Clearly the pizza scene has escalated in Atlanta in just a few short months. The addition of Varasano’s and the new pizzaiolo at Fritti have quashed the Atlanta rumor that you can’t get good pizza in town.
I’ve mostly stayed out of it, but I did watch the great Varasano’s debate from the sidelines, and I must admit that I did see some inconsistency on my own visits. But on my most recent trip there, the pies were outstanding – nearly as good as at Jeff’s house. I must admit that I might like the cheese, but definitely the sauce better at Fritti, but when Jeff’s dough is on point, there just isn’t anyone that can compete.
Just when Fritti and Varasano’s is finding their rhythm, there’s the announcement of another player in town – Max’s Coal Oven Pizzeria. It seems like there is always enough room for another pizza joint in town, and this time Concentrics is going to try their hand, with a secret weapon in tow – a coal fired pizza oven.
If you read Jeff Varasano’s pizza website, you will learn that he thinks the number one important factor of cooking pizza is heat, and heat is what you’re going to get with a coal fired oven, up to 1000 degrees in many cases. This is generally higher than a wood fired oven and definitely higher than most conventional electric ovens.
Coal fired ovens have played a large part in pizza history. The first pizzeria in America, Lombardi’s, to this day still uses a coal fired pizza oven. Other famous NYC pizzerias such as Patsy’s and Grimaldi’s use coal ovens. But New York City almost exceeds the number of coal fired ovens in the rest of the country combined, and forget about the south. There are a few in Florida (which really isn’t the south), then there happens to be one in my hometown of Greenville, SC.
On my first visit to Max’s yesterday, the waiter claimed their oven was the first coal oven in the whole Southeast, but based on Greenville’s Coal Fired Bistro, it looks like Max’s has the distinction of having the first coal fired oven in Georgia. Throw in New York native and pizza aficionado Chef Nick Oltarsh, and Concentrics has successfully marketed a pizzeria worth a visit.
Max’s opened on Friday, and I made my visit Sunday, so these guys haven’t had much of a chance to find their groove. To judge a pizza restaurant open for two days is silly. They are still working out their dough, their cook times, and the pizza makers are still relatively inexperienced in this environment. These are just some initial thoughts, and I definitely plan on going back to form more of an opinion. I think you should do the same. Pictures below.
the interior
Located directly next door to Stats, I believe the two restaurants are actually connected in the back. The restaurant isn’t huge, but has a few large tables, and a moderately sized bar. I dig the exposed wooden beams and brick look.
the menu
Not overbearing, in addition to pizza they offer a few salads, sandwiches, pastas, and they have one hot wing offering. Coal oven hot wings were too enticing for me to pass up. We went with an order of wings and a Margharita pizza (14”, 6 slices, $17.99)
the wings
The only wing sauce offered is lemon pepper parmesan. They’re deep fried then finished in the coal oven and tossed with a generous amount of lemon pepper, herbs, and parmesan.
These were some of the best wings I’ve had in a long time. I don’t know if the whole deep-fry/oven finish thing is the cause, but these large wings had a an extremely crunchy exterior while retaining moist tasty chicken inside. The seasoning was great as well, but I could eat these plain and still enjoy them.
the pizza
Our waiter said the pizzas cook in 90 seconds, but you may want to get an appetizer as we did, because the kitchen is still working things out and it may take some time. When it did arrive, we were pleased with the appearance. There is a lot of cheese, some fresh basil from their garden, a light amount of tomato sauce, and a scattering of roasted tomatoes on top.
The wait staff offers to grate fresh parmesan on top…why not?
the char
Coal ovens are well known for the char they impart on the pizza, and I would say Max’s had a moderate amount. There was enough to impart the slight bitterness I enjoy, but not so much that it would scare anyone without the taste for carcinogen away.
the flop
If not for the roasted tomatoes, the slice would hold up fairly well with a slight fold. That being said, I really liked the tomatoes on top, they were pleasantly acidic and flavorful. The house-made mozzarella was chewy, delicious, and plentiful.
side boob
There was some structure/bubbles on occasion on the end crust.
But in general, the dough was a little stiff and dense. I like a chewy, bubbly pie with better structure. I’m not going to get too down on it though, because these guys just got started and have plenty of time to make these pizzas even better.
Overall it was a promising pie. At this point I prefer Fritti and Varasano’s, but this is a fun restaurant with decent pie, and it’s somewhat close to the Westside where I live. The price wasn’t exactly cheap for two people to eat, but I should mention that I had 2 slices leftover. Also worth noting, there is a parking garage right across the street, and Max’s validates, but only up to $5 and on some weekends the parking is $10 due to all the aquarium tourists.
Have you ever held an undeserving prejudice for a restaurant, only to visit again and find out you have been holding out for all the wrong reasons? Well, that’s what happened to me at Repast. I went for a group dinner over two years ago, and was turned off by the fact that our group of 12 was split up into two tables, and also due to the size of our group we were only allowed to order from a selection of three entrees. By the time the food arrived, it was too late, my bias had been formed, and there was no way this $120 dinner for two was going to live up to the hype.
Whether you think my bias was right or wrong, sometimes it’s tough to forgive and forget, and restaurants are a perfect example of this. With so many choices, often times I mark them off the list and move on to the next spot. It’s not that I think one visit is all that is deserved before summarily judging, but I have limited resources and a strong desire to try new places.
Though I remind myself - a restaurant is a hundred violently frantic moving pieces, and it’s awful that just one or two kinks in the chain can throw off the experience. There are so many people/restaurants/chefs who know they are great, and they are working hard every day for the opportunity to show us. Letting myself get eaten up by one or two miscues is a slippery slope. Fault is going to be found when that’s what is sought. I need to be more open-minded, less likely to get bent out of shape about minor issues, and more likely to go and give places another chance.
