Pizza, Pizza!!

Americans love their pizza and I definitely include myself in this category. The average American consumes 46 slices (23 pounds) of pizza a year. In general, Americans eat approximately 100 acres of pizza each day, or 350 slices per second. That probably explains why new pizza places are popping up all over Atlanta these days. For instance, in the last year, Varasano's, Antico, Pizzeria Vesuvius and Zucca have all entered the metro Atlanta market.

Varasano's Pizzeria (http://www.varasanos.com/; 2171 Peachtree Road, Atlanta) opened in March 2009 and is known for being crisped to perfection in a sweltering 800 degree oven for a mere 90 seconds. The chef (who also happens to be an engineer by trade), Jeff Varasano, toyed with many electic appliances until he finally created an oven that reached what he deemed as the perfect temperature. He is originally from the Bronx and his true New York style shows in his pizza. The center of the pie itself is a very thin sourdough crust topped with a crushed rather than pureed tomato sauce. The outer crust is thick and bubbly with a delicious char. The crust on the pizza we ordered was good but the best part of our Margherita pizza was our toppings. The buffalo mozzarella was freshly sliced and the pepperonis would have been overwhelming if they were not so delicious. They were the biggest pepperonis I've ever seen on pizza but I was not complaining. I never even knew I liked pepperonis that much but they are the reason I would go back to Varasano's. The restaurant itself is nicely decorated but narrow with random columns throughout the seating area which makes the space a little awkward and difficult for large parties.

Antico Pizza Napoletana (http://www.anticopizza.it/; 1093 Hemphill Ave, Atlanta) is a slice of Italy. Seating is limited and their tables are first-come, first-serve and communal, but I highly recommend grabbing one in the kitchen if possible. Sometimes there is not enough room at the tables and customers are forced to stand, but you will not see them complaining after the first bite. Antico is owned by Giovanni Di Palma who grew up in New York but travelled back and forth to Naples, Italy where his family was originally from. Everything at Antico is flown in from Italy- the bufula mozzarella, the san marzano D.O.P. tomatoes, the flour, etc. Here the pizza is baked in a 1,000 degree oven for 60 seconds by cooks shouting orders back and forth at each other in Italian. They add to the authenticity and European feel of the place. Giovanni is almost always in the kitchen, unless he's chatting with his customers. His young son is at the restaurant fairly often too and loves entertaining guests with pizza dough or just about anything he can get his hands on. Do yourself a favor and eat the pizza there. Giovanni uses a special olive oil from Italy which is absolutely delicious but tends to make the pizza a little soggy if you take it to-go. The first time I tried Antico's pizza, the crust blew me away. It is the definition of absolute perfection. I have tried four of their pizzas now and every single one of them was unbelievable. The pizza sauce is made from san marzano tomatoes, which are surprisingly sweet. The margherita pizza is topped with bufula mozzarella, garlic and basil. How can you go wrong with that option? If you are in a daring mood, opt for the Diavaola (which I'm pretty sure translates to "the devil"). This pizza is topped with pepperonis, bufula mozzarella and spicy sopressata. My favorite pizza happens to be the San Gennaro, which is topped with sweet red pepper, salsiccia, bufala mozzarella and cipollines. Although I would not normally order the Capricciosa, Giovanni insisted my friend and I try this pizza with artichokes, mushrooms, prosciutto and bufala mozzarella. It was delightfully tasty. There is not a bad pizza on the menu. Although it tends to be a little bit pricier at $17-$21 per pizza, it is worth every penny. Especially, because they do not have a liquor license yet so it is BYOB!! Bring your own beer or wine, meet some new people at your table and enjoy the finer & tastier moments in life.

