of a sweet heat.  The after taste really got you with the sweetness of the sauce.  I liked them a lot, but I prefer a straightforward hot sauce.  G wasn't crazy about them because of the sweetness.  Then we split a 12" margarita pizza ($16), which was the perfect size for two hungry people.  The pizza here is coal-fired, which is different from anything I'd ever had before.  The crust, which is super thin, gets a really nice smoky taste to it.  The sauce and toppings were also delicious and fresh.  Everyone there seemed like regulars and like they really enjoyed the food.  It was definitely an experience worth repeating.



Later in the same day, we also went over to Dominion Ice Cream.  What a treat!  Plus it's guilt-free because the ice cream there is made with vegetables and have a lot less calories than regular ice cream (I think I read that they have less than 90 cals per scoop!).  The owner tinkers with the flavors and adds spices so that some of the veggies' tastes stand out more than others.

I got sweet potato and tomato.  The sweet potato tasted like pumpkin pie and was really yummy!  The tomato tasted more like vanilla and I wished it had more veggie flavor!  G got spinach, which tasted similar to the tomato, and cucumber.  Cucumber was out favorite!  It was so refreshing and really tasted like cucumbers. 

Now if only all of my junk foods were that good for me...