Stracci Pizza takes its name from the Italian word for rags — a nod to the stracciatella cheese that anchors the menu, made by hand-pulling fresh mozzarella and tattering it into cream. The pizzas are Roman-style: high-hydration dough fermented cold for 72 hours, then baked alla pala directly on the hearth for a crust built to be crisp and light rather than chewy.
The menu leans into that cheese across several pies — The Stracci keeps it simple with tomato and basil, The Brooklyner pairs it with pepperoni, sausage, ricotta, calabrian chili and honey, and The Three Cheese & 'Chovy stacks it with anchovies, ricotta and pecorino. Starters include a heirloom tomato salad with whipped ricotta and tomato conserva, grass-fed beef meatballs finished with stracciatella and salsa verde, and rosemary focaccia baked fresh daily. Chef Cardarelli, a Culinary Institute of America graduate who studied jazz trumpet at NYU before turning to cooking, runs the kitchen.
Stracci Pizza started as a takeout-only trailer during the pandemic before growing into its current Alexandria restaurant. Northern Virginia Magazine named it among the best restaurants of 2025.
The menu leans into that cheese across several pies — The Stracci keeps it simple with tomato and basil, The Brooklyner pairs it with pepperoni, sausage, ricotta, calabrian chili and honey, and The Three Cheese & 'Chovy stacks it with anchovies, ricotta and pecorino. Starters include a heirloom tomato salad with whipped ricotta and tomato conserva, grass-fed beef meatballs finished with stracciatella and salsa verde, and rosemary focaccia baked fresh daily. Chef Cardarelli, a Culinary Institute of America graduate who studied jazz trumpet at NYU before turning to cooking, runs the kitchen.
Stracci Pizza started as a takeout-only trailer during the pandemic before growing into its current Alexandria restaurant. Northern Virginia Magazine named it among the best restaurants of 2025.