Yeah, it’s no secret I’m sort of a pizza nut. I love the stuff; I like reading about it, writing about it, discussing it, cooking it, of course consuming/inhaling it, and hell, I even like looking at it. My obsession level is still probably sophomoric compared to that of many. Go check out the pizza freaks on the pizza making forums.

Many of those folks eat pizza on a near daily basis. When I eat pizza I tend to hit it hard, dining out and making it a bunch at home for a week or two. Then abruptly I stop for weeks, or even months. I’ve had very little pizza during my paleo challenge, probably just a slice or two.

The challenge has actually ended as of this past weekend. I was out of town when the body fat tester returned so I didn’t get to record my muscle gain/fat loss, though I did feel much leaner and a bit stronger. We did a timed benchmark workout at the start and finish of the challenge, and I saw over 20% improvement in my time. Of course, much of that could be contributed to the frequency of my gym visits instead of my diet, but I learned a lot and will post on it one day. I’m sure you will be on the edge of your seat waiting for that one.

Oh, and before I move on, here are some worth while pizza links I’ve come across lately.

The Best Thing I’ve Ever Done [amazing video about Dom DeMarco, who has made every single pizza himself at Di Fara pizza in Brooklyn for over forty years.]

Best Pizza Places in the US [Food & Wine - these lists are a dime a dozen, but I always look at them. I've been to 4 of their 25.]

American Pie [Alan Richman's tome to American pizza (he says we do it better than the Italians), plus another top 25 list. I only have two hits on his.]

What is VPN pizza? [Everything you need to know about the famed Neapolitan standard, to which locals Fritti, Antico, and Double Zero apply]

Pizza dough arguments [AJC - Kessler disses the dough from Fritti's new ovens, pizza fans and owner Riccardo Ullio agree or disagree. I haven't been since the change - where do you stand?]

Pizza Quest [Online pizza resource led by Peter Reinhart, sponsored by Forno Bravo - lots of good info]

<> ON TO SOME PIZZA <>

I visited Hearth Pizza Tavern in Sandy Springs prior to “the diet”. I had never been but was told great things by friends in this area. They have a large and varied menu, with many changing specials, such as the Philly sliders we tried. They were greasy and good but I didn’t understand the ketchup, and I swear someone drizzled some truffle oil on there. Not like that’s a tough flavor to identify, but the waitress said I was wrong.

We tried the Ring of Fire as well as the Mass Pike pizza, two of their signature pies. Wowzas, these are some loaded up pizzas. Very topping driven. While I’m more of a dough guy, a huge dose of greasy and flavorful toppings (sausage and peppers and mushrooms and cilantro and chili oil, oh my!) can be real enjoyable. The dough did it’s job – which in this case was to sustain the large mass of said toppings. Slightly above average dough flavor. Everything tasted good, but again, don’t expect the VPN style…it’s more like delicious and creative hangover pie.

Fast forward two months, last night we visited the newly opened Siracusa’s on the East/West Connector. Formerly Pizzeria Fortunato, the new restaurant is pretty much the same inside, and they claim it’s the same pizza, even touting “2009 Creative Loafing Best Pizza in Atlanta” on the strip mall sign.

The menu is similar, but lacking a few items I enjoyed (the sinful pan fried provolone), but with a few new items, like the zucchini fritti below. The batter was light, though unseasoned, and while not a must-order dish, the very thin slices of zucchini didn’t feel too heavy and hit the spot.

For pizza we ordered a Margherita pizza with sausage. I recalled that Fortunato had two “plain” pizzas in the past. A regular and a Margherita. The regular is the pie on the left below, the Margherita the one on the right. The Margherita was sparsely covered with fresh buffalo mozzarella while the regular was more like a slice of NY style ‘za.

While the dough is similar in appearance, the new Margherita was like neither. Sliced tomatoes instead of tomato sauce (not a fan here), a bit more cheese, but not NY style. The sausage used to be spicy and crumbled but is now a average tasting sliced version. The dough is similar in texture, shape, thickness, and overall appearance, but was even more bland that I found Fortunato’s to be. The dough is in some serious need of some salt. And less sugar. A day or two of cold ferment could really help with the flavor, and probably texture too. I really didn’t enjoy the dough, and the toppings didn’t really make up for it, though the fresh mozz was nice.

I really, really don’t enjoy saying I dislike a new restaurant (especially pizza), but I don’t know that I’ll be risking another $20 for a medium pizza of this caliber.

