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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I came across this video on Slice today and just had to post it. Right now you’re either cursing my name or thanking me for the weirdness that is this video. It just goes to show, there are plenty of pizza fans (nuts?) out there! If I haven’t lost you yet, let’s move on to today’s post. 

Fellini’s Pizza is the 10th post in the Atlanta Pizza Days and was voted the most popular in Atlanta when the pizza poll was launched on this site almost a month ago. Mellow Mushroom was a close second, and these two places combined for a staggering 53% of the votes. While Mellow Mushroom isn’t on my personal favorite list, I do happen to go to Fellini’s quite a bit.

Mostly due to convenient location, Fellini’s has been my go-to pizza destination since college, so I have a lot of experience eating their stuff. As my most frequented pizza joint in the ATL, I was eager to see how they would do now that I’ve been eating my way across town and have developed a fairly strong pizza opinion. Also new to my Fellini’s experience, I was ordering a whole pizza. It’s kind of funny to think that I’ve literally eaten at Fellini’s over a hundred times and have never ordered a whole pie. 

Katie and I met up for lunch last week, ordered a large cheese pizza, then patiently waited about 15 minutes for our fresh pie. I don’t have notes from Katie, but I do have comments from three blind tasters as there were plenty of leftovers.

At this point I’ve pretty much decided that the blind tasting notes are of little value when judging pizza. The dough, cheese, and sauce are all adversely affected by the cooling and reheated process. The dough structure changes upon reheating, becoming chewy, gummy, or too crunchy/crispy. The sauce often turns to “paste” and is flavorless. The cheese can become rubbery and it never regains the awesome gooeyness that it first had out of the oven. That being said, the blind tasting is fun, and hell, leftover pizza is a staple in the fridge of many the discerning palate. There have been a few places where the reheated pizza have been pretty bad so maybe we’ll call that knowledge the main benefit of these blind tastings. Just don’t go too hard on these restaurants when reading the blind notes, OK? Please? Aight fine, do what you want. 

Dough (average score -3/5) 

• “Nicely rounded, looked like a great NY style slice. Cooked the right amount of time, the endcrust was to my liking, with nice bubbles, some chewiness, and just a slight amount of gummy center”
• Blind Taste - “Crunchy & good, a little flavorless”
• Blind Taste – “Decent, but nothing special”
• Blind Taste – “Chewy end, mushy in the circle part, reheat doesn’t help”

Sauce (average score – 2.75/5)

• “good amount of sauce, heavy on the endcrust side, lots of oregano, tasty”
• Blind Taste - “Can’t taste, overpowered by the cheese”
• Blind Taste – “Best part, sauce has oregano + other spices”
• Blind Taste - “Thin layer of sauce – pasty sauce – might be a result of reheat, a little bland”

Cheese (average score – 3/5)

• “tons of cheese, browned nicely, a little rubbery but good”
• Blind Taste - “Good. Lots. Little Bland”
• Blind Taste - “Lots of cheese, yummy”
• Blind Taste - “Good color, good amount, reheats hurts the crispyness”

Overall (average score – 3.3/5)

• “very happy with this, I really liked the dough, and the sauce and cheese were tasty. My only complaint was there was almost too much cheese”
• Blind Taste - “Cheesy enough and sauce pretty good”
• Blind Taste – “A little soggy interior crust, could be good right out of oven”

Final Thoughts: There’s no two ways around it, I really enjoyed this pizza. It actually dominated my experience at Rosa’s. I feel like a sellout, I’m really not sure how to gain your trust after this blow, but I promise I’m giving it a fair shake. It’s tough to tell due to the lighting in my pictures, but as soon as the pizza came out I could tell I was going to like it. The color on the crust was perfect. There were fantastic looking bubbles and above average structure I could see on the inside of the endcrust. The cheese was browned to perfection. The right amount of sauce was used and I could taste the spices. It was too hot, but I couldn’t wait as long as I should and I discovered it was the perfect size and thickness for folding, ala a great slice of New York style. The interior dough had a slight gummy texture on top, but it was extremely thin, and I actually enjoyed it a bit. 

