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.

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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.

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

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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

Drum roll please! The 18th post in the Atlanta Pizza Days is here, and it’s also the last post in the series. We’re finishing up with yet another pizza destination that is new to me – Maddio’s Pizza Joint (menu here).

It’s been a fun and calorie-filled ride, and I was excited to wrap this all up with a fun new spot that’s only been open for a few months. Created by one of the co-founders of Moe’s, Maddio’s is billed as a pizza “concept” restaurant, though I wasn’t really aware of this before my visit. Similar to Moe’s, Maddio’s is a made-to-order restaurant, where similar to the California burrito concept, you are in full control of your pizza from start to finish. You pick your crust, then your pizza moves on down the line where you select the sauce and toppings of your choosing.

This is definitely an interesting concept and I was eager to see the results. The made-to-order in front of your eyes concept has proven to be successful in other genres (salads, sandwiches, burritos), but how would the pie turn out?

We ordered one medium cheese, as well as a small pizza with tofu, blue cheese, and onions. We paid, then settled in on the spacious patio on this warm night. About 5 minutes later, the pizzas were delivered to our table. Scores below!

Dough (score – 2/5)

• “overcooked, thin, crispy, not much flavor, endcrust was weak, no structure”
• “it was ok.  pretty standard.  you could see all the dough out and already in little pans, waiting to be put in the conveyor cooker-which also didn’t allow for char or any of that fun stuff.  But, it wasn’t too thick or gummy which was nice.  Could have a little more flava.”
• Blind Taster’s comments - “had no flavor, no endcrust”

Sauce (score – 3/5)

• “liked the sauce, good amount, nice sharp flavor”
• “sauce was good.  Nice amount.”
• Blind Taster’s Comments – “sauce was non-existent”

Cheese (score – 2.5/5)

• “better than average, a lot of cheese, nice color and flavorful”
• “Normal pizza cheese, nothing out of the ordinary, but good.”
• Blind Taster’s Comments – “cheese was good – liked the actual flavor”

Overall (score – 2.5/5)

• “Not bad, but very cookie-cutter on the whole. Tasted like a good thin boxed pizza. Crust was weak, everything else was decent enough”
• “The pizza was good overall, though everything was consistently standard.  But, it’s nice to sometimes have a no surprises, typical, pizza.  The pizza conveyor cooker didn’t get near hot enough to get the pizza nice and crispy though. ”
• Blind Taster’s Comments – “good flavor overall, tasted like a boxed pizza or lunchroom pizza“

Final Thoughts: As you may have surmised, this pizza was very generic on the whole; to me it’s more about the concept than it is about creating great pizza. The Moe’s concept is in full effect, and I can see why people like it. It’s kind of fun picking and choosing the ingredients, and the small pizzas start at a price ($6.49 with three toppings) such that each person in a family could order their own pie to their liking.

That being said, I just don’t think it’s possible to use pre-rolled dough that’s been sitting out, then throw it on a conveyer and expect fantastic pie. The dough was overcooked to my liking, and there is no way to check for doneness on a conveyer. The dough has little flavor and it didn’t rise much, the endcrust being particularly weak. The high point of the meal was the small pie we got – the blue cheese + tofu pizza was very tasty. I’m going to classify their pie as being topping driven, which fits into the concept. There were a handful of families there having a good time, and I can see kids loving this kind of spot as they get to create their own special pizza with exactly what they want. Me….I was sorry I didn’t head on over to Shorty’s across the street for some real dough.

Additional photos can be viewed in the gallery below

Maddio’s on Yelp / Maddio’s Website

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So far FB has visited The Mercantile, Matty Cakes Bakery, and most recently, The Elliot Street Deli and Pub.

FB is much more precise than I have been with the Atlanta Pizza Days; you can see his very particular rules here. If you are familiar with the FB site, you are aware that FB is a firm (but fair) critic and I expect to discover some great finds during this series. I also hope to join up for a lunch or two and throw my opinion into the mix (hint hint).

