Free-Range Pizza
American Flatbread turns out memorable pies using quality local ingredients

By Candy Sagon
The Washington Post Magazine
Sunday, Aug. 19, 2007

** 1/2 (out of four)

"Is that our pizza?" The small boy at the table near ours at the new American Flatbread in Ashburn watched as a waitress carried a hot, cheesy pie to another table. His mother tried to distract him with crayons and paper. "Is that our pizza?" he asked again, hopeful, a few minutes later, as another tray came by. Then, glaring as yet another waitress kept walking, "Is that our pizza?" Five more excruciating minutes, then, at the top of his lungs, "When is it our pizza?"

I felt his pain. When some of the best pizza in the region is sailing by a few inches from your nose, it's hard to wait patiently. I'm surprised the kid didn't reach out and swipe a piece.

Open since last month, Ashburn Hearth is the first Virginia franchise of American Flatbread, a Vermont pizza company whose signature white-boxed frozen pizzas are sold at specialty markets, including Whole Foods. Owners Janice and Scott Vasko, who have lived in Ashburn for 10 years, opened the 120-seat restaurant with longtime Virginia chef John LoBuglio.

The restaurant's decor reflects its Vermont roots: dark green walls, blond wood tables, a hulking wood-burning oven, and earnest posters explaining the company's philosophy about food, nutrition and how they're entwined with our physical and spiritual health. The staff is friendly, casually dressed and quite young; one night we asked our waitress to recommend a microbrew off the restaurant's small but well-chosen beer and wine list. "I really don't know," she admitted to us. "I'm not old enough to drink."

Local is big here. A Loudoun County map painted on one wall notes the locations of the farms that supply the restaurant with its top-notch often-organic ingredients. Among the farms: Oak Spring Dairy of Upperville (cheese, eggs), Wheatland Vegetable Farm of Purcellville (vegetables, garlic) and Woodtrail Farm of Round Hill near Bluemont (nitrate-free sausage from free-range hogs). In addition, red Virginia clay was used to make the huge, rough-hewn oven, and the pizzas are baked on slabs of dense Virginia soapstone.

The menu is simple: one salad, eight pizzas and three desserts. (LoBuglio's daily specials usually include one additional salad, pizza and dessert.) Although that small boy called it pizza -- as do most customers -- on the menu it's called flatbread. "We don't like to say pizza, because it conjures up those big-name chains I'd rather not mention," says LoBuglio.

Yeah, well, one bite of these "flatbreads," and no one's going to be thinking fast-food pizza. For one thing, there's the incredible crust. Made with organically grown wheat, it's thin, with a crisp bottom from the oven's searing heat and just the right amount of chewiness on the top and edge. For another, tomato sauce takes a back seat. Only three of the pizzas on the menu include the red stuff, which means the topping ingredients can really shine. "The flavors are balanced," said a friend, who had ordered the Sun-Dried Tomato & Mushroom pizza, made with three cheeses, herbs and caramelized onions. "I can actually taste the different cheeses."

Given the fact that the American Flatbread company was founded by former biologist George Schenk, it's not surprising that there's an Evolution Salad on the menu. The mesclun mix is tossed with organic carrots and celery, toasted sesame seeds, and a light and refreshing ginger-tamari vinaigrette made with the house lemon vinegar. What does this have to do with evolution? I have no idea. I guess it shows how we've evolved from iceberg drowned in ranch, but whatever. It's green and crunchy, and gives you something healthy to eat while you drum your fingers impatiently, waiting for your pizza.

Even better is the daily special salad that comes with locally grown red and yellow tomatoes, lightly grilled zucchini slices and creamy fresh mozzarella that LoBuglio makes himself. Appearance-wise, though, it's amateurish: The cheese and vegetables are layered on the plate, then a big pile of lettuce is plopped on top, all but obscuring them. Guys, can you cut back a little on the lettuce? Or use a bigger plate? Just a thought.

As for the pizzas, I mean, flatbreads, our favorite was the Punctuated Equilibrium, as much for the name (another evolutionary theory) as for the ingredients. The toppings are kalamata olives, oven-roasted sweet red peppers, handmade goat cheese, fresh rosemary, red onions, mozzarella and garlic. The balance of the salty and sweet, the mild and pungent, is simply perfect. We also loved the New Virginia Sausage pizza, made with nitrate-free, maple-fennel sausage from Woodtrail Farm. The sausage, mildly sweet, is baked with sun-dried tomatoes, caramelized onions, mushrooms, three cheeses and herbs.

What would a pizza place be without pepperoni? Improved, in most cases. However, American Flatbread uses an all-natural pepperoni that is light-years beyond those nasty, salty, dyed circles we (unfortunately) know so well. Not only were the adults in my group blown away by the mild flavor, but the ultimate critic -- my 16-year-old daughter -- pronounced it amazing. "The pepperoni is not tough and salty. It doesn't taste like chemicals," she said.

For younger kids, the fave is the Med Bread, a traditional combo of organic tomato sauce, three cheeses and a light touch of herbs. The more adult version is the Cheese & Herb, which blends whole milk mozzarella, asiago, Italian grana, plus a nice dose of garlic oil and herbs.

There's even a low-fat flatbread for the diet-conscious. More like focaccia than pizza, it has a crisp, super-thin crust topped with garlic oil, asiago cheese, cracked pepper, sesame seeds and salt. If that's too austere, you can request vegetables for the topping.

Desserts don't rise to the level of the pizza. The apple pie filling is dry, and the apples are tough from under-baking. The only thing that saves it is what also saves the dry brownie -- a scoop of terrific homemade ice cream. A more successful dessert is the house-made sorbet with fresh fruit.

Although I don't recommend yelling like a 6-year-old for your pizza, don't come to American Flatbread and expect swift, professional service, either. The wait staff is not overly experienced. But what it lacks in efficiency is made up for in warmth and charm. Bring Sudoku or work on your conversation skills to fill the time. Just know that the pizza (uh, flatbread) will be worth the wait.

Editor's note: Chef John LoBuglio resigned just before press time, and his replacement has not been named.