Of course, they are brand new (damn these bloggers and their itchy camera fingers!), so things could change. If you have a better experience I’d love to hear about it.

The Neapolitan (or tongue twisting Neo-Neapolitan) is my true pizza love, but something about the buttery, flaky crust, stuffed full of cheese and toppings, quite literally a “pie”, was calling my name.

I Googled a recipe for Gino’s East (a pizzeria in Chicago I’ve heard of, not sure where) and of course found a website and video detailing how to replicate it. Later I found another version, with a great picture. I followed the recipe for the most part, with a few variations due to lack of ingredients and overall forgetfulness.

I mixed the dough as described, though I didn’t have yellow food coloring. I also forgot the cornmeal. My dough was probably too sticky – it should almost be wet, but not sticky, due to the high amount of cornmeal and oil. I let it rise in my oven from about 8AM until that evening when I cooked the pizza.

The dough will quickly rise and the texture will get very puffy. I punched it down once around lunch time, and let it rise again.

My quick, standby pizza sauce is very easy. It’s an uncooked tomato sauce, which will work just fine on normal pizzas, especially if cooking with high heat. With a Chicago pizza, which will cook for a long time, I think the raw sauce works even better.

It’s simply a can of pureed/crushed Roma tomatoes (you can crush whole tomatoes if you want), with garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, red pepper, and sometimes I use a microplane to add just a tablespoon of good parmesan cheese. Don’t store your sauce in the fridge, or if making it earlier, take it out about an hour before cooking to let it come up to room temperature.

For the toppings, I purchased some Tuscan sausage from Star Provisions. I sliced them in an obvious phallic nature, then cooked them a few minutes each side.

I used Sargento cheese for this pizza. I think you’re going to get better results with mozzarella like this, versus fresh mozzarella in water. The high moisture content of real deal mozzarella will cause the cheese to break down, and the pizza will be too wet for the slices to hold together.

I also purchased pepperoni from Star Provisions. It was just a few bucks for these 10 slices, so worth it.

When I was ready to cook, I greased my cast iron skillet heavily with butter. I rolled out my dough, did my best to throw it evenly into the pan, then trimmed the sides. Start the layering process with the cheese. I did an even layer of Sargento, then used some shredded mozzarella to ensure an even cheese layer.

After the cheese I added the meat, then a healthy dose of sauce. The pizza cooked on the lower rack for roughly 40 minutes. I started at 350 as instructed, but it didn’t seem to be cooking fast enough so I bumped it up to 400. I also broiled it for a minute before taking it out and letting it rest for a solid fifteen to twenty minutes.

You can see the sides pulled away, making it very easy to cut.

The pizza was very gloppy, even after 20 minutes rest.

A few notes on this pizza:

• I could have used more oil in the dough, more cornmeal, and I could have added more oil to the pan. Oil is your friend when it comes to this type of crust.
• I probably could have used just a bit less sauce, but the cooked sauce was delicious
• It was agreed that the high quality pepperoni and sausage was the tipping point for this pizza – the quality was apparent and everyone loved it
• Cooking at 350 is probably too low, next time I’ll try a bit higher the whole time
• Man this was delicious, everything I had hoped it would be, a true pizza gut bomb

So of course, after that pizza, we ate some Ad Hoc Fried Chicken. Awesome. The poulet rouge chickens are about $8-10 each at Whole Foods, and they are so worth it. Chickens aren’t supposed to be fifteen pounds. And as Keller mentions, a smaller chicken is better for fried chicken due to the better meat to crust ratio.

The dining frenzy that has ensued since Blissful Glutton first posted on Antico Pizza on Hemphill has been swift, in fact, I don’t know that I’ve seen any establishment be so well received in such a short period of time (check out the 42 five star reviews on Yelp). And yes, I too have succumb to the fantastic vibe and food from this wonderful Westside pizza mecca.

I’ve made four visits since they opened, and every time I come away happy. Best slice ever? I’m not going to go that far, and if you read my pizza series you’ll know I am not a big fan of categorizing pizza in that manner. But Antico pizza is special. The care in each pizza is palpable (and delicious). Giovanni and his crew set the mark for hospitality. The patrons give each other the little nod while in line, as if to say, “yeah, I’m in on it too”. And the diavaola pizza with spicy sopressata and fiery marinated calabrese peppers haunts my dreams.