Foodie Buddha Atlanta Sub & Sandwich Tour

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Related -> Slashfood has compiled a list of their selection of the top 50 sandwiches in America. Atlanta has one sandwich on the list – the garlic and thyme roasted pork sandwich at The Watershed.

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Also on a somewhat related note, I should have the last post of the Atlanta Pizza Days up tonight. It’s gone on much longer than I intended, and I apologize for being unproductive over the last few weeks. I learned that trying to visit, rate, blind-taste, and post about five pizza destinations a week was quite the task. Look for a summary post shortly after the upcoming post, where I’ll offer a quick glimpse of all the fabulous ATL pizza destinations.

It’s the home stretch of the Atlanta Pizza Days, and I’m finishing up with a couple of real posts, none of that unplanned, no-blind-tasting garbage.

Today’s post is yet another new place to me. Who knew there were so many pizza places in Atlanta? Despite over a month of what feels like non-stop pizza eating, it doesn’t look like I’ll make it to Verra Zanno’s, Athens Pizza, Johnny’s, Elwood’s, Mojo, and Grant Central Pizza. Most of these places I heard about via reader’s emails, and I’m discovering that people get passionate, nostalgic, and even sometimes territorial about where they eat pie. What’s great is with so many places to try, it’s a non-stop opinion forming, pizza eating adventure. Hopefully you have learned about some new places, you have some level of expectation of a particular location’s pizza style, and you can go decide for yourself!

With that, today’s post is on Pizzeria Venti (Atlanta specific website here).

Located on Lenox Rd, in the same development as the Roaster’s, their tagline is “America’s Only Authentic Sliceria”. I wasn’t quite sure what that meant, as there are plenty of places that predominantly sell pizza by the slice. I may be reading into that slogan wrong, maybe it’s not that they are the only authentic sliceria, but that they are the only sliceria that serves authentic pie? Their website claims their superior pie is due to “exciting” ingredients, traditional toppings, and Italian water.

The marketing of a particular type of water is interesting. I’ve heard the “NYC water” argument, but never anything regarding Italian water. I have a hard time believing that there are different results from any filtered water. Show me some data on that and I will put my foot in my mouth. I’m quite flexible, I can do that.

Pizzeria Venti earned a solid review from Jennifer Zyman on Creative Loafing, so I was looking forward to this excursion and the promise of authentic pie.

While pizza slices are their thing, I have resolved to only order whole pies. So I ordered a large pan – half basil/tomato and half meatball and peppers. The basil/tomato for “official judging” and the meatball to satisfy my personal craving. I was told it would take 20 minutes so I ordered up three of their bocce balls, which had been recommended to me by the extremely friendly server. You order at the counter, but there are servers who bring your food and even refill your drinks.

Anyways, the bocce balls are meatballs wrapped in dough, which they warm up and top with marinara. These were actually pretty good, not amazing, but better than expected for something that isn’t cooked to order. The meatballs were rather large, soft, not grainy, and had good flavor. I would say these are worth a go if you like meatballs.

But you aint’ here for meatballs, at least not today, so the pizza scores are below.

• “Pan style, but not too thick, a slightly gummy layer with no endcrust, but some crusty cheese from where the side of the pizza touched the pan”
• Taster’s comments – “Crust was doughy and gummy. Didn’t like it. No endcrust at all.”
• Taster’s comments - “The pizza was a little heavier on the dough than I normally prefer.  But, I’m used to a different pizza style so that could be my problem.  The dough could benefit from a little more flavor.”

Sauce (score – 2.5/5)

• “very little sauce on the outside slices, ok amount, didn’t have the acidic twang I like from pizza sauce”
• Taster’s Comments – “Tomato chunks!  Decent flavor, could use some additional seasoning.  Nice consistency, though (love the chunks). ”

Cheese (score – 3.0/5)

• “Plenty of cheese, on par, the standard cheese you expect from a normal pizza place”
• Taster’s Comments – “Cheese was flavorful and addition of (what I thought was) fresh mozzarella was good”
• Taster’s Comments – “Cheese was a tad bland, but not distractingly so.  Good amount.”

