Monday, March 30, 2009
Restaurants The pizza, its char is just right
Posted by Cliff Bostock @cliffbostock on Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 4:37 AM
Let's hear it for that rarest of psychiatric disorders, folie à plusieurs, "the madness of many," whereby large groups of people develop a shared delusion.
You remember how thousands drove to Conyers once a month to see the Virgin Mary screw with astronomical phenomena and channel messages to a woman living there. That was arguably a case of folie à plusieurs, even though nobody really deserved classification as loony-toons. (Of course, religion always exempts itself from characterization as crazy, even when its statues are bleeding grape jelly.)
I'm sorry, but I feel some of the same is going on with Varasano's, the new pizzeria in Buckhead, whose opening -- 10 years in the making, according to our server Sunday night -- has caused more buzz than any restaurant in memory. Last week's opening was even announced in the New York Times.
There's a very simple explanation for all of this: Owner Jeff Varasano (whose passion for pizza I certainly do not question) has been hosting foodies at his home, where he has long experimented with making the perfect pizza.
These parties -- rather like the private "restaurant" meals in the apartments of Mexican cooks a few years ago -- created a sense of exclusivity that led the invited, many of them bloggers and food writers, to pen anticipatory paens to a restaurant that had yet to open. A vocabulary even emerged with certain words, like "the char," being repeated constantly. The char ... it is just right ... The char ... Other pizzas in town, they do not have the ... char.
So, Sunday night, after hearing the amazing fado singer, Mariza, at the Herst Center -- her char was so hot -- I visited Varasano's with my friend Michael. We ordered the salumi platter, the caprese salad (above, right), the New Haven clam pizza, the Nucci pizza (top photo) and the Italian doughnuts.
I might as well say the unthinkable up front. I do not get the big deal. The pizza was good -- hey, I loved the char -- but the Nucci was floppy and bordered on soggy in the middle, despite its delicious topping of arugula, coppa and ementhaler. I preferred the firm, dry crust on the clam (no cheese), with just a slight transition to moist at the center. But I must issue a warning about this pizza. Its garlic was absolutely overwhelming, especially in combination with the rather heavy garlic on the Nucci. I'm talking raw, crunchy garlic that will announce your dinner to people for hours afterward. Do not order two pizzas that feature garlic!
What did I like on my first visit? I loved the thin crust, although it did not have the airiness I expected. It was also obvious that the kitchen is using top-rate ingredients. Olives, meats and cheese were all great. The arugula was particularly flavorful and I eat a lot of the stuff.
But then there's the caprese salad. I do not understand caprese salad with out-of-season, tasteless tomatoes. Why bother? And look closely at the photo. You will see the unthinkable: balsamic vinegar! Personally, I don't mind it with the salad but purists insist it is taboo. The bufala ... well, you be the judge.
I learned from another critic there -- one of Varasano's fans -- that the pizza was not up to par because the dough had only set 12 hours instead of the usual 24. That, of course, is because of the gigantic crowds.
I'm looking forward to returning to try more ... soon. This, obviously, is a very early look at the place. The pizza already is better than the average gourmet pie in town, but I'm holding it to the Olympian standard that its many fans have created. Oh, and I should note that the place is inexpensive. All of the pies are under $15.
Finally, here's a question. Notice that Varasano's logo (above, left) incorporates the "cubed root" sign. I am guessing this is an allusion to Jeff Varasano's being the Rubik's cube champion at 14. Am I right?
(Photos by Cliff Bostock)
Comments (89)
Showing 1-50 of 89
I'm making my first visit tonight, looking forward to it. At least the balsamic was served on the side. But I agree on the tomatoes.
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Cliff, I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I need some perspective. The pizza I consider to be the etalon of perfection is "Cheeseboard" in Berkeley at Shattuck/Vine across from Chez Panisse. I assume you've had it (if not, I'm sorry). If Cheeseboard were in Atlanta, would it get the same "buzz" and legendary status as Varasano? Thanks in advance.
