Photograph by Martha Williams
When the rest of the world was making sourdough during the pandemic, Matthew Foster of Phew’s Pies was perfecting pizzas. His home kitchen was the birthplace of his Lemon Pepper Wet pizza, whose fanbase includes rapper Killer Mike and Mayor Andre Dickens. It’s made with a lemon pepper base, Foster’s homemade diced lemon pepper wings, dried basil, and cheese—garnished with whole wings and a wedge of lemon.
“I think the flavor of Atlanta is a bit of soul and spice, with a little bit of sweetness,” says Foster, who now runs his mobile pizzeria in several locations around town.
We’re not a New York thin slice or a Chicago deep-dish. In a word, Atlanta-style pizza is FLAVA! All caps and no regrets. Pizza-makers throughout the city are channeling culture and creativity into pies that could be born only out of Atlanta.
“As a Black man, when I’m thinking of pizza, I think about what my community likes to see and what we like to eat,” says Foster. Ingredients like oxtail, turkey, and hot honey represent the people around him, so he’s putting them on pizza. His offerings include the Oxtail & Ricotta, the Jive Turkey, and the PPP Loan, with pepperoni, pineapple, and Parmesan.
Yusef Walker opened Dolo’s Pizza with Alyson Williams in Underground Atlanta in 2022 after its successful run as a pop-up. He wants to make fine-dining ingredients accessible for all, so he’s making pizza with major culinary creativity. Take his iconic Black Pizza as an example—it’s made with a base of pesto containing activated charcoal and Thai basil. It may sound bizarre, but the pizza, topped with roasted tomatoes, spinach, and mozzarella, tastes incredible.
“I wanted to do our own thing,” says Walker, who also operates Ms. Icey’s Kitchen & Bar. “I want you to walk away and say, I do like truffle oil, I do like lobster, because you got to try it on pizza.”
Walker’s Caribbean roots influence his…
Read the full article here