Overall (score – 2.75/5)

• “Not exactly the kind of pie I love, but it is a welcome change of pace. If the sauce had been very good I would have liked this pizza better overall. Plenty of cheese and good sized pie, quite filling”
• Taster’s Comments – “The pizza seemed to reheat well (though, the dough did get a bit soggy).  The pizza reminded me of the pizza you get by the slice in Italy.  While I normally like a different pizza style, I understand where they were going with this and I think it’s good.  Not great, but good.”
• Taster’s Comments – “Overall a good tasting pizza but very irregular (crust & cut)“

Final Thoughts:

Pizzeria Venti is definitely one of the most different pies I’ve had during the series. It was the first pan pizza, and I was really looking forward to it. When I walked in and saw all the slices sitting out in the pan, I immediately thought of my visit to Rome, where the pizza spots in the piazzas stayed open late to cater to the bar crowd and sold large square slices of pan pizza, which they would reheat to order, then I would subsequently  devour. I thought it was interested that they sold the pizza by weight.

The crust on this pie made me think of a thinner Everybody’s Pizza, and a lot of people like that style. To me, those places are more about toppings than the dough, but hey, if that’s what you like, more power to you. I actually liked the sides of the pizza that had a crispy, chewy crust of cheese from the sides of the pan, but my dining cohort did not.

The cheese was pretty standard, a little bit grainy, but I don’t think it’s that off from many places around town. The toppings of basil + tomato (which are the only toppings I have been judging) really helped with the sauce, which is my biggest gripe. If this pizza had some tangy, yummy sauce I would be more into this pie. Also, the dough needed salt, so the lack acid from the sauce means the overall pie wasn’t balanced. I wonder if they can address this considering this is a franchise.

The pie wasn’t cheap (around $22 bucks for a full pan with toppings), but it was quite a bit of food. Two or three slices is more than enough for one person, and I had four or five slices to take home. It is worth noting that I liked the reheated slices better. The slices were a bit crunchier, not quite as gummy.

The location is convenient, but it can get slammed in that parking lot. My first attempt to go to Pizzeria Venti was on a Friday; we circled the lot for about 15 minutes looking for a spot, then had to leave. So keep in mind that you may want to go during the early or late lunch hours. The service was outstanding, and I love to see a busy restaurant during this kind of economy, so my recommendation is to give this place a try and judge for yourself. If you like Everybody’s, which a lot of people do, I think this will be right up your alley.

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Today is a quick, unplanned post in the Atlanta Pizza Days, from an unexpected location - pizza from the cafeteria area at Costco. While not a common pizza destination, in talking to a few people recently, I’ve discovered that Costco is actually a spot that a fair number of people hit up for lunch during the work day.

And why not? Besides being the most convenient location to pickup enough toilet paper to last me one year for $20, Costco has some good food deals, it’s a convenient location for those who work in the Cobb and Dunwoody areas, and it’s a quick lunch. I’ve actually eaten the chicken bake and the polish sausage, but had yet to try the pizza. So on this day, after my shopping and while my perishables were sweating out the welcome warm Atlanta weather, I quickly offered up $1.99 and picked up a slice of pepperoni to see how it measured up.

They had a fairly new pepperoni pie sitting out behind the counter , and I could see them running more pizzas through one of those conveyer ovens, ala Quiznos. Not a good sign for great pie.

The slice was big, doughy, had lots of gooey browned cheese, and it had plenty of pepperoni slices.

$1.99 isn’t an amazingly cheap price, but one of these large hunks of pie should often be enough for most people.

