Always fans of new local restaurants, and hoping to support the small business owners in our area, we were excited to see that a new pizza/italian restaurant was announced near us in Nolensville, TN.  Amico’s New York Pizza has been open a few weeks and really seems to have a pretty good handle on what they’re doing.

Most meals start with complimentary garlic rolls that are doused with a good bit of parmesan and garlic, and have soaked up a pretty good deal of olive oil.  We haven’t tried their traditional Italian dishes, but I imagine it will be a wonderful tool for soaking up red sauce.

The bruschetta is one appetizer that has quickly become our favorite whether we order take out or eat in.  The french bread is slightly toasted and has a nice bit of olive oil and garlic, and is slightly thicker than what would traditionally be thought of with this dish.  The tomatoes are simply mixed with a bit of herbs and other flavorings, and topped with some parmesan.

The pizza’s here are quite substantial, as you can see.  This particular pizza did come out a bit greasy, but both the cheese and the other toppings are heftily applied and quite tasty on their own.

While the quality of the pizza doesn’t quite rise to the level of Joey’s House of Pizza (in my opinion, the best around), the crust is thin with a slight bit of crispiness to it, and a little bit of chewiness once you bite into it.  I could do with a slightly crispier crust, but we’ve found that a few minutes in a warm oven does wonders (now we just need to invest in that pizza stone).  Overall, everything we’ve had at Amico’s has been a nice surprise, and we’re happy to see that they’ve gotten off to a nice start.

So, you may have noticed we had a bit of a break from the end of October to the beginning of January (and have just been posting sporadically since).  Well… We are expecting a little forker in July.  I was feeling pretty puny, so there was little eating out or cooking.  I’m beginning to feel much better, so we expect hope the posts occur on a much more regular basis.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program….

Cary and I recently had a chance to try Joey’s House of Pizza in Brentwood, TN.

The chicken parmigiana is delightful.   The chicken is tender with a light well-seasoned breading.  The chicken is sprinkled liberally with Italian cheeses and smothered with a simple (but excellent) tomato sauce.

One of the really nice things at Joey’s is that they make sure your salad has plenty of tomatoes and black and green olives.  It is topped with slightly sweet balsamic vinegar and olive oil, which is delicious.

Even though they have to reheat the premade pizzas in the oven, it’s the only place in Nashville (beside his brother Manny in the Arcade Downtown) that truly produces NY Style Pizza.  The crust is crispy, but chewy after you bite into it, and the cheese has a good pull-away factor.  The sauce is also as simple as you get, with tomatoes, oregano and a few other spices.  It’s so good you really don’t need anything else other than a little bit of cheese (although both the sausage and the pepperoni are out of this world!).

On the way to Cumberland University’s second home football game (we love small college football), we decided to stop at Painturo’s Pizza in Lebanon, Tennessee for lunch.  Instead of ordering cheese sticks, we ordered pinwheels.  Pinwheels are rolled pizza dough filled with a three cheese blend of Parmesan, Mozzarella, and maybe cheddar cheese.  They had a crispy exterior with a cheesy soft doughy inside.

I couldn’t resist a close up!  They were just as good as they looked.

The pizza is of the thin-crust variety, but not quite like New York thin style crust.  It didn’t have any charred bits on the bottom, but remained crispy throughout and the cheese was broiled to a nice topping.  Overall, the sauce was tangy, but the crust was what stood out on the pizza.

The Tuscan Vinaigrette salad was wonderful.  It featured grilled chicken, black and green olives, Roma tomatoes and peperoncini on a bed of fresh romaine lettuce.  The salad was topped with Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning and was accompanied by a very thick Italian dressing.  The Italian seasoning really enhances the flavor of the salad.  It is such a simple thing to add, but something I never thought about.  I may try adding it at home to my salads.

Overall, we had a great experience at Painturo’s.  One thing we noticed while we were there is that they have a deal on Monday and Tuesday since unemployment in Wilson County is so high.  I can’t quote it exactly, but it involved 10% (or maybe half price-Cary remembers one thing and I remember the other) off a pizza.