Skip to main content

Varasano's

Varasano's has been open for about two months.  Their menu is purely pizza---even if you want something as Italian as chicken parmesan, you're out of luck.  This dedication is entirely appropriate for a shrine to pizza.

The pizza is more like those I've had in Italy.  The crust is thinner than even a New York pizza.  There is also somewhat less cheese on it.  Remember, in Italy pizza is regarded as a snack while in America it is a meal.  The crust is outstanding---I'm tempted to say that my favorite part of the pizza was eating the edge.  The edge has a slight burn, which is exactly what a handmade pizza is supposed to have.  The cheese and sauce are both very delicate.  The pizza was a medium size, but because the ingredients were so light, I ate the whole thing without feeling stuffed.

I also had a Caprese salad (tomato, mozzarella, basil).  Its presentation was interesting, with small pools of olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette on the side.  That did make it a little difficult to get the dressing on the salad, but I guess I could get used to it.

I had the Italian donuts for dessert.  They didn't call it zeppole, which is a staple of the pizzeria.  It's just fried dough sprinkled with sugar, if one can refer to fried dough as simply "just".  A typical zeppole is a fairly nondescript blob, but these were healthy-sized bars.  They came with a raspberry dipping sauce.  Mine were served hot out of the fryer.  They were very light and a great end to the meal.
Varasano's Pizzeria on Urbanspoon

Comments

  1. For myself I really love pizza. But it's not all that we want as Italian. In fact I really love Italian food, if they could make it totally italian it would be better, I would go thereif I'm passing by. Thank you.

    CEO of Shop Carefully
    http://www.shopcarefully.com

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Eating Around Georgia Tech: Ecco

Our Texas Instruments colleague Cathy Wicks was gracious enough to host several of us at Ecco tonight. This is one of those restaurants that has been on my list for a long time. Even though it is within easy walking distance of Georgia Tech, I hadn't made it there until tonight. The menu is a combination of Italian, Spanish, and French that make use of some local Georgia ingredients. The combination of those three countries is sometimes a little forced, although the georgia ingredients (fruit, cheese) were all great and perfectly appropriate. We started out with a meat and cheese board. This actually reverses the French tradition, where cheese usually follows the main course. Everything was excellent. The Georgia cheese was a big hit, as was the French cow/goat cheese. I thought the sauscisson was very subtle and very good. The waitress said that the roast pork pasta was their signature dish, so I had to try it. It had traditional broad pasta (fresh, of course)

Pressure Cooker Candied Ginger

I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b

DCA: Cava Mezze Grill

Cava is a DC area chain with light Mediterranean food. Saibal encouraged me to try lunch at their airport location and I was very happy with the experience. I ordered falafel on SuperSalad with assorted other toppings. The falafel was tasty. The SuperSalad was light, flavorful, and very easy to eat. Overall, a healthy and enjoyable lunch, something you can't always say about airport eating.