Quick Take: Double Zero Napoletano

Stopped in with a few local wine and food enthusiasts to try the food at the newly opened Double Zero Napoletano in Sandy Springs. The name, Double Zero, is taken from the Italian flour (doppio zero) used to make Neapolitan pizza in brick ovens. Double Zero is the newest Atlanta-area restaurant opened by the Castellucci Hospitality Group, which also owns Iberian Pig in Decatur.

In short, our first visit to Double Zero was promising. The food was good, but short of remarkable for now.
 
Our table of four started by sharing a half dozen of the antipasti/small dishes. The Insalata di Mare featured shrimp, calamari, scallop, capers, red onion, crispy shallots, parsnips, olive oil, lemon, red and yellow pepper aioli. This was a tasty and fresh seafood salad that lacked real depth. It needed some salt, or a splash of citrus to pop things a bit.

 (Sorry for the crappy phone pics)

Another small plate we tried was the Gnudi alla Carbonara. This ended up being a somewhat muddled dish with its ricotta gnudi, pancetta, micro greens, white truffle oil, and quail egg offering up a singular note of cheesy richness. This was tasty, but in an over-the-top-heart-attack-in-cast-iron kind of way.

We also shared the chracuterie plate, and the pineapple carpaccio, which had some bright flavors and seemed to speak to the spring season a bit more than the other dishes. It was one of the highlight dishes for me.

Next up it was time to try the pizzas. The first pie we tried was the Double Zero Napoletana . Their eponymous pie features a tasty blend of garlic, Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP, fresh arugula, Prosciutto di Parma, Pecorino Gran Cru, and basil oil. We also tried their take on the traditional Margherita pie.

Pizza pics courtesy of The Legend (@ATL_Legend for those who don't know)

The pies tasted pretty good, there was some nice blackening on the outer crusts, and the cheeses and sauces were pretty tasty. However, the bottom of both pies was soggy, and the dough was a bit too 'doughy' for the style I think they are shooting for here. A little tweaking, and these pies could be winners, though they face some tough competition from the classic pizzas now being made around ATL these days.

I would be remiss to not offer a shout out here to one of the owners of Double Zero, Frederico Castellucci, and his wait staff who were more than accommodating to our wine geekiness. We showed up with a half dozen bottles of wine and popped them rather freely throughout the night. 

Corkage is $15 at Double Zero, though they do have a respectable wine list with plenty of good values.