Being the dough snob that I am, you may have guessed my biggest turnoff with this pie – the endcrust. It was way to cake-like, doughy, mushy, and otherwise inedible. There was good color, some bubbles, but the consistency of the dough in the endcrust was just too much for me. I could have eaten it, but my stomach would have hurt later.

Pros:

• Tons of super stringy cheesy, flavorful, greasy
• Fair price for a really large slice
• Convenient, quick meal

Cons:

• Mushy dough, inedible endcrust
• “Dough Blow”
• No sauce to speak of – heck, I can’t even remember eating any sauce

I’m visiting a couple of pizza spots today, so look for some more “real” posts coming up this week!

However, this does not mean I’m giving up on pizza, I just plan on going back to primarily making my own. With that thought, I whipped up some dough on Saturday and had some pizza for lunch today. I’m still using a modified version of Varasano’s recipe, the main differences being that I don’t have a good mixer so I don’t mix it for nearly as long as he does, I don’t use live yeast culture, and my oven only cooks at 550.

I’d like to address these problems soon, probably starting with the mixer, then the yeast, then possibly breaking the latch on the oven. Regardless, today’s pizza was some of the best that I’ve made in a long time. The dough had been in the refrigerator for about 48 hours. I used less salt in this batch but all the other quantities were pretty much the same. You can see some past dough attempts here.

My dough never looks as smooth as Jeff’s. It is all wrinkly, it’s more dense, and it doesn’t expand as much. I’m hoping the mixer + yeast will help with this problem.

I used the Trader Joe’s Roma tomatoes to make the sauce. The tomatoes didn’t look very good – I had to remove the exterior and the cores from all of them and I threw a few tomatoes out altogether. The sauce ended up tasting really good though. I used the immersion blender to make it and it ended up slightly chunkier than usual. It was the normal raw Roma sauce of tomatoes + sugar + salt + oregano + parmesan.

For the toppings I used cubed mozzarella, green onions, and some Italian country ham that I picked up from Whole Foods yesterday. This stuff is great and it’s on sale right now for $10.99 a lb.

I preheated at 550 for about 45 minutes, cooking the pie in about 5.5 minutes.

I was really happy with how the dough came out. It had some nice color (not a char, but at 550 I’ll take it), it bubbled up a bit on the endcrust, it was chewy, flavorful,  I used the right amount of salt, and used the right amount of sauce because it didn’t get soggy despite how thin it was.

Lately my dough really reminds me of the dough at Shorty’s, which was one of my favorite spots during the Pizza Days. I guess I’m just partial to this style, but now I’m ready to take the dough to the next level. Expect to see some more posts on this during the coming months.

If you try making some pizza yourself, I’d love to see some photos and if you’d like I’ll throw them up here so everyone else can share in the pizza love.

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Post number 15 in the Atlanta Pizza Days is a spot in Smyrna, but not too far from my place on the Westside, Bella’s Pizzeria. 

Bella’s was recommended to me by a friend, so despite their awfully annoying website video, some friends and I headed over there for a quick lunch the other day. Bella’s is in a strip mall next to a tae kwon do dojo. Their website claimed their pizza is New York style and that it was voted best in the city by Atlanta Cuisine. 

The four of us strayed from the “official” pizza days format, ordering a large pepperoni pizza. That’s not overloading too much on toppings so it’s still very possible to distinctly taste the sauce, cheese, and dough. 

We also ordered some garlic knots, which you can see a picture of in the gallery below. A large order of knots is huge, and they are sitting in a pool of what must be two sticks of butter. They were very good, and I recommend them if you are into self inflicted pain. 

Notes from me and one taster are below. There was no blind tasting because we ate it all. Oops. 

I don’t have scores from everyone, but as I’ve said, you shouldn’t put too much stock into the scores anyways. I’m going to create a score for the sake of consistency, but keep in mind it is just me and you should read the other taster’s comments to form your own opinion. 

