Andy Brown is the founder of popular local chainlet Andy’s Pizza. Emily Brown owns the hit Shaw bar Eebee’s. The Maryland natives are also first cousins (their dads are brothers). Now, they’re collaborating on a limited-edition pizza using a staple from Eebee’s and their own family gatherings: crab dip.
Although Andy’s specializes in New York-style pies, the Eebee’s collab pizza will be Sicilian style so it doesn’t get soggy under the weight of the toppings. The dough goes through a 24-hour cold-temperature ferment and 24-hour rise, giving the pizza a flavorful, airy crust that goes extra crispy in the oven. To turn Eebee’s crab-and-artichoke dip into a pizza, the Browns layered creamy spread, Maryland blue crab, artichoke, and a shredded mozzarella-provolone mix on top. Old Bay goes on both before and after the bake, and each slice is topped with a wedge of lemon.
The collab pizza will be available at all Andy’s locations for two weeks beginning Wednesday, November 11 with a launch party including open bar at the Shaw spot (tickets, $40, available here). A slice will go for $7.50 and a whole pie will be $35, with proceeds going to Capital Area Food Bank. Eebee’s will also sell larger slices only ($12) from November 20 to December 4. After the limited run, Andy’s plans to keep around its Sicilian-style pies, which it previously offered during the pandemic.
The Brown family grew up close, celebrating holidays and going to the beach together. Notably, the Browns say their “great uncle Joe” used to own a crab shack in Edgewater, Maryland, where the family had a cottage. “We always went down and we’d catch crabs, we’d cook crabs, we’d eat crabs. End of summer in the Brown family, it was very much a part of our life,” Andy says.
“Yeah, and it still is,” Emily says.
Emily was working as a bartender in New York when Andy started to get into pizza. He’d come visit her for research, and the two would hit a dozen pizzerias in a day. When Andy’s Pizza opened its first location in Tysons Galleria mall in 2019, Andy asked Emily to move back to the DC area and work with him.
“I would go up and see Emily. We’d be in every restaurant. All the chefs knew her. People would send out food. Everything was so cool,” Andy says. “And I was like, ‘Do you want to come to a mall in McLean?'”
Emily agreed, helping Andy grow the scrappy operation to its 14 locations today and becoming the restaurants’ beverage director. When Emily starting working to open a bar of her own, Andy was a constant sounding board, helping her to navigate lease negotiations and taste-testing various iterations of her crab dip.
Their successes haven’t changed the family dynamics though.
“I don’t think we are the golden children,” Andy says. “I think we’re still the mongrels… I’m still the troublemaker I always was. She’s still the hostess that she always was.”
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind DC’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