The one problem I’ve had with Antico’s pizza is that it can get quite soggy in the center, often within minutes, which I find to be problematic, especially when the business model is, or at least was intended to be, takeout. This pizza needs to be eaten right away. Before I took a pie home last Friday night, I made a point to stand at the communal table and devour two slices before heading out. In the eight minutes it took me to get in my kitchen, the pizza was a limp mess. It was still edible by folding it over, but it just wasn’t the same.

I noticed on the box that holes have been punched in the top, something that I didn’t notice on the first pie I took home a week ago. I wonder if Antico did this in attempt to reduce the steaming effect on the takeout?

Instead of eating the soggy pizza, I decided to forego eating for a few minutes and try to reheat it, but I wasn’t quite sure how to go about it. Pizza stone? Directly on the rack? Aluminum foil?

I finally settled on using a cookie sheet. I figured the pizza is already cooked, we just need to crisp the bottom surface. A hot pizza stone is going to bake the pizza quickly, and cooking directly on the rack won’t provide the hot surface we need all over the bottom of the slice.

I placed the sheet in the oven, then heated it to 400 degrees. Once it reached temp, I threw two slices directly on the sheet and promptly heard them sizzle.

They came out fantastically. The sauce dried out a bit, as reheated pizza normally does, but in a short three minutes the dough crisped up perfectly. The tip of the pizza was just dry enough to support the load of the toppings, no longer soggy at all, and the crust puffed up and became light and chewy and wonderful.  Dare I say, the crust was even more enjoyable than it was right out of Antico’s ovens, when I thought it was a bit heavy on this particular pie.

Not that reheating pizza on a heated cookie sheet is some sort of amazing discovery, but if you are dealing with a soggy Antico pizza, I highly recommend going this route. Let me know how it goes, or if you have better results with other methods.

So the other day when I was getting my oil changed and tires rotated (what a good car owner I am!), I stepped out to the front of their parking lot and surveyed my options. Within eyeshot I could see an Arby’s, a Taco Bell, a Subway, and Via Elisa. Success! Via Elisa features one type of panini sandwich each day, so I wandered over to their entrance on the side of their building…only to find out that they are closed Monday’s.

I looked a bit more and noticed Mama Niki’s Pizza, which I had seen before, but never given more than a passing thought. I’m pretty sure this location used to be a Burrito Art almost ten years ago, though I’m not sure. But I pass this shopping center on almost a daily basis, and I love pizza, and I’m unsure why I never even considered giving them a try, not even during the Pizza Days.

I decided to be adventurous, looked them up on my phone, called and ordered a slice of cheese and a slice of pepperoni to go, then made the 5 minute walk across the street from the Jiffy Lube. The place was totally empty, except for one single patron in a booth, who was casually reading emails on his blackberry, unaware that I was eyeing his pie. Looked decent enough.

My pizza wasn’t quite ready, so while I waited I scanned the place and noticed a sign that announced that Tuesday’s they have trivia and offer pitchers for $1, with a limit of two pitchers per table of four people. What kind of beer? Well, I asked, and it’s Keystone. College.

The pizza wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. Though I was hungry for pizza, and it satisfied. The dough was thin and light, with some airiness so the endcrust, with a light dusting of parmesan that made every bite of crust enjoyable. No “dough-blow” here. The problem is with the cheese, pepperoni, and sauce – they were of poor quality. They were just inexpensive ingredients, which probably has to do with the fact that no one was in there at lunch time. The bread showed promise though – I wonder if this place could do make some above average pie under the right circumstances?

The lunch actually inspired me to hop back on the pizza series, though under a different format. The ratings last time were a joke, as was the blind tasting. Trying to reheat pizza and have it judged blindly isn’t really going to help those of you actually dining on a fresh, hot pizza. But there are tons of places I couldn’t make it to the first time, and I think I’m ready to dig in. There are also a few places I haven’t been to in forever that deserve another visit, and perhaps a few from the first go round that I need to revisit. Fritti and Rosa’s are high on the revisit list.

Pizza places on my list include: Vingenzo’s, Verra-Zanno, Savage, Fritti, Rosa’s, Quattro, Loop Pizza Grill, Grant Central, Baraonda, Pero’s, and Buckhead Pizza Co. Anyone else have any recommendations?

I’m not going to set any time constraints like I did last time, but will hopefully post one to two per week.