For a second my vanity almost allowed me to think maybe the kitchen knew about the pizza series because it was literally the best slice I’ve ever had at Fellini’s. Back down to Earth, the best I can come up with is that ordering a whole pizza is of major significance. Aha! The same reasoning I used when prefacing the blind notes applies!

No matter where you look, pizza is constructed of the same mix of ingredients. Often times the ingredients at different locales are better than one another, but they are frequently of lesser importance. Maybe you like a different style of crust, or a restaurant uses superior cheese than another, but when examining equal styles the difference in quality is more frequently in the care and the cooking.

A whole pizza, just tossed and fresh out of the oven (the first time), is going to dominate the reheat/single slice every time. If the cook takes a little more care, a little more time, that too can make the all important difference in quality. The cook needs to ensure that the dough is stretched to the appropriate thickness, the proper amount of sauce is distributed appropriately across the pie, the right amount of cheese is used, and most importantly, the pie must be cooked the exact right amount of time. What’s the right time? That’s going to change for every restaurant, every dough type, and every pie, and it’s going to take the watchful eye of the kitchen staff.

I happened to enjoy a pie that was cared for, constructed and cooked properly, and I think a whole pie is stacking the odds in your favor when trying to achieve pizza nirvana. Give a whole pie at Fellini’s a shot, I’m eager for you to let me know how it goes.

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The 8th pizza destination of the Atlanta Pizza Days is Rosa’s Pizza, yet another pizza joint in this series that I had not previously eaten. I’m not gonna lie, the pizza consumption is starting to get tough. My craving for pizza is a bit diminished and this is most definitely affecting my fitness…I’m pretty sure the standard training for triathlons doesn’t include eating 24-35 slices of pizza per week during peak training season. But we press on, and I’ve heard great things about Rosa’s, so it’s easy to “get up” for the promise of good pie. Rosa’s has earned a 4.5/5 rating on Yelp and almost all of the 50+ Yelpers have given it four or five stars. The Foodie Buddha himself also claims Rosa’s to be his favorite pizza in the ATL. 

I headed on over to downtown Atlanta (who knew ATL had a downtown?) and eventually found a parking spot and walked on over to Rosa’s, which is located in what looks to be a popular area to eat if you work downtown or attend GSU. I was actually quite surprised to see such a quantity of people walking around the streets, and even at 1PM there was a line out the door at Rosa’s…definitely a good sign. My dining cohort and I got in line and had a few moments to scope out the scene. Most people were ordering individual slices, which come from precooked pies that they throw in the oven to warm up.

Pies sitting in racks for all to see was a bit of a turnoff, but in their defense, with the amount of turnover during the busy lunch hour the pizzas couldn’t be sitting there very long by the time you get your slice. I was glad to find out that when ordering a whole pie they don’t just warm up an already made pizza, so we placed our order and enjoyed a cannoli and large salad (plenty for two people) while our large plain cheese order was prepared. Results and pictures below!

Dough (average score -2.75/5) 

• “too thick for NY style, major gummy spots in the endcrust”
• Blind Taste - “good thickness, but a little too crunchy”

Sauce (average score – 3/5)

• “liked the sauce, sharp flavors, oregano, tons of it, caused a cheese slide”
• Blind Taste - “good amount but a little bland”

Cheese (average score – 4/5)

• “lots of gooey, greasy, browned cheese, good stuff”
• Blind Taste - “good coverage and decent flavor”

Overall (average score – 3.5/5)

• “a little bit off of the NY style, but the cheese and sauce were to my liking for this style”
• Blind Taste - “good regular slice – not bad, not exceptional”

Final Thoughts: I wasn’t disappointed in Rosa’s pizza, but after all the hype I was ready for a pizza “destination” and Rosa’s doesn’t earn that type of billing from me. When I first saw their pizzas, they clearly looked like a straight forward New York style pizza, and I looked forward to eating it. Modern New York style has its appeal – thin with large foldable slices, lots of cheese, zippy sauce, and one to two slices is a meal. 

