ANTICO PIZZA NAPOLETANA

He says:
How does a city with such a terrible pizza scene end up with the best pizza parlor on the planet? Atlanta never ceases to amaze me.

After years of Johnny’s, Little 5 Points, and Cameli’s, I had all but given up on pizza in this city. Everywhere I went the slices were too cheesy or too saucy or too mealy. Topping overload was rampant. I’d given up -- better, I thought, to cure my pizza fix on my annual jaunts to New York City. But now Antico Pizza Napoletana has arrived in the grungy West Side like a thunderbolt, and pizza in Atlanta will never be the same again.

If this sounds like hyperbole, then you haven’t tried the pizza at Antico. It is revolutionary: worlds better than anything else I’ve tried in Atlanta – and NYC for that matter. For those who have never eaten a true Neapolitan pizza before, the crust is baked thin but remains softer and chewier than a standard New York pie. It’s blistered and puffy and sublime. The Margarita pizza (pictured above) comes with San Marzano tomato sauce, fresh basil, and buffalo mozzarella so silky and buttery it’s like tasting mozzarella again for the first time. Even better is the lasagna pizza, which comes adorned with gobs of creamy, homemade ricotta and meatball chunks. I don’t recommend the Pomodorini as highly because the extra cherry tomatoes bleed too much water into the crust. In general you have to eat Antico’s pizza very quickly, or else that wonderful crust will get soggy. But that’s a small price to pay for a slice of perfection.

She says:
Dishing out great pies is Antico’s singular focus. The place is like a well-oiled machine, with a battery of dark-haired men tossing dough into shape, applying toppings, and shoving the pizzas into wood fire ovens as opera music blasts through the kitchen. None of this is a mystery, since you can sit at a foldout table in the kitchen and watch them work. Your pizza is delivered by one of these men on a huge jellyroll pan, and then you eat. No plates, no forks, no knives, it’s just you and the pizza.

We say:
Pizza perfection.




Antico Pizza Napoletana
1093 Hemphill Ave NW Atlanta, GA 30318
www.anticopizza.it

CHENNAI GARDEN

He says:

I’ve been given all sorts of advice about dining in New York City, but this one is probably the best: When eating Indian food, trust the Indians. My mother heard from an Indian friend (who heard from her Indian friends) that Chennai Garden has the best dosas in the city. You know what? They’re right.

I’ve often found the dosas in other Indian restaurants dry and tasteless. Not so at Chennai Garden. Their golden-brown dosas are crispy and delicate, like thin, oversized crepes. Folded inside is an excellent filling of potatoes, fried onions, and spices. My potato filling came mashed together with mushrooms and was utterly sublime. I haven’t had an Indian dish this remarkable in years. The curry soup on the side is terrific for dipping. Even better is the coconut chutney, which provides a sweet, creamy counterpoint to the potato filling’s spiciness.

She says:

It’s true, the dosas are delicious, and you really can’t go wrong with the filling. Mine had spinach and was great, but even better was Downtown Boy’s mother’s selection, the Mysore Dosa, which had an extra kick of spice. We finished off with an order of kulfi (excellent) and rasmalai (decent).

We say:

If you don’t believe us, believe the Indians: these dosas are dynamite.

Chennai Garden

129 E 27th St, New York 10016

(212) 689-1999

IPPUDO

He says:

I love ramen.

I love its simplicity. I love how it fills you up, makes you warm inside. I love slurping up the last bits of soggy noodle from the bottom of the bowl. I ate the instant kind several times a week growing up, and not the tepid Cup-O-Noodles that everyone else eats, but the good Japanese stuff, Sapporo Ichiban. Later on I found ramen houses where the udon and miso broth arrived fresh instead of inside a plastic wrapper. I was in heaven. For the past several years though, I’ve suffered a ramen drought. Part of the problem is living in places where ramen houses are scarce. The other part is finding the good ones because excellent ramen is hard to come by.

But now there is Ippudo, and I am a happy man.

Earlier this year the New York Times’ Frank Bruni declared it the best ramen house in the city and ever since it’s been at the top of my NYC hit list. Fortunately, it’s just as good as advertised.

The Shiromaru classic features a translucent white broth that is salty, creamy, rich, and clean. There are hints of miso, pork, and chicken stock in there, but I cannot tell for sure – it’s like culinary black magic. I do know the noodles are springy, neither too limp nor too chewy. Thin slices of pork belly, “elephant ear” mushrooms, soy-sauce flavored hard-boiled eggs, and scallions make up the rest of this mysterious concoction. The only certainty with this dish is that I slurped up the last remnants of noodle from the bottom of the bowl. It’s the best ramen I’ve ever had.

She says:

Being declared the best anything in NYC guarantees one thing: there will be an excruciatingly long wait to get in. On a Monday afternoon, we waited an hour for a table at lunch (granted, it was during the holidays). At least we received a warm welcome when we were finally seated. As each new guest enters the dining room, the entire staff yells out hello in Japanese.

Our waitress was very helpful. When I tried to order ramen without the pork (they all contain pork), she suggested I try the vegetarian ramen, an off-menu item. The veggie ramen noodles are slightly thicker than the classic ramen, and the broth is a clear, non-creamy broth filled with mushrooms, greens, scallions, and tofu. The complex flavors of Ippudo’s broth is what differentiates this soup from other Asian noodle soups. Like Downtown Boy said, it’s a bit of mystery what makes it so delicious, but delicious it is.

We say:

On cold winter afternoons, nothing can beat ramen at Ippudo.

Ippudo

65 Fourth Avenue, New York, NY 10003

http://www.ippudo.com/ny/