Pizzeria Vesuvius (http://www.pizzeriavesuvius.com/; 327 Edgewood Ave, Atlanta) recently opened in the up and coming neighborhood of Edgewood. New restaurants seem to be popping up there all the time these days. The chef and managing partner Richard Silvey is a veteran of Sotto Sotto, Fritti and Agave. Silvey's partners include Matt Ruppert of Noni's, Lou Locricchio of Thumbs Up Diner, and Eric Kaiser of Grant Central Pizza. Vesuvius can be spotted on the street by the flashing arrow outside the restaurant. The layout of the restaurant is interesting and as you enter, you immediately see the wood-fired oven to your right, where all the magic takes place. I would highly recommend sitting at a table instead of the booth option because the booth is way too high for the height of the table making it a little awkward for the people sitting on the opposite side in chairs. For a group of 6, we started with the chopped salad, the arugula salad and the "bread stick things". The salads were good but the portion size was small. The "bread stick things" disappeared very quickly at our table. They are essentially the crust of the pizza served with fresh tomato sauce that you could eat with a spoon. It was perfectly flavored with italian seasonings. We ordered three pizzas to share and ended up taking the equivalent of 3/4 of one home, but it was nice to try different ones. First on the list was the San Marzano pizza, which is like most restaurant's Margherita pizza. We added a topping of pepperonis as well. Second, we ordered the Kilimanjaro, which was topped with sausage, pepperoni, applewood-smoked bacon, ham, banana peppers and mozzarella. This pizza is a must for meat lovers! Finally, after reading all of the reviews, we had to try the Vesuvius. After all, it was the restaurant's specialty pizza topped with smoked chicken, blue cheese, jalapeno, celery and buffalo sauce. I think this pizza surprised all of us the most, in a good way. Although it was incredibly spicy, the fresh jalapeno made the pizza. The blue cheese was not overwhelming and the buffalo sauce gave it a kick. All in all, it was very good but I could only handle one slice so I'm glad we were sharing. It would be a great place to grab a drink as well. If you are interested in visiting Vesuvius, Scoutmob has a 50% off coupon on their website.

Zucca Bar & Pizzeria (http://www.zuccapizza.com/; 123 East Court Square, Decatur) is located in the square next to Brick Store Pub in Decatur. Although you may think Zucca pizza is "New York style" pizza, they claim to be authentic "Staten Island pizza" instead. I'm not really sure what the difference is but I know Staten Islanders hate to be called New Yorkers and vice-versa so I'm assuming they had to make a point of it. Anyways, the restaurant is pretty unique on the inside. It has a large bar and all of the tables have their own mini flat-screen tv where you can change the channels until you find something you like. My husband and I went on a Saturday night and got the "pitcher and pie" special for $19. It is basically a pitcher of Miller Lite and their cheese pizza, although you can add toppings for a surcharge. We added pepperoni and sausage. The pizza was large enough to feed 3-4 hungry people easy. It came with 8 huge slices and we only managed to devour 3 of them. The pizza seemed to be a little greasy for my taste, which also made the center crust turn soggy. Some of the toppings continued to fall off because the crust was too soggy to support them. The outer crust was uneven- thin and crisp on some edges and a little bubbly and chewy on other edges. I prefer my center crust on the crisp side and the outer crust to be thick and chewy.

Overall, these pizza places were good but it's hard to say I would want to go back to all of them. Varasano's makes good pizza but the pepperonis are the real attraction. Vesuvius was above average and Zucca was decent but I would not go back unless I was in the neighborhood. Antico Pizza is by far the best new pizza place in Atlanta. I would go back and have gone back numerous times. The owner is extremely friendly and appreciative, the ingredients are unique, imported from Italy and freshly prepared each day, and the pizza is the best I've had in Atlanta hands down. I crave this pizza on a weekly basis. The atmosphere is inviting and I love that you can bring your own bottle of wine, too. It's hard to try new pizza places in Atlanta after eating at Antico. None of them can compare and I almost always walk away wishing we had just gone there instead. Other up and coming pizza places I've heard about that you may want to check out include Rusto's Pizza on Cheshire Bridge and Piola Pizza next to Ra Sushi in Midtown. Piola has a special on the 29th of each month for all you can eat homemade Gnocchi. Sounds like music to my ears. Also, they have free appetizers at the bar Monday thru Friday from 5-8PM.