When the pizza arrived, we had to wait a solid 5 minutes to eat as it was so hot the copious amounts of cheese would have easily slid off with the help of the large amount of sauce. We also noticed how thick the endcrust was for New York style. It’s much thicker than any pizza I’ve eaten in New York. If you want a great example of New York style pizza, go try “New York Pizzeria” on Chamblee-Tucker. It’s a tiny restaurant tucked away in a strip mall that actually has a decent thin slice. 

I loved the cheese, I loved the sauce, but I just can’t get away from the crust problems in this pie. As it was so thick, it couldn’t cook properly and when looking at a slice from the side you could easily see the gummy uncooked portion of the dough in the center of the crust. It’s kind of like when you are looking at pasta that has been cooked al dente. Dough like this is going to blow up in your stomach; a couple of my good friends call it the “dough blow”. My dining companion also commented on how this is the kind of pizza that is going to make you feel sickly full after two slices.

The fact that both me and my pizza tasting partner pretty much left the entire endcrust of the first slice uneaten when we moved on to the second slice can summarize my experience at Rosa’s. BUT, it’s a good price, a quick spot for a slice, and it is NOT pizza garbage like some I’ve had during this series. The staff was also extremely friendly. I would eat this any day over Mellow Mushroom. 

Good filling cheesy goodness if you are in the area = YES!!!. Pizza destination worth the trip alone = Not so much, especially when I have to pay $5 to park. 

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After this weekend’s  interlude I am ready to dive back into pizza with Day 4 of the Atlanta Pizza Days. Well, the weekend was really only a pizza pause for you readers, I continued to eat pizza all weekend. I’ve hit up 6 spots so far and really, I’m not tired of it yet. My slice count is now at 35, including the two slices I devoured along with some pastitisio at about 2AM after returning from Fox & Hounds on Friday night. 

I did get to eat a little something other than pizza that is noteworthy. On Saturday before heading over to the Inman Park area, I briefly met up with Dirty and Lady Dirty at Eno in Midtown. They were getting some small plates that they were kind enough to let me sample, including a gnocchi/abalone dish that was fantastic. Even better, Eno’s awesome chef Eli brought out a little dessert for us – a yuzu meringue created with xantham gum, topped with crushed pistachio, served individually on wonton spoons. It was like a light wisp of fruity air, yet texturally interesting and dense enough to support the pistachio, with a slightly sweet finish that I tasted for at least five minutes. 

Aight, back to pizza. Today’s featured pizza spot was a new one to me. A friend of mine who loves the pie told me that there was a spot near his office that had average service, good pizza, but could be hit or miss. Harry’s Pizza and Subs is located on Power’s Ferry near 285/75, but they also have a new location at the fabulous West End mall. Having tried a few places around ATL that have been less than exciting to me, I was stoked to try somewhere new. When I heard the service could be spotty, for some reason that peaked my interest even further. I sort of envisioned a soup nazi environment; curt staff, fast ordering, no nonsense, great food.

Was my totally unjustified assumption spot on? Let’s dig in…

Dough (average score – 2.13/5) 

• “deflates on touch/spongy, too much cornmeal on bottom“
• “a lot of flop”
• Blind Taste - “fluffy crust, maybe a little too doughy”
• Blind Taste – “tastes frozen, whole wheat?, chewy”

Sauce (average score – 2.88/5)

• “a lot of flavor, very healthy amount of tomatoes”
• “I like the flavor, right amount of sauce”
• Blind Taste - “straight up tomato sauce”
• Blind Taste - “standard – nothing notable”

Cheese (average score – 2.88/5)

• “ good proportion of cheese to crust”
• “pretty standard but good amount – no complaints”
• Blind Taste - “plain jane”
• Blind Taste - “standard like the sauce”

Overall (average score – 2.63/5)

• “decent new york style, except dough, I liked it”
• “no notes – 3.5 overall”
• Blind Taste - “tastes like Pizza Hut”
• Blind Taste – “tastes like crappy once frozen pizza”

