Lunch at Varasano’s
April 24th, 2009 by Cliff Bostock in Restaurants
Well, it’s official. Varasano’s Pizzeria doesn’t suck.
No, really. It was great today. I lunched there with my usual Friday companion Brad Lapin and Frank Miller. Brad, as I’ve reported many times before, lives in Rome part of the year and is a super-picky eater. He ordered the Nana’s pie. Frank chose the New Haven Clam and I ordered the Margherita and paid $5 extra for bufala rather than the fiordilatte mozzarella.
Personally, I found Brad’s choice much too gooey in the center, but he considered it a minor objection, claiming the pizza style belongs more to Rome than Naples. My own pizza (pictured) was really delicious: the appropriate crispy outer crust, bufala melting into the tomato sauce but not losing its solidity, enough basil to provide an occasional blast of flavor and not too soft in the center. Frank’s clam feast, not my favorite there because of the ultra-heavy garlic, looked structurally sound.
I was surprised to find the restaurant nearly empty on a warm afternoon ideal for patio dining.
The debate will continue whether Varasano’s or Fritti serves the better pizza, but I’ll be craving the Margherita regularly.
(Photo by Cliff Bostock)
April 24th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
I went last night, had the Nana’s and the Nucci. Each pie’s dough was drastically different from one another.
April 24th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Yes, I’m afraid consistency is the big problem here. The same was true, at least structurally, with Nana and Margherita today.
April 24th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
glad to know you gave into what all the foodies have been saying all along.
VARASANOS IS THE BEST PIZZA IN ATL
April 25th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Ummmm, I didn’t say that, FM.
April 25th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
“glad to know you gave into what all the foodies have been saying all along.
VARASANOS IS THE BEST PIZZA IN ATL”
You dont speak for all of us FM, god you are annoying.
April 25th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
then obviously you have not been to Varasano’s Meh.
April 25th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
As I said before, you do not speak for everyone you annoying little prick. Who are you to say who has, and who has not been anywhere? Just because you think the man is Pizza God, does not mean we all have to.
Go back under the bridge you are the troll of Omnivore.
April 25th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Y’all be nice.
April 25th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
im sorry meh.
April 26th, 2009 at 1:16 am
Im sorry too FM. :)
Is that better Cliff?
April 26th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
i for one cant wait for all this pizza talk to go away….jeez!
it sucks, no it doesn’t, wait now it does, well yesterday it didn’t…..
April 27th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Has anybody tried Il Bocio off of Sidney Marcus (near the Lindbergh station)? I think they serve a really nice slice of pizza. Having been to neither Fritti nor Varasanos I am in no position to compare these places.
And Foodieman, “best” will always depend on each individual’s palate, so when you keep saying Varasano’s is “best” you just reduce your credibility. IMHO
April 27th, 2009 at 10:28 am
cliff, why do you take the bait from foodieman?
he’s a bitter busboy at miso, a mediocre restaurant
leave him be
April 27th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Martha, I’ve had some surprisingly good pizza at Il Baccio. I like their crispy crust. It’s somewhere between the thin-ness of the Fritti crust and the thicker (though not Mellow-Mushroom thick) ones of places like Fellini’s.
It’s kinda similar to the crusts at Shorty’s on North Druid Hills, another good pizza place.
April 27th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Miso: I don’t really object to Foodieman.
I kind of like the sound of “bitter busboy.”
April 28th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Bitter Busboy – name of my band in highschool.
April 30th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
I know I’m late to the party, but I just tried Varasano’s for the first time tonight. It ended up being worth the wait because they were debuting a Thursday night dinner special called “Slice of Heaven”. I guess they wanted to recreate the original dinner parties and let the foodie proletariat try each slice individually.
For $12.99 we sat for about two hours and sampled one slice of every pizza. It was a little slow for the first hour, with the waitress apologizing for the service, but eventually the kitchen caught up and we downed about five slices in ten minutes.
If they continue to do this Thursday night special, I would highly recommend it as a chance to sample each slice. Now I know which pizza I like best for my return trips. I always like being the most informed diner at the table, so I knocked out four or five trips in one. I really liked the Caramelized Onion and the Desert Pizza. We didn’t get to try the high-test Margherita, so I’ll try to hit it up for lunch soon. If you’re going for the New Haven Clam, I thought the red sauce version was a little less intense and overall better than the white counterpart.
I would definitely go back again, especially to try the doughnuts.
May 11th, 2009 at 11:36 am
As a New York transplant I was so excited to hear that Verasano’s was coming in as it is impossible to find good pizza in Atlanta. I went the 2nd week they were opened and ordered the Nana. I found the crust to be soggy in the middle but otherwise ok (on par with a mediocre place in NYC but much better than anything in ATL). I went back again last week after reading this review and hearing that the soggyness in the crust had been worked out. I again ordered the Nana and the pizza was aweful. The bottom was soft and soggy in the middle with no crispyness whatsoever. I would say it tasted doughy but that would imply that the bottom of the crust had any flavor at all. The top of the crust was burnt (I like a good char but not completely burned) which overshadowed the favor of the rest of the pizza. I didn’t even finish my second slice and will not be returning. Another disappointment on the Atlanta pizza front.