Dough (my score – 4/5) 

• “Not really New York style, thick endcrust with good structure, nice char on the upskirt, not doughy, slightly gummy beneath the cheese”
• Taster’s comments - “Nice texture and flavorful crust.  Airy crust with a nice amount of space”

Sauce (my score – 3.5/5)

• “Right amount of sauce, complemented the pizza well, notable flavor”
• Taster’s Comments – “Flavorful sauce but sometimes dominated the other toppings.  Chunky blobs near the crust.”

Cheese (my score – 3.5/5)

• “A lot of cheese, but not too much, wonderful color, had an unfair advantage because of the pepperoni grease which added flavor. ”
• Taster’s Comments - “Probably the worst part of the pizza.  I feel like the cheese was very similar to Mellow Mushroom and has that feeling where it coagulates too quickly if it sits for too long.  It lost its flavor as it cooled too quickly.”

Overall (my score – 4/5)

• “Not NY Style, but the pie was done properly. No complaints on cheese or sauce, and the dough was notable. The endcrust structure was some of the best in Atlanta and the pie was cooked for the right amount of time ”
• Taster’s Comments - “Overall i think that Bella’s pizza is a pretty good slice if your looking for a step above your Mellow Mushroom’s of the world.  The crust stood out to me as the best part of the pizza.  The air pockets were nice and even after I inhaled like 10 garlic knots (more on that to follow) I still didn’t have that dough blow you get with a mellow mushroom pie.  If I’m looking for a better slice I’d prefer Harry’s or Pizzeria Fortunato.  Harry’s for the cheese and Fortunato for a crispier crust and better sauce.  But just for the pizza fix, Bella’s did the job.”

Here are the rest of the taster’s witty comments (shout out to Devin, thanks for the effort buddy):

On a related note, the garlic knots, which were a plenty for the 6 bucks i think the full order costs were AWESOME.  While I steered clear of the dip and soak method applied by others, I think that was truly a treat to whet the old appetite for the pizza that was coming our way.  I recommend either the half or full order when going there.

Bella’s is a good place to grab a beer and a cheap slice or garlic knots.  The pizza claims to be from New York, but the price is definitely from New Delhi.

Pictured: the upskirt char

Final Thoughts: Clearly my scores are high for this pizza, I hope that the pepperoni didn’t skew my score, but I don’t think it did. The taster’s comments were interesting to me, they were fairly consistent with my thoughts, but his overall comments show that perception of quality is often purely stylistic. There was pretty much nothing “wrong” with this pizza, it was well done. The cheese tasted good, and there was a proper amount of it. The same could be said for the sauce. I could taste it, but they didn’t use too much, which can ruin a good pie. The dough is the most noteworthy part of the pizza, and as you have seen, this is the hardest factor to address when making pizza. The blind taster just happened to like certain aspects/flavors of other pizza destinations. My no means is the dough at Pizzeria Fortunato similar to the dough at Bella’s. 

But me – I really enjoy this style and liked this particular pie. The pizza was fairly thin overall (not as thin as Baby Tommy’s) and the endcrust was large and had structure, meaning, there was actually bubbles/space, or what I call the “surf break”, instead of the heavy completely filled/doughy endcrust which causes the aforementioned “dough blow”. You can eat two slices of this pizza without feeling disgusted thirty minutes later. The garlic knots are another story. 

The dough wasn’t perfect though, some slices had better endcrust than others, the flavor could use a little boost, but I recommend giving Bella’s a try. Someone obviously cares about quality here, the pizzas are huge, it is a large family-friendly setting, and it was an overall good value. As always, I highly recommend getting a whole pizza. I saw them preparing the pizzas, and is the case at so many places, they had about 5 cheese pizzas already prepared which they use for single slice orders. Whole pizza pie revolution!

Pictured: The crust “surf break”

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First the bad news – I clearly haven’t been producing the quantity of pizza posts that I’d hoped to in the last week. The good news is, we’ve reached the 14th post in the Atlanta Pizza Days, what was to be the last post in the series, but it looks like the end is nowhere in sight.