I was there last saturday night and they "ran out of pizza dough" at 8:15PM, or, if you believe the manager "the dough wasn't rising right". Either way, the place wasn't that crowded (and I had family members tell me it was "nearly empty" the night before...friday) and they couldn't make any more pizza. My uncle, who was there on Friday, complained that his pizza was cold. Instead of heating it up, Varasano told him "It's better cold, that's how we make it". I'll probably go back sometime just to try it, but there's a whole lotta hype right now for something that I was very disappointed in.
Furthermore, they ran out of almost all of their beer varieties at 8:00 that night (I think they had only Sam Adam's left). Just thought I'd give the other side of the story.
Fun observation about the term "char." I disagree with the "overwhelming" garlic comment. I felt the garlic was just right on the New Haven clam - - chunky and plentiful.
I just want to let everyone know that all of these issues are being resolved. Like any new restaurant we are going through some growing pains. But, believe me, I'm on it!
Two major complaints: 1) We were told at 8:30 on Saturday that they were "out of dough". I totally understand opening week hiccups. However, if you have a web page with 20,000+ words that describes your pursuit of the perfect dough then I think that should be the one thing you have in abundance. 2)The phone number on the web site is either incorrect or no one answers it.
He should keep his pizza "skills" to his home since he can't effectively run a restaurant. This is what he said about Fritti on his website: "Pathetic tasteless cardboard" Let the pizza wars begin.
I think people need to remember -He's been open 5 days. -This is his FIRST restaurant gig I think people have gone a lot easier on almost any other restaurant opening in town (except maybe the high-end chains) The beauty of this place goes beyond the pizza. It is how it got there. Someone spending years at home trying to reverse engineer their favorite pie. This is insane stuff. I went Sat. night and had 2 great pies.
Please don't get the idea that I mean for my comments to be any kind of definitive judgment. I am pointing out some problems I encountered, including one that is probably completely subjective -- the heavy use of garlic. David Sweeney does the same thing with his Turkish pizza at Dynamic Dish and I usually ask him to cut the amount in half. (And an Italian friend who lives in Genoa has ribbed me about my over-sensitivity to garlic on Varasano's clam pizza.) Dirty: While I think Mr. Varasano's passion is admirable, it's also true that what you are describing in the buildup to this opening is some A-plus marketing. Honestly, this is an example of why its important for critics to maintain as much distance as is possible from the subject of their reviews, at least until their review has been filed. This is a significant, common difference in blogging and reviewing. It's just about impossible in this very small town to maintain anything like anonymity, but there is a big difference between recognition and socializing with a chef/owner whose work you're going to review. As Tom Maicon said in his review on Atlanta Cuisine, no restaurant has produced this kind of opening buzz in years. So expectations are going to run very high. And it's clear that Jeff Varasano, having cultivated that buzz, is holding himself to a very high standard himself.
Mr. Bostock, it seems that your just mad that you didnt get invited to his house.
this reminds me of that restaurant miso, it first opened, and people already jumping on the hate train. give this dude sometime to work things out. if the restaurnat hasnt been open for 6 month, give them some slack. lets see you run a restaurant! i enjoyed your pizza.
Mr. Bostock http://www.yelp.com/biz/miso-izakaya-atlanta i think you should head back there. just like varasano needs time. go back in couple months and i bet the other stuff on the menu will be as solid as his pizzas'
My wife and I went on Friday night, and contrary to other reports, the place was quite busy. We split an order of caprese (according to our server, we received the last order with heirloom tomatoes) and it was fantastic. The cheese was wonderfully fresh and the basil was large and fragrant. I loved the balsamic, and actually wish the platter had come with a little bit more, because our tomatoes sopped it up pretty quickly. My wife ordered the margherita pizza while I ordered the salumi pizza. While we both agreed that her's was good, the salumi was just fantastic! The pie was piled with meat and included a mixture of fresh olives, sauce and mozzarella cheese. We almost got the nucci instead, but I am very glad we didn't. The salumi was definitely worth it. After filling up on drinks, caprese and pizza, we passed on dessert. The doughnuts looked appetizing, so maybe we'll get them next time...and we are definitely planning on going back. The service was fantastic!
