Atlanta etc.: Marilyn Wolf's Food Blog and Restaurant Blog

On the way into Atlanta, our flight attendant had told me that ATL had food options---much better than the West coast, she said. It's certainly true that some restaurants were open but the large majority were not. I arrived at Terminal D for my departure and found two options in the food court: the bar and Famous Famiglia. As I walked to my gate I saw that Five Guys was also open. A good slice of pizza is always welcome in my book. This was quite good: fresh, tangy sauce, nice cheese. The fresh part was a welcome surprise given the tiny number of patrons. I watched the evening as I ate. ATL was quiet, downright sleepy, more like a small rural airport visited by 172s and Arrows. I appreciate the Famous Famiglia staff for their hazard duty and their memorable pizza.

Family Pizza is a mainstay of Johnson County, Illinois. I remember when it opened, which must have been twenty years ago. Whenever I have been in the mood for pizza they have always satisfied. This pepperoni and mushroom pizza was a real treat. Pizza with onion rings you ask! No rules, I say! The onion rings were delicious with a fried chicken-style coating. I also enjoyed a small salad with Italian dressing. Thank you, Family Pizza!

I had heard good things about The Isles' pizza from several folks. So I called in an order and stopped by their Havelock location to pick it up. I used their plates and utensils to eat in the car, using my armrest as a table. The pizza is very tasty and satisfying. It qualifies as a medium-crust pizza---not very thin as in New York-style, nor a thick Chicago style. The crust gives a good comforting pillowy softness while delivering on crunchiness on the bottom. The sauce gave a good balance of sweet and tart. The toppings included sausage and mushrooms, giving good meaty flavor. Great pizza, folks! I have put The Isles on my list of go-to spots in Lincoln.

I needed a quick, easy lunch during a trip to visit Mom. A local Northern Lights Pizza fit the bill. This is a carry-out chain, which fit my needs perfectly. Service was very gracious and speedy. The crust is of the medium-thickness variety, similar to Atlanta's Mellow Mushroom. The sauce hit the tangy and sweet notes. The cheese gave both flavor and body. My pizza did its job and I am grateful they were there.

Yia Yia's is a pizza-and-beer spot in downtown Lincoln. The student-oriented vibe builds upon the nicely restored location supplemented by video games. Their pizza uses the cracker-style crust, similar to St. Louis pizza. The toppings were fresh and tasty, the sauce nicely tangy.

I made a Sicilian pizza for a department party. Sicilian is a treat in the Northeast and little known elsewhere. It has a thicker crust but isn't a deep dish pizza. I made a recipe of pizza dough and let it rise overnight in the refrigerator. The next day, I warmed it up and coated the pan with olive oil, the secret to the crunchy crust. I stretched the dough into the pan, a process that takes several rounds of stretching. I wasn't paying attention and made the first round with sauce on the bottom, not the traditional sauce on the top. After baking for a few minutes in the oven, I added a second layer of cheese and sauce on top to protect everything from the heat. Here it is, plentiful and tasty. It didn't last very long.

An errand trip to Ragazzi's provided an opportunity for discussion and a need for lunch. Although Ragazzi's offers a lunch buffet, Justin and I decided to order our own pizza. Oh yes, and some garlic knots. Square cut, nice toppings, satisfying.

I was hungry at the end of the day and needed a simple meal. Rosetta fit the bill. Their pizza reminded me of Sicilian, although a little thinner. It shares the crusty bottom and rectangular shape of the Sicilian style. They threw me a curve by presenting it to me folded, which made eating my slice much easier. It tasted good and kept me going, a satisfying meal.

Eric invited me to a lunch meeting at Ray's, giving me the chance to reacquaint myself with their buffet. Here is the pizza part of the buffet. I usually start with a salad where I can eat my fill of rabbit food. The chickpeas give me a good dose of protein. I topped off my meal with a pizza treat. The buffet is both relatively healthy and satisfying, a good combination.