The sheer quantity of “places you have to try” are adding up, and many of them are intriguing. Today’s post falls into that category: Baby Tommy’s Taste of New York up in Marietta. While I wasn’t excited about driving all the way up into Tasty China territory for pizza (I seriously considered getting some TC on the way home), I was looking forward to the prospect of good pie. One of the many byproducts of this series has been my growing displeasure with pizza that just doesn’t measure up. It makes me wonder if the age of my being able to happily eat any old pie has gone and past. Is it true? Am I a pizza snob?

Contemplating this point during my drive to Baby Tommy’s, and realizing that I’m halfway to Tennessee, I think I may have my answer.

First of all, when trying to find Baby Tommy’s, do not trust Google Maps. They will direct you somewhere near the Wal-Mart. Instead as you come off the interstate onto 120, make a left onto Cobb Parkway, not a right as the all-wise-and-powerful Google will tell you. Baby Tommy’s is almost immediately on the left.

The inside of Baby Tommy’s is what I expect in a New York style pizzeria. No frills, a few TV’s displaying ESPN, and a large quantity of slices on display near the ovens, waiting to be heated to order. But what have we learned? Single slices are for suckers. I ordered up a whole large cheese, much to the surprise of my order taker (“you must be hungry!”), and waited the 15 minutes or so it took for the pie to arrive. This gave me some time scope out the scene and the clientele. There was a good sized lunch contingency – those on their lunch break, some students, and even a few Air Force soldiers, all enjoying large, foldable slices. I was definitely hungry and excited about the potential of what appeared to be a well-made New York style pie. When it arrived I couldn’t bring myself to wait a minute or two for the cheese to cool down, so I dug right in. Official notes and comments from the two blind tasters are below.

Dough (average score – 4.2/5) 

• “Good NY style thickness with above average endcrust, slightly sweet, crunchy/not too doughy, with a bitter, charred upskirt”
• Blind Taste - “crispy, thin, nice crunch to it”
• Blind Taste - “crispy and delicious”

Sauce (average score – 2.5/5)

• “Could barely taste it, not enough sauce, with an unmemorable flavor”
• Blind Taste - “good amount, tastes average”
• Blind Taste - “good flavor, right amount of sauce”

Cheese (average score – 3.4/5)

• “Nicely browned, slightly greasy, standard flavor, good amount…no complaints”
• Blind Taste - “good amount, not too greasy”
• Blind Taste - “good but not too much flavor”

Overall (average score – 3.8/5)

• “ Worthy NY slice, but the lack of sauce and bitter/burned dough was a turn-off”
• Blind Taste - “really like this pizza”
• Blind Taste - “crust is the best part, crispy all through the slice″

Pictured above: Well done upskirt

Tearing the cheese away to reveal the (lack of) sauce

Final Thoughts: As you can see, the comments are rather positive for Baby Tommy’s pizza. I was the largest critic – the blind tasters thought the pizza was exceptional. The charred/bitter taste of the bottom of the pie, and the lack of sauce are the only thing keeping me from giving this a glowing review. I liked the taste of the endcrust, there was a good amount of cheese, and it was the perfect size and thickness that you expect from a foldable NY slice of pizza. I actually liked the dough better than Rosa’s. 

While I am not eager to make the 25 minute drive back up there right away, I think Baby Tommy’s is a worthy spot and I recommend you give it a try if you’re in the area (or make the drive if you are a slice hound and want to see for yourself). 

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Once the question is asked, the page is open for comments, then the comments are formed into a list of which everyone can vote. 

This week’s question is “Where can you get the best pizza in Atlanta?”. In the spirit of the Atlanta Pizza Days, I felt this was worth passing along. 

Commenting has closed and voting has commenced. You’re choices are: Nancy’s, Mellow, Savage, Rosa’s, and Everybody’s. Vote here.

I’m still trying to decide if I’m going to vote on that list.