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.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m quite the “list & series” type of person, which really fits my Type A (uptight?) personality. I keep lists for everything. You ought to see my car mileage, maintenance, and oil records.

Before I dig into this post (TWIST!), I thought it would be an appropriate time to pass along some quick pizza news:

• Varasano’s announced that for $12.95 you can try every pizza on the menu. All the pizzas. $12.95. No-brainer.
• There is an awesome video chronicling a day at Una Pizza Napoletana in NYC. They are one of the most heralded pizza places in the country, and though the video is short, it’s insightful and shows the love that goes into making great pizza.
• The Food Network did an experiment to try to find out for sure – does the water used in pizza matter? Some people claim the NYC water is the reason why the pizza is so good up there, but I’m of the opinion that it’s a load of baloney. In my post on Pizzeria Venti, I stated my opinion on this matter, and the Executive Chef of Pizzeria Venti commented on the post with some interesting thoughts on why water from a specific area can be important. Check out the FN video here to see the surprising results.
• The first coal pizza oven in Georgia is coming soon, to Max’s, a Concentrics Restaurant. In case you didn’t know, the first pizza joint in the country, Lombardi’s, uses a coal oven, so this is definitely not a new concept, but it’s slightly ground-breaking for our area. As Cliff said, the pizza wars are going to be in full effect.
• Finally – would you pay $100 for this? Bricks seem to do just fine.

Back to the post at hand!

I was stoked to see that the April issue of BA had a section on pizza parties, and they had a few topping/sauce suggestions that seemed worthwhile. Also, I just received a mixer for my birthday, so I’ve been eager to make some dough.

My dough recipe is a dumbed-down version of Jeff Varasano’s – I had a post about it last September. My pictures sucked pretty bad back then, and my dough kinda did too. One problem was that I was using a food processor with a dough blade, and I had to sit there for 5 minutes and pulse the dough/batter mix every few seconds. It’s a real pain in the ass and the dough doesn’t get worked properly. With the mixer, I create the really wet dough (seen below) and can just set the mixer on low for 7-8 minutes before it’s initial rest, followed by the addition of the remainder of the flour.

After the 7-8 minute mix, the dough rests for 20 minutes. Then I start the mixer back up and slowly add the rest of my flour over the course of 6-7 minutes. When it’s barely workable, but still very wet, the dough gets dumped out onto my well-floured counter and worked into two dough balls.

Here’s what it looked like right before I put it in the refrigerator.

Now compare that dough with the picture above, which is from the last time I made pizza. See how much smoother it is when I use the mixer? My new dough was dreamy.

My brother Thomas was helping out and got started with the Arugula-Pistachio Pesto from BA.

Meanwhile I roasted some Roma tomatoes with fresh oregano, salt, and pepper.

Here the pesto is done and looking mighty green.

The other sauce we made from BA was their Roasted-Tomato sauce.

With our sauces ready, we were off and running. I used too much pesto but hey, worse things have happened.

This pizza was topped with the pesto, olive oil, sliced/steamed potatoes, and mozzarella. The dough was thin, crispy, and it even held up pretty well considering the extreme amount of pesto.

Next up – roasted tomato sauce, fresh jalapenos, mozzarella, and smoked Boston butt from Patak.

Weil called this “gumbo pizza”, and I have to agree with him. The sautéed red sauce plus the smoky flavor of the Patak’s meat was definitely reminiscent of gumbo. It was interesting…not my favorite ever, but actually not too bad.

Finally, the next day I created my last pizza. The remainder of the pesto, mozzarella, sliced onions, scallions, and sliced radish from The Local Farmstand. Yay for freshness.

[nggallery id=41]

Bliss posted on it today, and I pretty much agree with her on all counts (so read her post).

I tried the Margherita and the Sorrentina, the latter having smoked mozzarella and cherry tomatoes.

The pies are more visibly appealing, the sauce is stellar, and the cheese was “real” and flavorful. The smoked mozzarella flavor was a nice touch, it wasn’t too strong, and was a welcome change from the classic Margherita pie.

The dough is soft, with better texture and much better flavor then before, but it doesn’t quite have that end crust texture or char you will see on Varasano’s pie. I like a bit more crunch. Also, the endcrust still had a fairly thick layer of flour on it, which dried my mouth and masks the flavor of the dough a bit.

I’ve yet to eat at Varasano’s actual restaurant, so I can’t wait to see how they measure up. Regardless, the reemergence of Fritti is quite welcome…there’s nothing like good old fashioned competition to get someone to step up their game, while we reap the benefits.

