You Have to Try This: BLT Pizza at Rock Bottom

A pie and a pint is a match made in heaven. (Julia Beizer - The Washington Post)

Fritz and I played a game of appetizer roulette at Bethesda Rock Bottom last Friday. Famished after two of those happy hour pints, we couldn't resist the starter plates that kept floating past our table. He went for the Basil Pesto BLT Pizza, and I chose the weirdest-sounding dish on the menu, the Tex-Asian Pot Stickers. The pico de gallo topping on mine had a fun jumble of corn, black beans, tomatoes and edamame, but the gummy dumplings were a disappointment.

Thankfully, Fritz let me steal a couple of slices of his pie. BLT's the theme, but Rock Bottom doesn't take it too literally. Instead of leaves of lettuce, you get a few playful drapes of arugula. Boules of fresh mozzerella dot the pesto-covered pie and ribbons of crispy bacon sit on top. Balsamic tomatoes add a touch of complicated sweetness. The pie -- like all appetizers except the sampler -- is $5 between 5:30 and 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays at the Bethesda location.

-- Julia