Main Street in Woodstock is home to a variety of cute shops, restaurants and some beautiful loft apartments. Tucked into this space, is also an Italian Restaurant named Vingenzo’s. Vingenzo’s has been open for about three years. Owner, Michael Bologna, has been cooking since he was a young boy. He shared with us how he specifically orders most everything in his restaurant from Italy – the flour, the oven, yep, almost everything. He also makes the mozzarella and sausage that he uses in pastas and pizza in house. Desserts are all made in house as well.
I swear, you can’t help but love this guy, he is so charismatic and charming. His passion for what he does as he talks about the care he takes in procuring ingredients and preparing foods is infectious. And if you think that isn’t enough, he also teaches cooking by day at a nearby school. How’s that for making you feel lazy?
We started with the Mozzarella tasting, aka Grandioso tasting. With four different house made mozzarella cheeses, who knew they could vary so much in taste. The plate also comes with olives, roasted red peppers, and a salad with two different kinds of balsamic sauce. You can also choose from a selection of cured meats to add and it is well worth it. We chose the Prosciutto and the Speck. Absolutely delicious and perfectly complimenting the cheeses.
Moving on to pizzas we opted for the simple Margherita Pizza as well as the Sopressatta pizza. Although there are just over a dozen pizzas to choose from, Chef Michael recommended going with the more traditional Neapolitan style ingredients. These pizzas are cooked in an 800 degree oven for 90 seconds. The quick cooking renders the ingredients nicely melted on to the pie and a beautiful char on the crust.
While I was truly expecting to enjoy the Sopressatta more (I like meat on my pizza), it was the Margherita that really knocked my socks off. The ingredients were so fresh, it blows all others out of the water. Yes, it is even better than Antico. There, I said it.
As for pastas, they are made fresh daily as well. When we visited there was a fettuccine which is made only with egg whites, and whole wheat rigatoni and a corkscrew pasta. It was pretty nice to have not one or two but three different pastas to choose from. Then there are the fourteen sauces to choose from which can be paired with any pasta you like. We couldn’t miss out on trying the house made sausage, so we ordered the Al Forno which comes topped with fresh Ricotta, as well as the Sugo di domenica’(shredded pork braised for six hours in a tomato sauce) as well as the Gnocchi.
It is impossible to choose a favorite, so I suggest going with a group so you can sample as many pastas as possible. The house made sausage is absolute perfection and even if you don’t order the pasta, get it one one of the pizzas. The Sugo di domenica’ is so tender I’ve been back several times and just couldn’t resist ordering it. As for the Gnocchi, it practically melts in your mouth. The menu lists it in a Gorgonzola cream sauce with spinach, but it can also be ordered with a red sauce (pictured in this post) if you prefer.
Nothing on the menu is over $20. Service was knowledgeable and friendly. We were even invited to go back into the kitchen and watch our pizza be made by expert pizza maker, Rico, from Italy. He explained what we was doing in each step but I didn’t understand most of what he said. No matter, it was delicious just the same.
105 East Main Street Suite 100
Woodstock, GA 30188 ·
770.924.9133
Vingenzo’s Website
