Hot Dish Review

A re-post in honor of AD’s return to Atlanta after her worldly travels! I suspect you’ll see similar eye candy in the coming week….

Me and AD went to Fritti last Friday, on one of Atlanta’s last balmy summer nights. I had not visited in quite some time, not since Ricardo hired the new chef, but I’ve long considered his authentic Neopolitan pies some of the best in town.

AD is well versed in wine, having worked for a distributor for over a year. However, neither of us have developed a distinct palette for Italian wines, so we tried a couple and settled on a bottle of Primitivo Salento, Rosa del Golfo. At a mere $36 it was a tasty bargain.

We tracked down Ricardo at Sotto Sotto. It was nice seeing him in a chef’s coat again….back in his element. By the time we were seated outside we were two hungry chicks! I’ve seen Rachael Ray make arancini and wanted to give them a try as an appetizer. Deep fried risotto and sausage croquettes, arancini are served with warm marinara and took the edge off our hunger.

Usually, I order the pancetta, caramelized onion, and hot pepper pie, but wanted to try something different. We opted for two pizzas, the speck e rucola with smoked prosciutto, smoked mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and arugula and the funghi di bosco with crimini and portobello mushrooms and white truffle oil. I had to add some caramelized onions to the funghi making it absolutely amazing! The sweet onions, truffle oil and mushrooms were a great combination. The other pie was smoky and delicious with fresh arugula on top. I added some hot pepper flakes and our fabulous waitress, who used to work at Beleza, grated some fresh parmesean on top.

I like my pizza crust crispy. Crusty. Charred. After a glass of wine I forgot to order them extra done, so there was some unfortunate sogginess in the center of both. But the flavors were as luscious as ever.

AD thought we would have leftovers but that didn’t happen. Our server asked about dessert and when I expressed my uncertainty on which to choose she said the magic words….chocolate soup. Sotto Sotto serves this most amazing dessert which I have not had the pleasure of slurping in at least three years so the moment the words escaped her lips I was already saying “bring it on!”

We ordered a port and a tawny, both very good, to have with the chocolate soup. Ricardo brought over a taste of tawny from Sotto Sotto and we chatted about a new Spanish tapas joint in Decatur.

Before we know it, a chill will be in the air, the leaves will fall, there will be a shadow where there once was sun. And it’ll be too cold for AD to wear that white dress….see, winter sucks!

309 N. Highland Avenue 404-880-9559