Part two of two.

While conducting research for his book Pizza — A Slice of Heaven: The Ultimate Pizza Guide and Companion, Ed Levine tried 1,000 slices of pizza in 20 cities. Some would love to follow in Levine’s footsteps, travelling in search of excellent slices, but our day jobs confine us to the Washington metro area for our pizza-sampling expeditions.

Though not traditionally a mecca for pizza connoisseurs, D.C. boasts some serious pie-makers. DCist writers and readers swear by Vace, Radius, Pizzeria Paradiso and 2 Amys. Even though it doesn’t typically appear on the list of nominees for D.C.’s best pizza, U Street’s Coppi’s Organic is one spot we happen to like as well.

We know. With all the new restaurants on the U Street corridor — Tabaq, Crème Café, Al Crostino, and Busboys and Poets, to name but a few — why go to Coppi’s, an old standby? Because many of the new spots on U Street are just getting their legs, service and food quality can vary wildly from one visit to the next. And as any pizza fiend would quickly point out, none of the new restaurants serves pizza — let alone gourmet, organic pizza from a wood-burning oven.