Posted by Foodie Buddha
on December 12, 2011
Fuoco Di Napoli is Atlanta’s newest pizzeria obsession. Open less than 168 hours, pizza fans from all parts of Atlanta have made it over to Buckhead’s newest pizza joint to test the skills of Fuoco’s pizzaioli, one Enrico Liberato.
In his two-years in Atlanta, Liberato has become to pizza what Peter Chang is to Chinese food. In other words, he’s a kitchen hopper of the highest order. Liberato was brought to Atlanta by restaurateur Riccardo Ullio to help revitalize Ullio’s pizza restaurant Fritti. He soon fled into the arms of Giovanni Di Palma to help get things started at Antico Pizza. Then, Liberato quickly disappeared only to show up for yet another short lived stint. This time, Liberato took his trademark checkered hat and chose the remotely located Vingenzo’s in Woodstock as his next destination … “and like that, poof. He’s gone.”
Now, much like Chang, Liberato has resurfaced at a restaurant that he has a stake in assuring Atlanta’s food crazed minions that he’s here to stay (or so people hope). While we wait and see if that holds to be true, I … like several others … have already stopped in to see if Fuoco Di Napoli is worth a fuss.
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Posted by Foodie Buddha
on November 29, 2011
As I stepped into Pizzeria Mozza I was knee deep in the Los Angeles portion of my West Coast escapade. By then, my stomach was well-coated with some of LA’s greatest culinary offerings; but, that didn’t diminish my anticipation for this pie. Stationed just off Melrose Ave, one of Hollywood’s many famed thoroughfares, Mozza is widely cited pizza mecca as this Mario Batali/Nancy Silverton/Joseph Bastianich pizza joint comes backed by reputations steeped in greatness.
Greatness might be an understatement. Pizzeria Mozza has received lustful and unequivocally reverent praise from the famed Michelin Guide, the LA Times, the gang at SLICE, and just about every other foodie known to you or me. The bustling atmosphere and oodles of pizza porn further galvanized my about to be realized dreams.
Even on a random mid-afternoon Sunday, the pizzeria teemed with energy. Tables were full and bar patrons happily munched and drank the afternoon away. Meanwhile, servers whisked about and Mozza’s crack commando team of pizzaiolos slung dough with the symphonic-like moves of a master Kapellmeister. I was expecting to be face first in pizza glory just as soon as I could wrangle myself a seat.
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Posted by Foodie Buddha
on November 23, 2011
Superman’s weakness may be kryptonite and now my weakness may be a slice of pepperoni pizza. Ladies and Germs – I present to you, the Superman Slice!!! Check out all the delicious food porn on this random site from Germany.
Posted by Foodie Buddha
on October 31, 2011
Subtly tucked into a corner next to Buckhead’s year-old La Fourchette is Tartufo Pizzeria. Since we first heard about Tartufo back in late May, the pizza parlor has grown from an abstract idea into a concrete and fully operational business.
As the name suggests (tartufo means truffle in Italian), Tartufo is yet another addition to Atlanta’s burgeoning gourmet/artisan/”insert fluffy adj. here” pizza scene. Paste heavy sauces, Kraft quality cheeses, and crunchy bacon bits are nowhere to be found. Instead, Tartufo can trace its lineage back to the origins of the ideal that popped up in Naples those many centuries ago. Keeping that in mind, it is unsurprising that more than one pizza fiend has made his or her way over to Tartufo in the opening weeks; you can count me amongst the guilty as charged.
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Posted by Foodie Buddha
on August 25, 2011
The Setting: My Home
The Meal: DaVinci’s, a Midtown pizzeria that delivers.
Important Note: These pictures are of well-done pizza as we requested that time.
Unless you’re a person in your late teens or early 20s, delivery probably isn’t a staple of your life. For those of us not knee deep in Maruchan ramen or “couch coin” funded burritos, delivery can still offer a utility. But whether you’re just trying to shut your kids up, take a night off from the world, or fool your dinner date into thinking you can actually cook, finding palatable deliverables is often difficult.
