Well, kind of. I checked out 5th Ave. Pizza this weekend with my American friend P. and some of his friends. It's a new pizza place in Sofia that claims to be making American-style pizza. The street address? 174 Rakovski.

[caption id="attachment_3389" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Pizza Restaurant 5th Avenue"]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01956.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3389" title="Pizza Restaurant 5th Avenue" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01956.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></a>[/caption]

Now I like pizza. I actually even like Bulgarian-influenced pizza with kashkaval cheese, an assortment of veggies including both pickles and corn (but generally I avoid having both on the same pizza), the occasional egg and hardly any sauce. It's definitely not pizza as I knew it growing up in the States. But I am living in Bulgaria.  I knew what I was getting into.

So when my friend P. told me there was a new pizza place open in Sofia and it claimed to make American style pizza we had to go. It's also pretty funny that P. and I became friends over pizza. Believe it or not, I wrote a post last fall on the <a href="http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/pizza-in-sofia/" target="_blank">best pizza in Sofia</a>. My blog got plenty of comments about different options and the result? P. and I cemented our friendship over pizza.

But do they really make American-style pizza? Yes. And no.<!--more-->

[caption id="attachment_3384" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="5th Ave Pizza Menu "]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01949.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3384" title="5th Ave Pizza Menu " src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01949.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></a>[/caption]

Let me explain, the names of pizzas, the toppings and the combination of toppings are the most American I've seen in Bulgaria. Pizza like peperoni, meat lovers, deluxe seem right at home on the menu. There's also clearly a push to get the names of as many American places on the menu as possible from Napa, Texas, Hawaii, California, Philadelphia and Mexico.

You may also notice the inclusion of mozzarella on the menu. That's pretty exciting. And the mozzarella was pretty tasty.

The hot dog pizza seems a little suspect. I've never eaten a hot dog pizza but it looks less silly located on the second have of the menu sandwiched between the philly cheese stake and the cheeseburger pizzas.

When the pizza came to the table it look great. It was steaming hot.

[caption id="attachment_3385" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="P. and his large pizza! "]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01953.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3385" title="P. and his pizza! " src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01953.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></a>[/caption]

Yeah, look at how excited P. is to eat his pizza. That's pure pizza joy.

It should probably be noted here that the pizza is beautiful as well. Check it out. It's a perfect mix of toppings and cheese.

This said, 5th Ave. is a pizza joint in Sofia and not actually on 5th Ave. in New York City.  Why point this out? Well, they are a pizza restaurant in Bulgaria and while the pizza looks amazing American the pizza definitely leans towards Bulgarian pizza tastes.

The crust it seems was premade rather than made in the kitchen and there wasn't really enough tomato sauce between the crust and the toppings for my liking--as an American who is supposedly eating American pizza.

But really, who am I kidding? I'll definitely go back. I mean look at this great pizza.

[caption id="attachment_3386" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="My little pizza at 5th Ave"]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01955.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3386" title="My little pizza at 5th Ave" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01955.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></a>[/caption]

Sure the restaurant is a little more expensive than Ugo but it's worth it. The service was great. But Bulgarian, when we arrived at about 7pm Friday night there was some concern that we didn't have a reservation.  <em>Really</em>? Because the place was nearly empty. They did find us a table.

What was really great was that our pizzas all came out at the same time. That was pretty stellar--pretty <em>American.</em> Don't worry because then I washed my American pizza down with some Bulgarian beer!!

Next time? We'll I've got my eye on the prosciutto and arugula pizza!!