Hidden Gem in Austell: Giovanni's

Austell is the land of the chain restaurants and other mediocre restaurants. They're in the middle of nowhere, and they don't have much quality competition. So usually, the restaurants don't try hard to bring quality products. But can you believe there exists a great Italian restaurant deep inside Austell? 

I do admit that the last time I went, the quality seemed to have gone down. But I can't blame him. The owner, Mr. Giovanni, is on his last legs. Nobody goes to his restaurant. Yes, it's one of the best places to go to in Austell, but he has several problems:

• Giovanni's is hidden in a small shopping center. It's very easy to miss if you don't pay attention. So unless you are consciously looking for it, you'll probably drive by it without noticing it. 
• The entire area is dead. You see closed restaurants and shops everywhere. It looks like Giovanni's is going to have the same fate.
• Because of lack of business, it looks like he's more focused on moving his restaurant than making quality food. 

Giovanni told me he might move to Kennesaw. That's even farther than Austell. But hopefully, he'll find better business there. I do hope he does well, because it's depressing to be the only one eating at his restaurant. 

The Food

Most of his entrees come with house salad and garlic bread. His house salad comes with balsamic vinaigrette. It's your standard house salad, nothing special. 

Another standard house salad.

His garlic bread is the bomb though. It's sweet and garlic-y due to the butter and garlic. It's like crack to me. I can eat this stuff all day. This is probably one of my favorite complimentary breads they give out in restaurants.

Great garlic bread.

I think the main star are his pasta dishes. They're all delicious. Some of my favorite pasta dishes were eaten in Giovanni's.

The pasta is cooked well and his sauces are delicious. Mrs. Kitty sometimes complain that it can be a bit oily. But I think that's what it makes it taste so good. For example, his alfredo sauce (not pictured here) is very creamy and heavy. But it's one of the best tasting alfredo sauce I've had.

Penne with pink vodka sauce

Good old spaghetti with pomodoro sauce.

Mr. Giovanni does everything here. He is the owner, the cook, the server, and the host.  He is friendly, polite, funny, and seems to know a lot about traditional Italian food. When you enter his restaurant, it seems like you're going into his home for a nice, home cooked, Italian meal.

Mr. Kitty gives this place 4 paws up. It used to be a 5 paws, but like I said, the quality has gone down.  I hope the quality doesn't go down further. Perhaps the move to Kennesaw will invigorate him again. If you guys are willing to drive all the way to Austell, you should check this place out before it gets worse or close down completely.

Giovanni's Restaurant
2495 East West Connector
Austell, GA 30106
www.giovannisgenuineitalian.com

Double Zero Napoletana, A Solid Addition for Pizza

Wow, Double Zero Napoletana is a huge place. When you walk in, you feel like you're walking into a stadium. 

Just half of the restaurant.

Even the men's bathroom is like a stadium's. In case a mass rush of men need to go to the bathroom, fear not, there are plenty of urinals to use.

Just half of the men's bathroom.

It's funny though. Even though they have this gigantic space, they still arranged the tables close together. For such a huge space, I didn't like listening to the couple behind us argue about stupid stuff.

Enough of their Size, Let's Talk About Their Food

I mainly went to Double Zero to try their pizza. I love pizza, especially the Neapolitan style. So I couldn't wait to try Double Zero's.

They have 2 wood burning ovens that burns at near 1000 degrees. They also seem to use a lot of high quality, fresh ingredients for their pizza.

One of their ovens

I ordered their Margherita Pizza, which is my standard on how good a Neapolitan Pizza can be. I think they make a solid pizza. The crust was near perfect. The sauce was a bit too tangy for me, but I think that's fine. The cheese was fine. But they only had a few basil pieces sprinkled.

I don't like it when pizza places don't sprinkle the basil evenly on the pizza. I love tasting the combination of the perfectly cooked crust, basil, mozzarella di bufala, and sauce at once. If the basil isn't spread evenly, I can't enjoy that with every slice. Oh well. I think if Double Zero spread the basil around evenly, their Margherita could be even be better.

Also, I love how they give scissors to cut the pizza. I hate cutting pizzas with a knife. It is hard to do. Scissors make it easier.

Pretty good pizza, but why only a few basil pieces on one side of the pizza?

Besides their pizza, they had an extensive menu of tapas style dishes. I tried two of their appetizers: Arancini and the Cotica di Maiale.

I let Mrs. Kitty order the Arancini, and I didn't know what it was. She should've known that I don't like lemony foods—unless it's lemonade. Arancini is a croquette stuffed with lemon saffron risotto, peas, red pepper, and Scamorza cheese. It also had some lemon sauce drizzled on it.

Mrs. Kitty loved the dish, but I didn't. Again, it's because of the strong lemony taste. If I actually read the menu and saw it had lemon, I wouldn't have ordered this dish. So I'm not the best judge for this. But if you don't like lemony flavors, don't order this.

Arancini—too lemony for me.

The Cotica Di Maiale had so much potential. If you look at the picture below, it looks awesome. Heck, when it came out, it smelled great, and it gave off a delicious sizzle. My mouth started drooling when I saw the entire plate.

Unfortunately, it was only so-so. Each individual piece tasted decent, but the ingredients didn't seem to mesh together. In fact, I didn't know how to eat it. Did I have to eat all the layers at once? Do I turn it over and mix the ingredients together? How do I eat this thing? I asked the waiter, and he didn't know either. But he asked the chef, and the chef said you should eat it one layer at a time. That didn't really make sense, but okay.

One problem with eating it a layer at a time is that the bottom most layer is the bread. The bread soaks up all the grease, broth, and other liquidy stuff from the layers above. So it becomes inedible. The bread turns soggy and inedible. won't order this dish again.

Cotica di Maiale—Awesome Pork Belly dish? Nope. 

Double Zero also has sampler of cheeses and meats. They are pricey, but they are good. I do commend them of their cheeses. I'm not a huge cheese fan, but Double Zero's cheese plates turned me into one.  Along with the pizza, I think their meats and cheeses are their strongest dish.

Deliciousness.

Now for the grand fanale: their dessert. I think I had the best dessert at a restaurant. If you want to try something exotic and different, you must try their Formaggio Tasting dessert.

The Formaggio Tasting is 4 different kinds of cheese flavored gelato—yes, cheese flavored—paired with something solid like figs, chocolate truffle, etc.

They give you Goat Cheese gelato, Parmesan gelato, Gorganzola gelato, and red wine gelato. I would've thought Gorganzola gelato would be disgusting, but it was heavenly. That was my favorite. I do have to caution, it might be too strange for some people because Mrs. Kitty thought it was too weird. But I loved it. On the other hand, Mrs. Kitty loved the Goat Cheese gelato and the Parmesan gelato, and so did I.

Best dessert ever. I would come here just for this.

Double Zero is new, and they're working out their kinks. Their pizza and their cheeses are already top notch. But once they get into their groove, I think this will be a solid addition for Pizza and Italian cuisine in Atlanta. Mr. Kitty gives this place 4 paws up.

Double Zero Napoletana
5825 Roswell Road
Atlanta, GA 30328
www.doublezeroatl.com/home/