There are exceptions to every rule and front in center in that department is DaVinci’s Pizzeria, a two outfit chain with locations in Smyrna and Midtown Atlanta. The location in Midtown has been open some four months, and in that time, I have taken down at least a couple of their pizzas, their sides, and their sandwiches. So while I won’t hold them to the standards of some of the more high brow pizza spots in Atlanta, I will say that to date, I’ve been relatively pleased.
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Posted by Foodie Buddha
on August 24, 2011
Hot on the heels of Double Zero, Cibo e Beve has landed in Sandy Springs. Yet another take on Italian food, Cibo and D0 give Sandy Springs not one, but two Italian restaurants attempting to appeal to the more food conscious and palate sensitive diner.
The restaurant is headed by executive chef Linda Harrell and comes branded by the Benton’s bacon of design studios, one Ai3. For Harrell’s part, things seem a little rough around the edges at the start. But with promises of grandeur and a few other factors going for it, Cibo seems worthy of at least a mention. As most of what’s out there on this place is regurgitated “wannabe media” dinner PR information attached to pictures of food, we may as well talk about what’s what.
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Posted by Foodie Buddha
on July 27, 2011
I checked out the very new Westside Pie pizzeria last week and needless to say, I wasn’t running home to write them up. Owned and operated by part of the team that brought you SLICE, that two-headed Downtown pizza chain, you’ll find Westside Pie at the foot of the Apex Midtown apartments on the outskirts of Westside (sometimes called West Midtown).
I don’t know much about owner/operator Karen Smiley other than she hails from Savannah and has something to do with the aforementioned SLICE. There seems to be more to the ownership arrangement, but even so, Smiley is the one who is front and center.
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Posted by Foodie Buddha
on July 08, 2011
While I was preparing my first impressions on Double Zero Napoletana, I reached out to the Verace Pizza Napoletana Americas (VPN) for some clarification on a few “pizza rules.” The VPN is an international organization that seeks to “cultivate the culinary art of making Neapolitan pizza.” The Americas division is their outfit in our hemisphere, so I felt they were best equipped to handle my question.
I was most perplexed by DZ’s claim that,in accordance with VPN guidelines, they will not serve cut pizza. I wanted to see what the guidelines for serving cut pizza were and here is the response I got:
The VPN standards are related to the way a Neapolitan style pizza is made. The way people eats the pizza depends on habit and culture.
Italians doesn’t share the pizza. Everybody order and eat their own pizza. This is the main reason that the pizza is served uncut.
In the American culture, the pizza is still considered a food to share, either you are eating at the restaurant or sitting on a sofa at home watching TV. This is the main difference and this is the reason that in our restaurant we serve the pizza uncut, exactly in the same way we serve a steak or a chicken dish.
If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Have a wonderful day.
Donato/VPN Americas
If you’d like to learn more about VPN, you can visit their website. After spending some time looking through their criteria, I am actually curious to see how many of the pizzerias around town that claim to adhere to the VPN standards, actually do that.
Posted by Foodie Buddha
on June 24, 2011
Let me lay the groundwork for a shinning example of a faux pas. Restaurant provides you with an abridgement of pizza history, aromatic fluff words and descriptors worthy of a James Cameron romance flick. In accordance with strict guidelines for Napoletana pizza, said restaurant will not serve sliced pizza or pizza in to-go boxes. A quick glance at the to-go menu results in a head scratcher. Right smack dab in the middle is a section dedicated to pizzas that recounts what I just mentioned.
[A subsequent chat with their PR maven confirms that there is no to-go option for the pizza]
This type of slip up is a perfect example of the experience I had at Double Zero Napoletana. A cursory glance might leave me feeling okay about the meal. However, in the moments after, I found myself somewhat frustrated by the details … namely the price point, a few culinary mishaps, and some general oversights in the attention to detail.
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Posted by Foodie Buddha
on June 07, 2011
Recently, during her visit to New York, The Donald was kind enough to give former Vice Presidential candidate Tina Fey [click the link] an insiders guide to all things pizza. Thankfully, he took Madame Vice President to the world famous Famiglia and showed her how all true New Yorker’s eat ‘za. Enjoy 8-minutes of awesomeness, courtesy of your friends at The Daily Show.
