Ribalta
1080 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-249-7019, ribaltapizzarestaurant.com/ATL. $$
If you stand at just the right spot on Peachtree Street, between 11th and 12th, all you can see are glittering condo towers and Midtown worker bees in well-studied office-to-evening outfits. You can pretend that you’re in Manhattan.
The NYC fantasy will continue if you visit Ribalta, a glamorous-looking outpost of a New York pizzeria. Here, the yeast for the dough is derived from a “mother” born 200 years ago in Naples. The crust is extremely light and fluffy and beautifully blistered at the rim. But it’s also way too tangy and leaves a bitter aftertaste.
Is it forgivable? Sure, mostly because the crust is wafer thin and topped with excellent accouterments, especially the peppery broccoli rabe and sweet Italian sausage on the namesake white pie. I also loved the smoky cotto ham and wonderfully oily porcini shavings on the red-sauced capricciosa.
You’ll like the food here and love the swanky Manhattan-on-Peachtree setting.
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