City: Atlanta, GA

Category: Restaurants

Telephone: (404) 879-9962

Address: 710 Peachtree St.

Description: The Naples origin of Baraonda’s owners is reflected in its warm wooden furnishings, rustic decor, and intimate feeling, but most especially in its wood-fired pizzas, the heart of its menu. Other Italian traditionals are available—antipasti, calzones, panini, pasta dishes, and salads—but Baraonda’s pizzas are in a whole other category than the usual American-style, heavy, cheese-laden standard. The intensely hot pizza oven produces a quickly cooked, very light and flavorful crispy crust, and it does not dry out the toppings in the process. Our favorites are the pesto pizze bianche, a white pizza with pesto, olives, mozzarella, and cherry tomatoes, and the prosciutto pizze, a red pizza with tomatoes, Parma ham, mozzarella, arugula, and Parmiggiano. We also recommend (when available) the cozze in bianco antipasti, mussels in white wine with fresh tomatoes and crushed red peppers. Baraonda is open for lunch Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., for supper Monday through Thursday from 5 to 10:30 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5 p.m. to midnight, and Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Parking is available in nearby lots, with some limited streetside parking, and reservations are not accepted.