Antico Pizza Napoletana

So it’s about time that I put virtual pen to paper concerning Antico Pizza. I’m a pizza snob, no denying it. You can’t grow up in a pizza mecca like New Haven (yes, I said it again) and not develop a taste for really good pizza, as well as an ugly distaste for its crappy imitators. This I learned first-hand when I first moved to Atlanta about five years ago. I bemoaned the loss of many of my favorite (apparently regional) foods, but almost none more than pizza.

There was simply no good pizza in the entire city. Yes, yes.. I do sometimes paint with a broad brush, and I can even say that there are a few exceptions to my cry of foul on the entire community of Atlanta pizza.  But, when it boils down to it, the only consistent theme to the city’s pizza I could detect is best (and shortest) described by ‘flavorless cheese atop bread, not crust.’ I mention exceptions because there are a few, these pizza morsels keeping my pizza soul alive long enough to find Antico.

I happened upon outstanding homemade cheeses and unique crispy pizzas at Vingenzo’s. I even discovered a taste of home at Varasano’s, with an ode to New Haven, white clam pizza joining a menu featuring other boutique pies like honey and medjool dates. It’s a wonderful dining experience, but honestly not my everyday slice. I don’t like to have to valet my car to get my pizza fix. Unfortunately, Vingenzo’s is even more inconvenient, a 45 min drive North of the city… not a place where I’m going on a pizza whim. So, though there were a few glimers of hope, there was no go-to, until Antico.

I’m not the first blogger to mention Antico and there is no way I’ll be the last (it’s just too good not to draw some ink), but I will say that I’m one of the most experienced. I don’t mean that I’m the most food-experienced, only that I’m the most Antico experienced. I’ve been going to Antico since it opened in Fall of 2009, and I go often. Point of fact, my girlfriend and I probably go (on average) once every ten days, though we’ve been known to go three times in a week. I’ve tried every pizza they make, I’ve had all the calzones. I’ve had the cannolis and even the spfagitelle. I’ve been on Tuesdays and I’ve been on Saturdays. I’ve been for brunch and I’ve been for dinner. I even had the amazing luxury of receiving a surprise birthday party at Antico, a feat achieved on a Friday night only by the grace of god and a few strong-willed friends. For Antico on a Friday night is like Thunderdome. Yes, it’s that good.

Antico is my favorite restaurant in Atlanta. I say that thinking that I’d never even enjoy a pizza place outside of the Northeast. I stand corrected… though I must say that my instincts are still on point. Antico Pizza is no Southern Belle. The restaurant is the creation of Giovanni Di Palma, a New York/New Jersey native whose family originally hails from Naples. Di Palma was making pizzas in New York before turning a former bakery into my new favorite place to eat.

This is where I go when I need pizza. This is what I’ve been looking for! Now if only I could find pastrami and a black & white cookie. All things in due time. Heck, Antico has cannoli to hold me over. I love everything about it. Walk in and order your pizza, it’s pretty easy once you take a quick look at the menu. No creating your own pie here. No picking your toppings. There is a margherita that can be topped with pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms or peppers, but that’s about the extent of your input. House specials preside, with nine different pies and three calzones to choose from. Bottled waters and teas, or take a cup and fill from the sink. Want beer or wine? Bring it, Antico is BYOB. heck, bring enough and they’ll put it in the walk-in for you. They might even do a shot of limoncello with you. Your pizza is ready about 5-20 minutes after you order it, just depends on how slammed they are, but it’s usually 5. There are four picnic tables, two barstool tables and various nooks and crannies, basically all in the same room with three large wood-burning pizza ovens and a number of singing pizziolas. Heaps of garlic and parmesean cheese are at the counter, fill a cup with both and wait for your number to be called. Grab a spot, sit or stand depending on what you can grab, eat your pizza. It doesn’t get any more hassle-free, though I must say it’s always easy to find a place for two, go with five friends and enjoy at your peril. I’ve tried all their pizzas, even the marinara (only once). They all have charm, but some have real guile, and one, one is everlasting. The lasagna.

The lasagna pizza is not a pizza, it is a way of life. No, but really, it’s more like an inside-out calzone, oh yeah, and it will haunt your dreams. This chewy, wood-fired dough is covered with globs of creamy ricotta cheese, romano and seasoned meatballs. Chopped basil and a nice helping of extra garlic and oil make this a drool-inducing vision with a slice that begs to be folded (yes, this is the proper way to eat pizza.. learn it, love it, live it, fold it). This is what I want now when I want pizza.

Why is this place so good? There are many reasons, but one is that it just doesn’t belong. Sound odd? It’s not. Antico has amazing pizza, no question. But it would be another one of my many favorite places up North, slugging it out with Pepe’s, Sally’s, DiMatteo’s, and a number of others for its share of my pizza love. Here, in the bosom of Dixie, Antico is my only pizza love. They have my sole attention. It’s as if Antico Pizza has somehow ‘quantum leaped’ here, following me from my pizza dimension to this world, and I thank them for it. In fact, Antico is not only not Southern, they’re not really even Northern either. Almost the entire restaurant (aside from the building) was flown in from Italy. The three ovens, which heat to around 1,000 degrees were each shipped over. The bufula Mozzarella arrives regularly, the recognizably yellow and red San Marzano tomato cans adorn the kitchen, even the flour is from a flourmill outside of Naples, Italy.

– bryan

Antico Pizza Napoletana
1093 Hemphill Avenue,
Atlanta
(404) 724-2333