With the foodie feeding frenzy that’s gripped the ATL in recent years where a new hot spot opens every week and you can’t swing a stick without hitting someone who’s appeared on “Top Chef,” it’s becoming increasingly difficult for new restaurateurs to distinguish themselves. After all, how do you stand out in a field overcrowded with culinary standouts? In the case of Giovanni Di Palma, you do it by swimming directly against the current, ignoring trends in favor of tradition.

Antico, his labor of love that opened in October to gushing reviews, is unlike any other five-star restaurant in town. There’s no valet parking, no fancy interior design, not even a proper seating area to speak of. There are 12 non-dessert items on the menu–nine pizzas and three calzones–and you order at the counter. You can take it out or huddle around a rustic communal table originally intended for dough preparation. But despite the complete lack of bells and whistles, Antico has emerged as Atlanta’s hottest new restaurant, and the reasons can be traced to Naples, Italy.

Five years ago, Di Palma (who grew up in New York, the grandson of a lifelong pizzaiolo) made a pilgrimage to his ancestral Italian village to make a donation to preserve the ancient basilica in which his grandparents had gotten married. While there he was introduced to the owner of a local flour mill, who took Di Palma to the Centro Storia neighborhood’s legendary restaurant, Il Presidente Pizzeria, which has provided pies for everyone from Bill Clinton to the pope.

It was there that Di Palma learned to make Pizza Napoletana in the “verace artigianale” (true artisan) style, hand-kneading dough crafted in small batches and adding nothing but sea salt and fresh water. He learned to cook them to a perfect char in Sorrento stone ovens heated to 900 degrees by hardwood fires. Ask Di Palma the secret of his success, and he confesses, “This pizza doesn’t belong to me, but to the craftsmen who created it. I’m just a messenger.”

That may be true, but the message he’s delivering tastes like the culmination of hundreds of years of culinary refinement. Antico is authentic to the extreme, adhering to strict guidelines: Di Palma imports flour, San Marzano tomatoes and fresh mozzarella di bufala from the Campania region of Italy every week, and cooks every pizza in 10,000-pound ovens handmade in Naples. The resulting pie is a perfect balance of crispy and chewy, bursting with robust, earthy flavors. Whether you get the deceptively simple Margherita D.O.P. or the Capricciosa, which is loaded with savory mushrooms, artichokes and prosciutto cotto, Di Palma’s passion for the craft comes through in every bite.

The gregarious Di Palma seems as surprised as anyone by the glowing reception his debut entrepreneurial effort has received, but Antico (which was originally takeout only) is already planning to add family-style seating, an outdoor terrace and perhaps even a rooftop patio in the coming year. At an average price of $19 per pizza, it’s easily the most affordable trip to Italy your mouth will ever take.

Antico Pizza Napoletana

1093 Hemphill Ave.

404.724.2333

anticopizza.it