From the pizza aficionado looking for a great slice to the coffee enthusiast on the hunt for a real quality cup o’ Joe, Atlanta is now home to Atwoods Pizza Café, a new pizzeria with a craft coffee program featuring an artsy-meets-industrial upbeat vibe that welcomes “hanging out” in the center of Midtown. Located at the base of The Biltmore, Atwoods Pizza Café makes its debut at the end of April and offers dine in, grab-and-go and delivery for breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week, beginning at 7 a.m. on weekdays. Plus, patrons can easily order online via their mobile devices.
Atwoods Pizza Café fosters a vibrant and community-nurturing atmosphere that encourages lingering. Lively music plays as guests gather with friends or their laptops along refinished-pine communal tables inside and on the petite outside patio. The intimate, 56-seat setting features a cool aesthetic with exposed brick walls, rustic wood features, brushed-steel elements, and artwork—graphic column wraps and wall stencils designed by local artist Brian Holt. The tongue-in-cheek and thought-provoking designs in the main restaurant and bathrooms include 1960’s model Twiggy being handed a slice of pizza, text from “Caddyshack” and “The Big Lebowski,” and quotes from authors, artists and models, such as Edie Sedgwick, Hunter S. Thompson, Jim Morrison and Jack Kerouac.
“We were inspired to offer the neighborhood something it didn’t have already—Atwoods Pizza Café is a fun spot that supplies delicious slices and craft coffee within walking distance from all of the offices and residences in Midtown,” says Co-Owner Bill Streck, who came up with the name Atwoods, which is a throwback to when West Peachtree Street was called Atwood Street around 1895. Streck also co-owns Cypress Street Pint and Plate and GRAIN, both located only a couple blocks away from the new locale.
The Atwoods Pizza Café menu focuses on their signature spin of classic, cooked-to-order pizzas – hand-friendly, but featuring a thin crust with a developed crumb, nice chew and slight char, as well as soup, salads, sandwiches and subs. Up to 12 pies at a time are baked in an Italian Pavesi Oven with live fire that heats to temperatures of 700 to 800 degrees. The rotating floor’s uniform heat distribution creates a consistent baking quality that delivers a perfectly cooked pizza. Choose from house-designed pizzas like the meat-lovers’ Sho-Me Your Roni (pepperoni, fennel sausage, fior di latte, mozzarella, oregano and romano) and vegetarian Googootz (grilled zucchini, fior di latte, mozzarella, ricotta cream, garlic confit, lemon, mint and olive oil), or build your own with both traditional and unique toppings, such as rapini, Calabrian chilies, Brussels sprouts and preserved lemon.
“At Atwoods Pizza Café, we not only use fantastic ingredients but have respect for the process—the craft of artisan baking onsite and of making our version of authentic pizza,” says “Dough Master” Chef Rob Phillip from Hearth Pizza Tavern, the architect behind Atwoods’ menu.
“We are not trying to reinvent the wheel. We’re reaching back to Italian traditions and also complimenting those traditions with what Americans truly love in pizza and have developed what we believe will be a mash up of New York style and Neapolitan pizza. Our pizza is made from both Italian flour and the finest domestic wheat flours used by artisan bakers,” adds Phillip.
For breakfast, Atwoods Pizza Café’s mouth-watering bites include savory delights, such as bread pudding French toast with Savannah bourbon syrup; a buttermilk-fried chicken biscuit with sweet pepper jelly, fontina cheese, and a fried egg; and four different varieties of a breakfast sandwich. What’s more, every effort is made to source local ingredients, including honey from Hometown Honey in Kennesaw and grass-fed-cow yogurt from Atlanta Fresh Yogurt, which will be in the Parfection that comes with house-made granola and fresh berries.
The coffee bar serves Jittery Joe’s fresh-daily beans brewed to order in an Italian La Cimbali espresso machine. In addition to the usual suspects like cappuccinos and lattes, coffee buffs will enjoy options like drip-pour coffee and house-made syrups, such as lemon basil, dulce de leche and cardamom honey and bay leaf.
Elevating the typical pizzeria’s beverage options, the menu also incorporates four craft beers on draft (such as Abita Amber and Boulevard Single Wide), a handful of canned tallboys (such as Blue Moon and Red Stripe) and three red and white wines by glass and bottle. Plus, Atwoods Pizza Café serves hand-crafted Boylan Soda in flavors like orange, black cherry and ginger ale.
Atwoods Pizza Café is a collaboration by restaurateurs Bill Streck, Rob Caswick, Jeff Newsham and Dave Pazienza, and Chef Rob Phillip. They’re open from 7 a.m. to midnight Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to midnight on Saturday and 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday. The new pizzeria and café is located in the heart of Midtown Atlanta on the corner of West Peachtree and 6th Street on the street-facing floor of The Biltmore building at 817 West Peachtree Street, Suite A105, Atlanta, GA 30308. Parking is available on West Peachtree Street and 6th Street as well as within The Biltmore’s parking deck is accessible via 5th Street. For more information, call 404.748.9577 or visit www.atwoodspizza.com. Stay connected on Twitter and Instagram at @atwoodspizza and on Facebook at Facebook.com/AtwoodsPizza.
Have a look at their menu below: