Food Feature: Pie squared

Despite the Italian derivation of pizza pies, the Marietta Pizza Co. displays French elements in its decor. One wall is dominated with nostalgic Parisian art posters, while the mustard-hued paint job of the interior and exterior walls have a French country feel.

The restaurant’s other touches aren’t so nationalistic. The walls sport works of quirky original art, such as a massive painting of a football player and framed, childish pictures of pizza pies. Blissfully, the Marietta Pizza Co. is free of blaring televisions, thus avoiding the sports bar climate that permeates too many local pizzerias.

But its proudest feature isn’t anything on the walls, or even from the kitchen, but the glass windows that look out at the Marietta town square. From its place on one of the square’s corners, the pizzeria offers a view rich in Americana: stately oak trees, a fountain, ambling passersby and buildings that might actually be older than you are (which aren’t too common in the Atlanta area).

Serenely sitting in the Pizza Co.’s window and munching cheesy mouthfuls may be an ideal way to spend some idle hours. It’s not exactly a place where they lavish attention on you: You order at the counter and fill your own soft drinks (beer is also available), but they do bring the pizza to your table. Customers appear to be a mix of families, couples en route to Theatre in the Square and occasional tables of rowdy dunderheads.

The best part of the pie may be the crust, which tends to be chewy and substantial without being too brittle or dense. If you’re tired of pizza slices that dangle impotently when you pick them up and have crusts as thin and soft as paper towels, go to Marietta. In fact, the crust was the most impressive aspect of the white pizza ($12 for a generous medium size) — ricotta cheese, garlic, extra mozzarella and “secret spices” — which was otherwise adequate but not very memorable.

I wonder if the “secret spice” might be air itself: The triangular slices of Sicilian pizza ($1.75 each plus toppings) are thick yet light, almost like pieces of fluffy toast with hearty pizza dressings. The Sicilian slices aren’t too thick for biting, but if you eat one with your fingers, you might want to keep plenty of napkins at hand to keep from getting too greasy. I’ve yet to try the calzone ($4.50 plus fillings), but from spying on other diners it looks terrific: glistening and golden-brown, with a tall, taut “bubble” of filling at the center.

The menu provides the usual suspects of pizzeria toppings, charging extra for feta, grilled chicken and artichoke hearts. Stromboli, breadsticks and sub sandwiches (choice of meatball and chicken) are available, and the salads ($3) are no better or worse than the salad offered by the pizza joint nearest you. But the Marietta Pizza Co. is new enough that its menu can be refined without much fuss, and one expects it’ll soon have flavors as rich on the palate as its view is easy on the eyes.??