Final Thoughts: I thought the dough was almost exactly like Mellow Mushroom’s. My photos aren’t great (forgot the real camera) but they had a very similar texture, look, and they both used cornmeal on the bottom and a light dusting of parmesan on the endcrust. They had a similar feel – if you press the endcrust it is slightly spongy and will inflate to it’s initial form upon release. Harry’s definitely does not serve up an artisanal pie, but it was decent enough New York style. I liked the flavor of the sauce, the amount of sauce, and the cheese had good flavor with some nice light browning. It’s really just the dough that was not my thing. 

If this is the style you are looking for, or if you are a Mellow Mushroom regular, I recommend giving Harry’s a shot.  I think they do a better job of that particular style of pizza than MM. Is it my favorite ever? Nope, but I don’t have any regrets and man was the rest of this pizza good at 2AM. 

Also, worth noting, the blind tasting scores came in waaaay lower than the live tasting. The pizza was only in my fridge for about 6-7 hours before the tasting, but I think this shows how much a fresh pie can dominate over reheated. I do reheat in the oven on a stone, but the dough is especially going to suffer, and I think that was definitely the case here. 

Thanks for reading, and be sure to check in every day this week for the latest from the Atlanta Pizza Days!

Earlier this week I met up with one of my friends for a quick lunch at Ray’s New York Pizza in Sandy Springs. This is a location we would hit up every so often when I worked up that way, but it had probably been up to 2 years since my last visit, and I really couldn’t remember much about the pizza. I had high hopes, but now that I think about it, if I couldn’t remember anything that kind of indicates that it’s unmemorable. There are 5 locations of Ray’s “New York” style pizza in the Atlanta area, where they claim they have “brought the finest New York style pizza to the Atlanta area.” I tried to find more information about their pizza claims on their website, which was redone in February of 2008, but the About Us page is still Coming Soon!  Timeliness fail. 

What’s up with all the restaurants claiming “New York style”? That doesn’t entice me one bit…so many restaurants claim this title and it has become so ubiquitous that it cannot be used as any measure of expected consistency by the consumer. Well, you may already have gained some insight into the quality of my experience, but let’s move on with the pictures and ratings.

Above: sticking with the half cheese, half toppings to keep it interesting. Also of interest in this photo, cardboard. 

Dough (average score – 1.33/5) 

• “soaked through, soggy, too sweet but bland, no pizza dough structure “
• “soggy”
• Blind Taste - “flavorless, cardboard, bleh”

Sauce (average score – 1.66/5)

• “wanted a bit more sauce, but had decent flavor”
• “virtually non-existent”
• Blind Taste - “not good, not enough”

Cheese (average score – 3.16/5)

• “ I liked the cheese, good flavor, browned nicely”
• “cheese – very good, tasty”
• Blind Taste - “good texture, smoky flavor but a little bland, a little greasy”

Overall (average score – 2.16/5)

• “awful dough killed this pie”
• “dough &  sauce really doing this pizza down”
• Blind Taste - “normal looking, no pizzaz…tastes like it’s out of a box, stale”

Final Thoughts: This was my least favorite pizza yet. I actually liked the flavor of the cheese, but the dough was horrendous. It was soggy under the cheese/sauce and the endcrust was charred cardboard; flavorless bread that was not the least bit enticing. 

I am starting to feel like a snotty jerk in these reviews, but I really didn’t have the intention of slamming so many pizzas. So far, my thoughts on this are that often times when I ate at these restaurants in the past, I wasn’t even thinking about the pizza. I was just chatting with friends, and stuffing my face. What does make me feel a little vindicated are that my cohorts, including the blind tasters, have often  been very consistent with my notes. I really don’t think we’re being too picky, we are just looking for quality pizza…something that shows that these restaurants/chefs actually care about the quality of their pies. Maybe with a chain this can be quite difficult?

There is hope! Last night I did see some indication of pizza passion, so please look for tomorrow’s post, #4 in the Atlanta Pizza Days!