I just realized I totally overused the word "fantastic" in my previous post. So, the salumi was "wonderful" and the service was "excellent".
Foodieman: How do you know whether I was invited to his house? And how about reading what I actually wrote instead of jumping on the "hate train" yourself.
The hype is ridiculous. No one who has been to V's house, deepthroated his Za with salume and gotten wasted with Rowdy and other wannabes can give an objective opinion. I agree give him time but stop teabagging him. The Za has a looooong way to go to be considered great and Jeff needs constructive criticism not a blow job. He isn't paying attention to his kitchen or what comes out of tbe oven, but how can he with ten mouths on ten toes? My guess is 75% of the glowing reviews are from fans who have stumbled around his home and the other 25% are sheep who haven't been to NYC or Italia. Good luck Jeff but keep it in your pants for now. You have a ways to go. You will get there if you ignore the echo chamber! C'mon fraudies--ahem foodies--leave Jeff alone! Blais' teabag needs some steeping...
Go read Verasano's Website where he listed himself among the best pizza places in the world before he was even open, and disparaged other places including Fritti. Pretty damn arrogant if you ask me. I wont set foot in the place.
Cliff, I don't understand the criticism of the balsamic for the caprese. Isn't it served on the side - as in the photo? This would seem to meet the purist's needs and yet also the demands of the great unwashed.
Does his attitude on the website change how the food tastes? Unless you have developed the strange power to season your pizza with the words he uses on the internet, then I really don't see what his crazy ocd website has to do with how the pizza is. Is it good - period, no discussion, no hyperbole, no nonsense - or not? Thankfully the review is good and objective while the comments are not ;_; Hopefully other people can move away from his opinion and just eat his pizza.
Cliff, Thanks for always keeping an objective view and not believing the hype that some of these other jokers do. I for one don't feel like driving to B'head to massage this guys ego. From what I read on his website, this guy is stuck-up, arrogant, and conceited for someone who has only made pizza in his home. I make my own pizza at home and it’s the tits! Someone needs to give this guy a little char and bring him down to size. Cheers to Meh, Over-rated, and the B-Boy Bonanza (Sam the Butcher).
Bruce: As I said, I have no problem with balsamic with a caprese salad. That makes me part of the great unwashed and, yes, it's better that he put it on the side, so purists aren't offended by the taste, even if they are repulsed by the sight of the stuff in the caprese context. Alex: I have not tried Cheeseboard. Overnight me a slice next time you're there. :)
Cliff, First off, in the interest of full disclosure -- yes, I was at the house for a few of those pizza parties. But that was a year and a half ago! So I was happy when this restaurant finally opened. Now, I'm not ignoring the backstory --- although the haters deserve to be ignored--- but I gotta ask you this: What critic worth his weight in salt would seriously review a restaurant after FIVE days?? And without going back twice?? Yes, this is a blog, not the newspaper. And yes, you indicated the "early look"... but it sounds to me like you're really jumping the gun here, in posting anything substantial. Which you did. No, the pizzas are not exactly like I remember from the house parties.. but they are damn good. I went opening night and then on Monday night... and noticed substantial improvement regarding the main complaint (which I also shared with the powers that be): that the middle of some pies appeared a bit watery. Not an issue Monday! The Nana's pie was absolultey terrific. No sog in the middle. Perfect blend of sauce, cheese and spiecs. (If you think I'm only shilling -- just go back there and order it, maybe adding some sausage with fennel, and tell me what you think.) Look, not everyone who tries it is going to say "best pizza ever"... although a bunch who do try it will think that! But like others said previously: give the guy a break -- let him get his sea legs! Cooking hundreds of pies a night takes some refinement, and Jeff is totally up to the task. Oh, as for his own blog and the comments, I thought they were funny! Gawd, have a sense of humor, posters! I didn't agree with everything on it myself, but when Creative Loafing's own readers consistently rate Fellini's as "best pizza in Atlanta"... SOMEONE had to speak out! LOL! (ps.. been reading you for years, Cliff, in my mind your an ATL institution! Don't ever leave the city!)
