90 Second Pizza

The Neapolitan pizza tradition that 90 Second Pizza works in is defined by the high temperature that the wood-fired oven achieves, typically 700 to 900 degrees Fahrenheit, and the correspondingly brief cooking time that the temperature produces. A pizza cooked at 900 degrees for 90 seconds develops a charred and blistered crust with the right balance of crisp exterior and soft, airy interior that the Neapolitan standard requires. The name of the business is the cooking time in the title.

The Wisconsin Avenue location at 1077 is at the lower end of the Wisconsin commercial strip, near the canal and the Circulator stop that serves the Georgetown waterfront area. The neighborhood between the canal level and the M Street intersection has developed a quick-service dining cluster that serves both the Georgetown foot traffic coming from the waterfront and the students and residents of the surrounding blocks.

Neapolitan pizza’s defining characteristics distinguish it from the New York slice and the Sicilian sheet pizza that American pizza culture has also canonized. The thinner crust, the minimal topping approach that does not overwhelm the dough, and the individual size that is meant to be eaten by one person rather than shared by a table are the format elements that the Neapolitan tradition established and that the 90 Second Pizza kitchen maintains. The tomato sauce, which in the Neapolitan tradition is made from specific Italian tomato varieties rather than the cooked sauce that American pizza often uses, and the fresh mozzarella are the key ingredients that separate the traditional approach from the American adaptation.

The quick-service format that the 90-second cook time enables makes the Wisconsin Avenue location a practical lunch and dinner option for Georgetown students and residents who want quality pizza on a schedule that does not require the wait of a table-service restaurant. Hours run from 11am most days, with Friday and Saturday extending to 10pm. The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, founded in Naples in 1984, established the formal specifications that authentic Neapolitan pizza must meet: the flour, the yeast fermentation time, the tomatoes (San Marzano DOP or the tomatoes of the Agro Nocerino-Sarnese region), the mozzarella (either fresh fior di latte or buffalo mozzarella DOP from Campania), and the oven temperature. Most American Neapolitan pizza restaurants operate in the spirit of these specifications rather than under formal certification, using the techniques the tradition established without the bureaucratic membership that the certification requires. The result, at the better operations, is a pizza that shares the fundamental character of the Neapolitan original while adapting to American ingredient availability. The Wisconsin Avenue location at 1077 serves Georgetown from the lower commercial block between the canal and M Street, accessible from the Circulator stop. Hours run from 11am most days and noon Sunday.