Monday, August 17, 2009

Highlight #212: Worthy contender, but enough to take the top prize? - Restaurant: Vingenzo's

Many food sources/bloggers have reported on the ITP Fritti vs. Varasano pizza war. It appears that there is also pizza ambition aplenty OTP. One in Woodstock got some particular love on the Atlantacuisine forum. Its proximity to hubby's Georgia distribution warehouse gave us an opportunity to visit for dinner.

The fairly sizable restaurant is housed next to the train tracks in a building styled like a small station. A large wood burning oven equipped kitchen occupies the whole back section of the open dining room. We got the side wall banquette seating with a great view of the whole room.

Heirloom tomatoes are in season. Super juicy and flavorful on its own, it is served simply drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and peppered. The housemade mozzarella was soft and creamy. Simple but delightful.

Our arugula salad came with quite the charming surprise, a couple of green Italian olives. Very lightly cured, they are less salty than most olives found in the US and reminded us of the similarly awesome ones in Barcelona. Apparently there is no distributor in the US for these, but they can be bought by the pint or gallon at Vingenzo's. Very cool.

The sopressata pizza above is smaller, but denser than the Fritti pie. There is no moisture issue with this pie. No excessive sogginess ever set in during the meal. The char on the bottom is also quite good looking. For those who find the Fritti sauce a little too sweet, this one is sans sweetness. All in all, it's a great pie. My one issue with it stems from the strong chew. Don't get me wrong, I like a bite to my dough. But I don't like it as much when it ends with an assertive pull if that makes any sense. The outer crust of the Fritti pie, for me, has the perfect amount of chew. The center, however, sometimes has condensation issues.

After pizza, we sampled the housemade gelato in pistachio, my all time favorite flavor. Naturally colored, the gelato has a good pistachio nuttiness and medium creamy texture, all the signs of a well-made dessert of its genre.

Vingenzo's
105 East Main Street
Woodstock, GA 30188

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