My most recent pizza making experience led me to an interesting technique. I made a batch of pizza dough, yielding enough for two pizzas. I originally planned to save half for a later day so I put one in the refrigerator and left out the other for a few hours to rise. My stretching technique resulted in this misshapen blob, typical of my previous efforts. I cooked and ate the pizza, then decided to try one more time. The dough was cold after its time in the refrigerator. Cold dough doesn't sag and is much easier to stretch into a regular shape. I had read about this technique before but its importance hadn't sunk in. I probably could have made this dough both larger and rounder but I was so happy with my success that I decided to declare victory. The result was this very pleasing pizza. The pizza guys in New Jersey don't need to refrigerate their dough but they have both talent and skill. Since I have neither, I plan to refrigerate my pizza doughs from no...

In need of a fast, slightly indulgent lunch, we headed for the student center outpost of Valentino's Pizza. The pizza was enjoyable. It sported a thicker crust than is traditional for New York pizza. The sauce and cheese both hit the craving buttons. The salad was quite large and my vinaigrette dressing was enjoyably light.

I haven't been to a California Pizza Kitchen in awhile. In this case, the La Jolla location was convenient and appealing so I visited for a quick lunch. My salad was very satisfying---this is the small size. The dressing was fairly light and the whole thing seemed to be reasonably healthy. This is my Margherita pizza. Their crust is soft and without the chewy exterior typical of New York style pizza. The sauce also veers away from the New York slow cooked style of sauce. The tomato sauce emphasizes very fresh tomatoes with both bright acid and sweet notes.

I was on a break from my meeting at Tech Square and needed a little pick-me-up. I walked over to Peachtree and found Vinny's which gave me just the lift I needed. This slice is, in fact, real New York-style pizza. The crust combines crispy outside and chewy center. The cheese gives that low-moisture mozzarella flavor that is distinctive of NY slices. The sauce was good. The slice brought back fond memories of days and evenings in New York.

My trip gave me a chance to revisit Pizzeria Bianco, widely regarded as serving the best pizza in the world. I found both their food and service to be outstanding on this trip just as on my earlier visit. The meal started with this bread from their wood-fired oven. I ordered a salad and a Margherita. The crust was just chewy enough on the outside, tender and pillowy onm the outside and the edge. The sauce was perfectly seasoned and herbed. The cheese was outstanding. So I ordered another.

I decided to try my hand at a deep dish pizza based on this recipe from the Malnati family, the princes of Chicago-style pizza. Be careful---this recipe assumes a giant deep dish pan that I didn't have. I made a half recipe and baked it in a pie pan. I dried out my mushroom slices in the oven so they could absorb more flavor and contribute less water. After letting the dough rise in the pan (possibly a mistake), I lined the bottom of the dough with low-moisture mozzarella slices. They formed a moisture barrier to protect the crust. Next, a layer of pepperoni. Then the mushrooms, more cheese, and sauce. Here is the result after a long bake. It was delicious, though not nearly so much as an authentic Lou Malnati fresh out of the oven.

Dave introduced me to a new place in downtown Los Altos Hills. Cetrella is a California Italian restaurant in an elegant setting. The menu combines Italian pastas and meat dishes with modern pizzas. I followed Dave's lead on ordering. First, a light and flavorful salad. Then onto the salmon pizza. The thinly-sliced salmon worked perfectly. The distinctive taste of salmon wasn't an obvious pizza topping for me but this worked very nicely. The salmon was thin but still retained its moisture and texture.

My last post on Ray's in Tech Square was almost a decade ago. A group event there gives me the chance to report that Ray's is still going strong. Everyone enjoyed our pizzas, which ranged from loaded to veggie. I really enjoyed the salad with Italian dressing---its zing was the ideal way to start the meal. Our servers and the manager were very friendly and helpful.

Jarmo, Shuvra, and I convened at Malatesta for a very enjoyable lunch before our presentations. We started with some of that superb Italian bread. Jarmo and I both ordered pizzas with a bit of anchovy. Everything about it was wonderful: crispy/chewy crust, rich sauce, excellent cheese, a nice kiss of anchovy. Shuvra did very well for himself with these large and excellent sausages. The Florentines really know how to do meat.