Hi Growler, Just to be clear, it is in Cliff's job description to go to restaurants when they first open (yes, even in the first few days) and give a first look. The official review, where I give a star rating, is never done before a restaurant has been open at least a month. We believe there is a lot of value in having these early looks, partly because that's when people are most interested, but also to let readers know whether or not it is a place to rush to immediately or to give some time to mature. As a consumer, I appreciate an opinion I trust telling me whether I should give a place some time before I spend my cash there.
Besha, Appreciate the feedback. But I think there's a fine line between a "first look" and full-fledged review (don't you?)... and especially in this case. A Cliff review, to me, would contain the unique anecdotes ---like the Mexican house parties -- that make him such a great writer. I am just saying, maybe more clearly here, he has a LOT of "backstory" in the first look that's totally irrelevent to whether or not the place warrants a visit. It reads just like a "Grazing" article to me. No?
Cliff often does first looks in Grazing as well - in fact, I believe his next Grazing column will be a first look at Varasano's and Spoon, based on very early visits in the first days of business. We do make clear that that's what it is - we title the columns "first look". They are not meant to be official reviews, but rather Cliff's first impressions. The distinction between the blog and the column matter less to me than the hope that we make our intent clear.
This is not my "official" first look. I'm sorry, people. But here's the way it goes. We've been hearing about Varasano's for a year -- 10 years if you believe the waiter. The blogs and articles in other publications have been filled with finger-kissing and predictions of the Second Coming of Pizza. Our existing pizzerias were written off before the place even opened. (Brilliant marketing!) That's fine with me -- yay for culinary freedom of speech -- but if we're going to be subjected to a year of salivation over a restaurant that hasn't opened, why should I not record a few early impressions when it opens? Also, please note (I mean PLEASE) that my post was more critical of the hysteria than the actual food. I even identified my problem with the garlic as subjective in my follow-up post. I said all of the ingredients were first rate. I said that the pizzas are already better than most gourmet pies in town. I loved the thin crust. I said that this was not a definitive judgment, that I looked forward to returning. (That means it could be better...or worse.) I disliked the tasteless tomatoes in he caprese salad. Did you notice that the post above that took me to task over that salad did not mention the tomatoes? As for the wetness of one pizza, Riccardo Ullio can tell you that I (and at least one other critic) complained about that with Fritti too. It seems quite apparent that the reaction to my few comments about Varasano's is another expression of the hysteria I cited in the first place. Again: This in not my usual "first look." It was a few comments about my first visit in the hysteria-ridden context. I will write a full column in a week or two, presuming CL continues to exist after the bankruptcy decision today. (And why hasn't anyone explained to me whether the logotype's cubed root refers to the Rubik's cube?)
CB-- I don't know about no rubik's cube just looks like a really long schlong to me
You mean what I'm reading as a "3" is just a pubic hair?? I just read that Ben Eason is retaining ownership of CL. Congrats to Ben and his family.