I had hoped that the Tuesday open would stay under the radar and I could get a table, but now that every blog in town, Creative Loafing, and Slice has picked this up, it’s sure to be mayhem. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) it won’t even matter for me because I’m out of town on Wednesday. :-(

Maybe I will get to go on Friday or Saturday, when they’ve had a few days to figure out how the hell they’re going to serve 500 pizzas a day.

If and when you go, be sure to use all of you new snazzy knowledge from the Atlanta Pizza Days whilst devouring the ‘za. With all the hype I’m sure that some people may be expecting to double over on the first bite from instant mouthgasm. But pahleeze, just go in there with a level head, dig into this amazing crust, and try to appreciate the artistry and care that Jeff puts into his pie.

Oh and get the white clam pizza (my favorite, pictured below).

That is all. Enjoy.

There is significant buzz surrounding the impending opening of Varasano’s Pizzeria. I don’t think I ever mentioned it, but Jeff Varasano’s pizza was the impetus behind the Atlanta Pizza Days.

I was lucky enough to be invited to a tasting and the first slice I ate (pictured above) is the single greatest slice of pizza I’ve ever eaten. The endcrust was perfection. The next day is when I decided I needed to scour Atlanta to see what Jeff was up against. It turns out there is nothing like it in Atlanta, which makes me wonder, will everyone appreciate what he is doing? If you love Mellow Mushroom, maybe his pie won’t be your thing?

Or maybe you can enjoy them both as a seperate experience? I am an unabashed fan of both the Mickey D’s Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese as well as the Holeman & Finch burger.

When Varasano’s Pizzeria is officially open, you won’t have to wait to hear about it on this site. Every food magazine/blog/paper will be talking about it. I just hope we don’t end up with 3 hour waits like at Pizzeria Bianco in Arizona.

<><> more pizza news! <><>

Cathy on Live to Nibble just talked about her dining experience at Fritti, which has a new pizzaiolo in Enrico  Liberato. I need to give Fritti another look after this addition. More info on his hire here.

<><><>

Here’s an article on pizza in North Korea, commissioned by none other than Kim Jong-il.

<><><>

Last up…in a desperate attempt to catch up with the US’s obesity, Italy now has pizza vending machines.

Initially, I made a list of 12 pizza destinations for the series, but I felt I had to keep going. The feedback on the series was awesome, and I received lots of emails from friends and readers telling me about their favorite pizza place, and why I needed to add it. Even with the additional 6 destinations, there are a handful of noteable places that I didn’t make it to, including Savage Pizza, Athens Pizza, Slice, Johnny’s New York Style Pizza, and Grant Central Pizza. I’ve actually eaten at all of the places in the past, and their exclusion is not indicative of their quality – I just am a point where I feel comfortable finishing up. This could go on for another 6 months if I said I was going to visit EVERY pizza restaurant in Atlanta.

When I made up the rules for the series, I made it clear that this is not a “Best of Atlanta” pizza series. It was intended more as pizza education. What does Atlanta have to offer? What are the different stylistic approaches, and which of those are most popular? Which pizza spots are similar to others? Who stands out?

I think I’ve satisfied many of these questions, or, at least I satisfied my own personal curiosity. Throughout the 18 destinations and 30+ pizzas I’ve tried, I’ve formed a strong opinion of the type of pizza I like to eat. A few people have messaged me about how they now have a stronger opinion on what pizza they like, and some people told me that they are now more cognizant of the pizza while they are eating it. I think that’s awesome and love the idea that when asked “How’s the pizza?” a few more folks in Atlanta are likely to give more elaborate feedback than “It’s good”.

RATINGS

I want to mention something about the ratings. For starters, they’re stupid and you shouldn’t read too much into them. While scoring is fun, there is too much room for variance. The scores are judged on my biased, unprofessional opinion, and the opinions of my dining companions and blind taster’s. There were quite a few times where I significantly disliked a pizza but everyone else really enjoyed it. They just happened to like that style and so might you.

Regarding the scoring by blind taster’s, this was fun, but those scores should almost be tossed out. The taster’s varied with almost every pizza and the pizza was often reheated after half a day to two days in my refrigerator. Consistently I found that cheese and sauce scores were down in the blind tasting. Cheese became less gooey and sauce lost moisture and became paste-like. What was interesting is that the dough often scored higher, as there were quite a few pizzas with a gummy layer which became more firm and crispy when I reheated on a pizza stone for three minutes.

