NY Pizza Heads South at Mama’s

Meatball Appetizer. Molto Bene.

Thanks to my friend Sweetie from Clayton, we found a new pizza place. This one is not of the highbrow, wood fired oven variety, but rather a good old fashioned NY style joint. Sweetie joined me for lunch last week while she was in town, and told me that she always goes to Mama’s Pizza, 5950 Northpoint Pkwy Alpharetta, (770) 751-6001 http://mamaspizzaalpharetta.com/ when she’s in the area to grab a pie to go for her husband, Barbie’s Beau. Barbie’s Beau is actually from NY and knows a good pizza when he eats one. Mama’s looks like a typical store front suburban pizzeria, but the pizza is better than most. DL, The Oracle and I went on Wednesday.

Isn’t That Special!

I’ll say right off, they have a great lunch special – two big, fresh slices with one topping each and a drink for $5.75. That’s a great deal, and they feature full table service too. I can safely say one thing about the server who waited on us Wednesday. It was not her first day on the job. The entire staff operated like they’ve been working together for years. They have a smooth, efficient, seamless flow that resembles a well choreographed ballet. Our waitress knew every nuance of the menu, interacted effortlessly with her environment, and watching her filled me with confidence. When our order came out, it was perfectly accurate. BTW, each item was served as soon as it came out of the oven so that it would be at its peak of flavor, and for me, temperature.

The Papou Resides at the Top of Salad Hell

The Oracle, still confined to self-imposed salad hell, tried the Medium Papou’s Salad, composed of Iceberg lettuce, tomato, cucumber, ham, mozzarella cheese, feta cheese, pepperoncini, black olives and “homemade” Greek dressing. I know that Papou in Greek means grandfather, and Medium in Greek must mean freakin’ huge, cause that was a sizable salad. Oracle said that it was good; it certainly appeared to have plentiful toppings, but as we all know, it’s hard to get excited about a salad. The most exciting part was the price, $6.95. They also have a Large for $11.95. Large in Geek must mean gargantuan.

Chicken Parm Sandwich. Disappointing.

DL, for whatever reason, decided to have a sandwich. The chicken parmigiana special with chips and a drink is $8.15. That’s a great deal. Unfortunately, it was not a great sandwich. You would think that at a pizza joint, a chicken parm sandwich would be a sound selection. You would think. But it doesn’t always work out that way. The bread, cheese and sauce were fine; it was the chicken that ruined the sandwich. It was pounded very thin. You know that the result will be hard and dry, because it’s damn near impossible to get a pounded filet to be tender and juicy. Further, when it’s all breading like that, it’s almost impossible to actually taste the chicken. The end result is a fried sandwich of no distinction. Sausage or meatball parm would probably have been a much better choice. Oh well, we will be back, and perhaps DL will try the pizza next time.

There Are Two Pizza Toppings. I Like Them Both!

Your host, DHR, is fortunate to have an ordering philosophy that ensures a good choice. If the place says pizza in the name, pizza is what I have on the first visit. If they hang their hat on it, I’ll give it a try. I had the two slice special, but I had to add an extra topping to each because I always need extra cheese. Especially if its slices, as slice pizza just never seems to have an acceptable amount. I can see why Sweetie and Barbie’s Beau like the pizza here. The crust was light, thin, not too cooked (also rare for slices), and had a very nice chewiness that I associate with a high gluten flour. While the sheeple misguidedly run from gluten, I say great, more for me. I’m a contrarian by nature, and when you zig, I zag. The pie was lightly sauced, chewy, well cheesed (after doubling up) and had very high quality toppings. Of all the world’s toppings, there are only two that are acceptable on a NY style pizza, and I like both of them. Just not together. I had one slice with sausage and one with pepperoni. The pepperoni was spicy and cooked just so. The slice had a rich coating of amber oil that exuded from the heated pepperoni, and the sausage (see photo) was sliced from fresh links, delicious. No sausage pellets here. Real sausage doesn’t even come in pellets. In the battle of the Mama and the Papa (John’s), Mama’s sausage kicks Papa John’s ass. Mama kicks Papa’s ass in the pizza department too. I will never understand how Papa John, Dominos & Pizza Hut stay in business. Do you people not know that any local joint is better? Overall, Mama’s pizza was fresh, very tasty, plentiful, and quite authentic. Good slice!

Check Out That Sausage! Sweet! Check That Oil Sir?

So how does Mama’s Pizza total to the bottom line of the AFatBanker balance sheet? Let’s take a look:
ASSETS: Great service, excellent pizza slices, great value.
LIABILITIES: Chicken parm sandwich was sub-par. OK, it was bad.
NET WORTH: There are probably thousands of independent pizza joints around the country that are quite good. There are over 25,000 units of the big three alone! All of their stores combined don’t rate even a

Take That Big 3!

single money bag, but rather only the Polished Turd Award. Mama’s gets four money bags. Good NY pizza is alive in Alpharetta, and we’ll see you again soon!            -afb