Repast got their chance when I heard about their Monday-Thursday evening, 3 course, $15 special. There’s nothing like a great deal to bring me back! Indeed I ordered the special, which is the gumbo on Monday evenings, though I added a 4th dish to my menu, the escargot tart appetizer. I figured a $15 three course meal is nice, but a $25 four course dinner is a steal. Hello, my name is Jimmy, and I am addicted to food…
Katie, being the good veg she is, went with the carrot ginger soup and the macrobiotic plate. My pictures are worse than usual due to the dark setting, but I wanted to give some sort of visual impression from the meal.
To start with to drink I had the Red Rice Hitachino. This was my first red rice beer, and I absolutely loved it. It was a red color that turned light pink in the candle-light, the color giving me the impression that it would be the traditional red ale experience, but this beer was something incredibly different. Extremely clean, sweet, fruit-like notes (but not a fruit-flavored beer), with just enough bitterness to let you know you are drinking beer. I need more of this - does anyone know where you can find it in Atlanta?
The salad was a wedge with small onion crisps, blue cheese, short pieces of thick bacon, and a wonderfully acidic vinaigrette instead of the oft-used buttermilk/blue cheese creamy stuff that taunts my waistline. The salad was slightly different, large, crisp, and enjoyable.
I don’t have a picture of Katie’s soup, partly because she inhaled it so quickly. She loved it.
My second course was the Bergundian escargot. The deliciously crumbly shell, delicate filling, and earthy snails screamed for a pinot, but the brandl gruner had to suffice. The dish was very enjoyable regardless. It was the first time I had snails when they weren’t served in a small pool of butter, and I was able to enjoy their natural texture and flavor. Get this, or whatever variation of the tart they are offering when you visit.
Check out the Riding Dirty post on the escargot
Next up, the gumbo, which is also the poorest of my photos. The sauce wasn’t too light, nor overly seasoned, allowing the flavor of the filling items such as okra and crawfish to shine. The rice in the middle was a welcome addition, as were the croutons. This gumbo wasn’t overly complicated, but had a uniqueness and identity I enjoyed.
I also missed a photo opp for Katie’s macrobiotic plate. This was the type of thing I had never seen until hitting up Dynamic Dish, which is to say, a humbling vegetarian dish any seasoned eater should love. The peas were sweeter and plumper than those I recently dined on at Dynamic Dave’s, something which I had thought not possible a few weeks ago. The asparagus/mushroom/pea/quinoa/fried tempeh crouton mix was so fresh and naturally appealing that it was a big mistake Katie didn’t use her chopsticks because I was able to commandeer them and snag veggies from across the table. If you aren’t a chopsticks believer, I bet you hadn’t thought about the possibility of long-distance food sniping.
For dessert – ice cream with poached pears and balsamic glaze. The balsamic was thick and more bitter than what I’d expect to be used with ice cream, but when eaten with the pears it was just able to work for me. Delicious.
But the chocolate terrine stole the show. Chocolate, olive oil, and salt is fast becoming one of my favorite flavor combinations. If you haven’t tried it, or at least any combination of the two, you are missing out. This was a knockout of a dessert.
We waddled out after almost two hours, extremely stuffed, pleased with the price, and I was still fantasizing about the tart, macrobiotic plate, and the terrine. I’m glad Repast is back in my mix and can’t wait for the Thursday night burger.
Where have you gone in Atlanta that has earned you back? Why did you write them off in the first place? I’m interested to hear.
I apologize for the very long delay since my last post, I’ve been traveling and feeling under the weather. Enough excuses though.
Father’s Day is today, and I appreciate the time a handful of people took to leave comments nominating their dads for one of these MUG BBQ packs. There were definitely some good comments - you can view them all here. We had 6 nominations, but only 5 packs to give away. I randomly picked the 5 winners (audited by KPMG) and will email the winners directly.
Thanks for participating, and I hope your enjoying what has been a nice sunny Father’s Day in Atlanta.
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I did make the MUG Southern Specialty Brew-B-Q Sauce and used it to make lunch today.
There was quite a bit of ketchup in this recipe. For some reason, mass amounts of ketchup kinda grosses me out. No idea why.
All of the ingredients were poured directly into my sauce pan and brought to a boil, followed by 20 minutes of simmering, until the sauce was reduced to around 1.5 cups.
The sauce is pretty good, slightly sweet, definitely tangy, though I would like a bit more kick. It’s a nice canvas to work with, a versatile sauce I think.
I decided to make a shrimp dish with it. I wasn’t really sure what. Sometimes it is fun to just start cooking and see where you end up.
I marinated the shrimp in garlic, cilantro, olive oil, and the MUG BBQ sauce.
I got some rice going, then roasted some poblanos. Once the poblanos were done, I peeled, seeded, and sliced them. Then they were sautéed with chopped onions and black beans.
When the rice was almost done the shrimp went on the grill for just a couple of minutes each side.
I steamed a tortilla, then threw it directly on my grill.
After I flipped it I threw some thin slices of Monterrey jack cheese on the tortilla, closed the grill top for one minute, then removed it from the grill.
Then I plated the tortilla, drizzled some BBQ sauce, threw on the rice, put the bean/onion/poblano mixture on top of the rice, then the shrimp on top of everything.
For the final touch I spooned a small amount of some more BBQ sauce on top and enjoyed my lunch. It was definitely a winner, a satisfying Mexican inspired dish with a touch of Southern BBQ sweetness that I think worked out very well. The whole thing didn’t feel too heavy, and had great bursts of flavor. I decided that grilling the tortilla was money.
