by: Meg Goggans
My stomach seems to be gnawing at my insides, yelling at me for not feeding it nearly all day. It’s 7 o’clock on a Wednesday night and I’ve made the drive to Atlanta to see a few old friends at the last minute. As we discuss places to eat dinner, one of our crowd’s favorite activities, a friend mentions Antico pizzeria. Everyone seems to jump out of their seats, immediately ready to get in the car and make the quick trip to Midtown Atlanta. I groan.
I don’t dislike pizza. I like it, I have some Italian in me after all. It’s just that pizza can be so underdone, making it easy to order a large hot and ready for $5 and scarf the whole thing down without letting your taste buds have a chance to think. Antico, however, is not that kind of pizza place.
Though the outside of the pizzeria is small and modest, the atmosphere and the pizza at Antico are far from either of those things. Walking in at 7 p.m. on a Wednesday evening, there is already a crowd lining up at the door. As we wait in line to the walk up counter to place our order, there is a glass enclosed seated area with rustic wood community seating to our right. Some people are even standing as they hold large, drooping triangles dripping with cheese.
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| The Pomodorini Pizza: refreshing with cherry tomatoes, fresh basil and buffala mozzarella |
There is a large refrigerator on the left, filled with an assortment of desserts (including homemade canolis) and beverage choices from canned Coke products to bottles of Perrier, small boxes of wine, and beer. My friends have been to Antico before and know to bring their own bottle of wine or beer from home for the table, a casual option I’m always a fan of.
The owner of Antico, Giovanni Di Palma, was inspired to open his own place after visiting his grandparents’ village outside Naples, Italy five years ago. “Antico” means “ancient” in Italian, alluding to the traditional preparation of the pizza and the natural ingredients used, which Giovanni has shipped from Napoli and Campania.
The menu is displayed on large panels behind the cash register, describing the 10 different pizzas and 3 calzones. Prices range from $18-$21 per pizza. After we mull over the menu, we decide on 2 pizzas for the 4 of us: the Pomodorini with fresh cherry tomatoes, bufala mozzarella, garlic, and basil, and the San Gennaro with salsiccia sausage, sweet red peppers, bufala mozzarella, and cipolline onions.
Mouths already watering, we take our order number and walk around to the seat yourself dining area in the back of the restaurant. Walking through the doorway from the register is like a passport to Italy. You can see everything: three brick ovens that have been imported directly from Italy roaring with open flames in the back as the cooks openly twirl fresh pizza dough in the back.
There’s not a seat in the house and I feel uneasy, but after 5 minutes of patient standing a space clears up in the middle of one of the long, farm tables. We sit, uncork our bottle of cheap Merlot, and wait. The room is full of chatter and the atmosphere is warm and unpretentious. The smell of olive oil and basil is pungent. Extra pizza toppings line a table that separates the dining area from the kitchen. Everything from salt, fresh ground pepper, silver tin cans with infused olive oil, dried and marinated assorted peppers, and fresh basil you can pluck from the stem.
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| All the Italian fixings: garlic, basil, olive oil, and fresh cherry tomatoes. |
After fifteen minutes of conversation (mostly about how casual and great the ambiance is) our pizzas arrive atop a tin pizza pan lined with brown butcher paper. Eyes wide, the chatter ceases and everyone reaches for a slice.
I analyze the two pizzas, both enticing with their bubbling bufala cheese and shiny cherry tomatoes and red peppers. I go for the San Gennaro first. I recognize the flavor of the peppers, sweet, almost caramelized. They remind me exactly of the homemade marinated peppers my grandfather used to send home with my mom in mason jars, but these are fresh and crisp. The Pomodorini is next. The cherry tomatoes pop in my mouth with warm salty, sweet juices and the bright green basil is a refreshing counter to the spicy sausage of the San Gennaro.
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| The San Gennaro Pizza with salsiccia sausage, sweet red peppers, bufala mozzarella, and cipolline onions. |
It’s not long before only crumbs are left. Two pizzas and a bottle of wine later, I’m stuffed and happy. Happy to be in good company, happy to have good (albeit cheap) wine, and happy to have found such a unique place to enjoy amazing food.
Since my visit, I’ve recommended Antico to nearly everyone I know who is visiting Atlanta, longing for them to enjoy the same experience I had and also to give business to a locally owned place that deserves more credit than a cheap, unsatisfying hot and ready. Get there early though since the crowds can be a bit overwhelming, but well worth it. Antico is a place that feels like home, only the home you dream about having in Naples, Italy: warm, inviting, and unassuming.
Antico is located at 1093 Hemphill Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia
Tel: 404-724-2333
Monday-Saturday: Noon until "Out of Dough!"
Closed Sundays
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