POINTS TO TAKE AWAY

There are a few things that I hope people picked up during the series that I think are worth listing here:

1. Just because someone else doesn’t like a particular pizza, it’s best to try it yourself. Opinions vary greatly.
2. If you really want good pizza, always order a whole pie.
3. Loading up on toppings is generally going to produce poor dough – keep it to one or two toppings.
4. Just because a pizza restaurant claims they have “New York style” pizza, it doesn’t mean it is true
5. Pizza is fickle – the same restaurant can produce a great pie one day, then a horrible one the next. Don’t judge solely on one pizza.
6. Don’t fall back on preconceived notions. I can’t count the number of times that someone told me that they loved a particular place, then they scored the pizza horribly in the blind tasting. Which brings me to my final thought…
7. Think about your pie next time you eat it! Is there too much sauce? Not enough? How well was it distributed? Is the cheese grainy? How gummy is the crust? Does the crust have any noticeable flavor? What about the endcrust – is it a gut-bomb hunk of bread or does it have an enjoyable texture? Does this pizza fit the claimed stylistic approach? If you like pizza, you’ll have fun comparing these qualities in various pies.

WHO WON?

I’m not going to rank each pizza destination according to the scores, if you feel like doing that, you are welcome to do so. However, there are a few places that stood out to me that I wanted to mention, with some impromptu awards.

Most Creative Pizza/Best Pizza for Sharing – Dynamic Dish – “Dynamic Dave’s” is not your usual pizza spot, but I don’t know if I’ve had more fun during this series than when we went for the pizza one Saturday evening. Their pizzas are perfect for sharing – small, thin and reasonably priced. With a wonderful range of creative and tasty ingredients, it’s tough to not have a great time. My favorite pie was the asparagus/thyme mushroom pizza.

Best New York Style Pizza – Baby Tommy’s Taste of New York – While the dough was slightly overcooked for my tastes, I thought Baby Tommy’s was the truest to form. Large, thin, foldable slices with tons of cheese, and tasty sauce…I thought the dough consistency was better than Rosa’s. ALL the blind taster’s thought this pie was excellent.

Favorite Pizza of the Series – Shorty’s – Our waiter claimed that Shorty’s had the best pizza in town, and while I’ve said that I think it’s impossible to crown a “Best of Atlanta”, Shorty’s is the first place I’d recommend if someone asked me where they should try some pizza. It’s a small unassuming restaurant at the end of a strip mall, but the inside is welcoming, the servers are friendly, and more importantly they produce a quality pie.

Cooked on a wood fired oven, the dough isn’t anything like the Neapolitan style of Fritti, in fact I’m not sure what style you would call their dough, but it’s of obvious quality. Throw in some real cheese, tasty sauce, and a slew of other quality ingredients plus fun specialty pies, and I think it’s likely you’ll enjoy their pizza. I hope you give it a shot, and let me know what you think!

THANKS

Of course, many thanks go out to everyone who helped with this series, especially the dining crew (Katie, Sara H, Charlie, Dirty, Tami, Foodie Buddha, Kathleen, Aaron, Thomas, Devin, Scott, Pat, and Jeff) and the blind taster’s (Sara C, Jonathan, Aaron, Katie, Justin, Mike G, Mike S, and Emily).

Also, many thanks to everyone that has taken a few moments from their day to visit this site. Many of you gave me great ideas for the series, as well as some awesome destinations. Many of my favorites pizza spots were places I had never even heard of until you told me about it.

If I forgot anyone else, I apologize. Thanks!

THE ATLANTA PIZZA DAYS LIST (in order of visit)

• ATL Pizza Days Announcement + Rules
• Pizzeria Fortunato
• Mellow Mushroom
• Ray’s New York Pizza
• Harry’s Pizza & Subs
• Shorty’s
• Fritti
• Cameli’s Gourmet Pizza
• Rosa’s Pizza
• Dynamic Dish
• Fellini’s Pizza
• Ecco
• Everybody’s Pizza
• Pizza Hut
• Baby Tommy’s Taste of New York
• Bella’s Pizzeria
• Costco
• Pizzeria Venti
• Maddio’s Pizza Joint

EAT IT, ATLANTA – ATLANTA PIZZA DAYS MAP

View Larger Map