Yeesh. Well we can agree to disagree. Years ago I sat on a jury --- hopefully my first and only time. It was a case of simple domestic battery -- "he said, she said." The ex-wife was beaten up, it seemed by the ex-husband. He denied it. One of them was lying. I was the last holdout (I was sure he did it). But the other jurors insisted there was no proof. Well, we re-looked at some inconclusive video evidence and let the guy off the hook. Only afterwards did the judge said he had a prior wife-beating conviction. But that was not admissible for that trial. Only the current case, and current facts, were. Get my point? So what if there's been buzz for 10 years? (I think Jeff would probably say that's not nearly the case, but who knows?)? Who "wrote off" the rest of Atlanta's pizzerias? I went to Fritti years ago and it was awful and I never returned, but after reading the new AJC review about the new chef, I'll happily go back! I also love Baraonda when I get a fix for a NY slice. Do you really believe all the blogs? Look at some of the idiotic posts in THIS thread! I think both of you are a bit defensive about this. I am not defending Jeff's food, per se (and you will note I made NO comments about your actual review of the food!), only pointing out that your perceived hype about the place has *nothing* to do with the meal you ate there last weekend. You obviously feel otherwise, which is your right. But I think the sky-high expectations are your own creation, not others... you don't have to read or believe a word of what anyone else said the last 1 to 10 years. I hope your future visits are enjoyable. As Furman says: selah.
I suspect that critics these days are damned if they do and damned if they don't. With all the food blogs and review sites out there, by the time a "proper" review is published for a hot new restaurant, it's old news to most of us here. I'm content with the early peeks such as this and take the opinions with the grain of salt with which they should be read.
Lot of hate going around here, I was just stoked to have another pizza place in town where someone in the kitchen gave a shit about the pizza. It looks like Fritti cares again, and Jeff does, so I just plan on enjoying it all!
Hey Jimmy Jazz, were you at the free pizza giveaway at Varasano's last night? You know, the invitation only private event for special foodies around town?
Actually, no, Growler, I don't get your point, but I'm happy to leave it at agreeing to disagree. This is reviewing of an experience -- typically yin and yang. It is not the determination of guilt or innocence. Saying hype has nothing to do with reviewing is advocating a new standard. Imagine writing about a Richard Blais opening without paying attention to the hype that's both plagued and elevated him. In any case, I'll repeat for the umpteenth time: My blog post was very clear that it was not a review and, to the extent that I did talk about the food, it was mainly positive. What I'm getting from this is that no matter how much I explain the above, people will see what they want to. '
Best pizza in the USA. Even better than what I had in Naples or Sicily. No ginzo can make a better or authentic pizza in Italy. I'm so glad I convinced JV to open a pizzeria in this one horse town, especially going with the electric ovens. Run don't walk.
Hi Cliff, Regarding the cube route symbol: It does refer to Jeff's Rubik's Cube history but also to the fact that Jeff is an engineer at heart. After conquering the Cube and publishing a how-to book at the age of 14, Jeff finished high school and college and went on to become a software developer. The whole pizza thing started as a hobby, when he moved to Atlanta 11 years ago. But like everything else he's done, he approached pizza making from the standpoint of an engineer. He's more like a scientist in a laboratory than a chef in a kitchen. Because of that, we always wanted to include a scientific or mathematical symbol in his logo. The cube route symbol just worked, because it tied all these elements together. Regarding the hype: The pizza parties started about 10 years ago and were only for friends and family. Guests were often subjected to sub-par pies, as Jeff was experimenting with his recipe. He would actually tell his guests that he "needed victims" to try the pizza. About two years ago, the blogosphere found his website and went crazy. We started getting tons of email from strangers, many of them angling for an invitation to a tasting. We obliged to the best of our ability, and BOOM the local blogs exploded with Varasano's posts. BTW, these parties were not just for "special foodies". They were for anyone interested in the pizza. Friends of friends and their families were invited. There were very few exclusive events, and they were for people's birthdays. To be honest, we were forced by the press to open early. We weren't ready, and we knew it, but posts were going up saying we were opening and people started showing up at the door. We do have some kinks to work out, and we're on it. We look forward to hosting you again and hearing your impressions. Best regards, Heather Stokley Director of Marketing Varasano's Pizzeria
Thanks very much for writing, Heather, and, as I said, I'm not planning to write a "first look" for another week or two.
"To be honest, we were forced by the press to open early." LOL That's just funny. Perhaps as JV's Executive director of publicity you should explain to him that he is not GOD.
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