Last night, my husband and I were in the mood for pizza.  If we could winkle our nose like Samantha in Bewitched and transport ourselves within seconds to Westchester or Suffolk County, New York (places where the two of us grew up), we would have.  Pizza is a very personal thing -- there are many taste buds in the world that have their own opinion.  For us and our taste buds, we believe New York is really the only place to get a real slice of pie.  Our only mode of transportation at this time is our Ford Fusion, so we decide to consult Creative Loafing once again to continue our search for a good piece of pizza.  Happily we find that three places have been featured in this past week's edition.  We already tried the one located in Smyrna.  It was good, but something was missing -- the sauce just wasn't right and the crust was too thick.  So we decided upon a pizzeria in Duluth called Verra-Zanno Pizzeria.  Cute, clever name.  The owner must be someone from New York because not many people outside of New York City know of the Verrazano Bridge, which I'm assuming the pizzeria is named after.

Duluth is about 35 minutes from Midtown.  Not many people would want to travel that far for pizza, but we're on the hunt and we like to drive.  It gets us out of the city once in awhile.  It's good to see the burbs and remind ourselves there is life outside of the perimeter (for visitors, I mean outside of I-285).  Last night's trip was worth it.  I was hoping to see a little hole in the wall type place with neon lights flashing Budweiser, three booths, a few tables, and a long counter with Tony, Michael, and Lisa working behind it because that's what I remember driving up to when I was 13 years old.  That's not what we drove up to.  We parked in front of a nice establishment with patio seating in a, what looked like new, shopping center.  Once we walked in we were pleasantly surprised with the ambiance -- very clean establishment, a beautiful marble, very long counter to sit at, and an adequate number of tables. Tony wasn't behind the counter, but Joe was - the owner of the pizzeria and a New York transplant just like us.  He grew up in the Bronx, and I believe in Staten Island too, and worked in a pizzeria as a teenager.  I guess you could say he was apprenticing for his future business.  Not sure what brought him to Georgia, but I'm happy he came.  After chatting with Joe for a bit, we ordered a large pizza with fresh mushrooms and Italian sausage.  While waiting for our pie, we each had a garden salad with the house dressing.  A very nice basic salad with the typical house dressing you get in a pizzeria.  It was very good.  And then came the moment of truth -- the pizza.  My husband and I both agreed that by far this is the best pizza in the Atlanta area.  The sauce was spot on, the toppings and cheese were delicious, and the crust was very close.  I can't say it transported me back to Michael Angelo's in East Moriches, NY, but it came very close.  And to top it off, Joe sent us home with two complimentary and delicious cannolies!  There were two when we left the pizzeria, but only one when we got home.  We'll definitely go back to Verra-Zanno Pizzeria. I wonder if they deliver to Midtown?  ....probably not.  Doesn't matter, it's worth the trip to go back!