Despite being an east-side-guy, until last week I'd only ever visited the great Descendant Pizza twice... my last visit being nearly four years ago with a pair of then co-workers I haven't spoken to since the Beforetimes. Heck, I've probably been to Domino's multiple times in that span... and I don't even like Domino's at all. Clearly my pizza credentials need to be re-evaluated.
I've written about Descendant before, as they have topped my Top Toronto Pizza list ever since that very First Pizza Quest. Of course, a lot has changed in the Toronto pizza scene since that initial ranking in early 2019 (and my follow-up a year later). Places like Revolver, Badiali, One Night Only, Mark's, Levant (to name a few) have since emerged as slingers of pie extremely worthy of acknowledgement and consideration. Trying Descendant again after this long bundle of time... I was confident they would still be excellent but was very curious how they measure against the hot newcomers.
Descendant is, of course, a Detroit-styled pizzeria and the brainchild of chef Chris Getchell... who I only recently realized is somebody I worked with at Pizzeria Libretto Ossington about a decade ago. He was briefly an assistant chef there and definitely had some inventive concepts for pizzas (Hot Honey and pickled onions being a few), although a very hard-nosed traditional Neapolitan joint like Libretto wasn't quite the most open minded spot for Getchell's ideas. Hell, it wasn't until a year into my tenure there at the original Libretto that they even began to offer a freaking pepperoni pizza... and it was as a daily special. Regardless, with Descendant Getchell clearly created a kitchen environment for himself where he could refine and experiment... and the success speaks for itself.
Do the results? To avoid dawdling (as I often do)... yeah. They do. This pizza is still stellar, and still probably tops my list in Toronto. The difference now is that it might not be them (and Defina) running away from the field as my favourites anymore... some of the new contenders have made the race closer.
Lets talk about the pizza itself. What I think differentiates Descendant from other newer Toronto joints doing the rectangular Detroit style (8Mile for instance) are the depth and details of the flavour. The pizza you see above is the 'No Name', which has a ton of different things on it. Your usual cheese and sauce (which are arranged differently in the Detroit-style don't forget... the sauce is on top) are supported by pepperoni, Italian sausage, Calibrian chilis, hot honey (of course), shredded pecorino romano cheese and dollops of ricotta cheese with some cilantro sprinkled about.
There's a lot going on! And what makes this work, as it always has with Descendant, is how each bite is notably unique from any other. You're getting a totally different adventure every time: maybe you get more of the ricotta and chilis one bite, then just sauce, cheese and the pepperoni next time. Any of them work in any combination with each other... it's downright harmonious.
The quality of the separate ingredients is on point also. While more of a supporting topping than part of the foundation, the tomato sauce is exceptional... thick and vivid with immediate sharp flavour. The pepperoni has some fatty, juicy depth to it... like if you bought a high-standard stick of pepperoni but you don't own a meat slicer and your knife can only cut it so thin. It still works and gives it more of a presence and fatty texture in this flavour circus. The ricotta adds some great light creaminess and acts as a perfect foil to cut through a lot of the salty pork taste throughout the pie. The chilis are the least noticeable of the toppings, but do add a funky little surprise when biting into one and suddenly getting a hint of heat.
How about the negatives? Well... there's... um... the rougher top of the pizza irritated the roof of my mouth a little? Or there's the... the... you know the... uh.... um....
Lets talk about the texture of the pizza itself. The exterior is very crispy: you've got your crunchy, lightly burnt cheese on the edges (similar to the cheese you find atop a cheese bagel) and the pecorino tends to harden once the pie cools. Beneath all that, however.... you've got some very soft airy bread (Getchell in the link above explains how he has attempted to replicate focaccia for his dough) while most of the hot honey oozes between the slices and pools at the bottom. The hot honey is delicious and works as a natural thing to dab the breadier part of the square slice into, although having this honey everywhere makes eating this a very sticky affair (especially you have a beard like myself).
There isn't a whole lot else I can say. Descendant is still goddamn delicious, with each precious bite tasting like some kind of new journey for your taste buds. It's very worthy of holding it's 'A' grade (the very highest) in my book and my 'Best in Toronto' crown... still truly one of the best pizzas I've ever had.
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