This Week In Pizza: Beast Pizza

 

 

Beast Pizza is a swanky little joint that has operated as a restaurant for quite some time, but only somewhat recently transformed itself into a pizza destination. It has a bit of a Bitondo's vibe as far as being located off the beaten path (that's two straight reviews with a Bitondo's reference, for those keeping score!). Beast is right on the corner of Tecumseth Street and Whitaker Avenue, a quiet residential strip despite being nestled between the busy hoots of West Queen West and King West. With all the unassuming houses along the way, this almost became a difficult place to find: as we were walking my trusted occasional pizza accomplice indeed Googled the exact location... a smart decision considering my usual counter-approach of just wandering around forever until stumbling upon your destination.      

The interior of Beast Pizza is quite quirky, and I rather liked it: not the largest space you'll encounter and it reminds me of some kind of 1930s smoking room with an old fashioned wooden bar right as you walk in. There are plenty of decorations and one of them being a section of wall/pillar with baseball cards behind a frame, which certainly wins over my sensibilities.

 

 

After some deliberation (their beef tongue pie did sound quite intriguing), I went for their meatball offering which you see above. What you don't see above (obscured by clouds of arugula) are the supporting toppings: caramelized onions, fennel jam, and your usual mozzarella and tomato sauce. I also went for a garlic dip, because life is short and garlic dips make everything better.

First off, this is an excellently made pizza. Quite terrific. The crust is pillowy and light, a marvelously and surprisingly soft texture considering its heavy, thick look. Sauce and cheese are likewise both of high quality: vibrant in their tomato sting and butteryness (totally a word) respectively. The foundational components here definitely show that Beast is a place that knows what they're doing, and take the details seriously. Great stuff and fitting of comparison to the better, even the high end, wood-fired pizzas around.

This is a good combination of toppings also: the fennel jam with the caramelized onions do push it on the sweeter side, and yet those two compliment each other quite well... like two rhythm guitars alternating leads. The jam itself definitely stands out as a unique offering, with an instant tangyness that is pleasantly understated within the overall picture.

Alas... despite all of these positives (and I was extremely impressed by most of this)... the biggest and critical weakness of this pie is in the moniker: the meatballs. As noted by my wonderful and occasional pizza accomplice, these meatballs flavour-wise are just kind of ordinary. There's no zing or spice to them, nothing that lingers on the palate beyond an enjoyable meaty texture. That texture is indeed fabulous, a good balance of juiciness and firmness, everything you'd want out of a meatball... but where's the taste? Each bite of it just tasted of meat... a high quality meat sure but it needed seasoning or heat or sweetness or really just anything. 

It's truly a shame because the rest of this pizza is so, so excellent. Each topping working in absolute harmony with one another... the leafy sting of the arugula pairs with that jam and onion sweetness perfectly... but when you're calling this a "Meatball Pizza" and the flavour of your meatballs are missing something, thus being so meh... it's sadly a bit of a letdown.

To end on a positive, though. The garlic dip was indeed exceptional. Definitely leaned more into the garlicy than creamy direction, which I prefer, and that nice sharp sting was there. Highly recommended... not quite at the level of Blondie's black garlic dip but pretty darn close.

Overall! I do suggest giving Beast Pizza a try, should you be in the area. I'd be curious to try their other pies because if they are of similar quality but with more flavour than those sad meatballs, this could indeed be a pizza joint in the "A-" range. For now, I'll give them a strong "B+". Those lacking balls of meat aside, terrific stuff in both toppings and foundation.     

This Week In Pizza: Pizza North

 

 

Behold! The hardest pizza place to Google ever! Seriously, type in "Pizza North" and watch your browser have a complete conniption. Do you mean "North of Brooklyn"? Do you mean pizza in the north part of Toronto? Do you mean Santa's favourite pizza near the North Pole? (now there's one you'll definitely have to try on the reheat).  

Anyhow, Pizza North is a new-ish spot near Bathurst and Queen (filling the area's pizza void now that the Pizza Pizza right on the south-west corner is gone... which blew my mind upon seeing that). Needless to say, Pizza North is far superior to Pizza Pizza (thank god), as akin to eating a pre-packaged salad from Starbucks is superior to eating a handful of grass. 

Pizza North actually reminds me of Bitondo's as far as style goes. Heavy big time on the oily cheese (overwhelmingly so), thick crust, subtly greasy and a bit lacking on overall flavour. It just needs a little more oommph, as each bite gets fairly repetitive.

Regardless of that, Pizza North is rather decent. Solid, even. First off, these slices are huge. As you can see, I got four of them... but in fact these are their regular slices just cut in half. So you definitely get some bang for your buck. 

Second... their options weren't particularly appealing, to my tastes at least. I considered getting a full pie, as I usually do... but none of their features were, sorry, to say, all that compelling. Instead, I got a slice of pepperoni and a slice of cheese, while my dear friend/occasional pizza accomplice got a slice loaded with vegetables (and who has time for that healthiness?).

There isn't a whole lot to dissect here. As a pizza? It is tasty but not exceptionally memorable. There's some crunch, some grease, lots of cheese and that's really just it. Nothing wrong with being decent, but with more vivid flavour or variety this could really be something intriguing. I liked the thick pepperoni cups, the vague smattering of basil pesto on the cheese slice (more of that would've been awesome)... but the rest doesn't really engage the taste buds. The elements of a phenomenal pizza are there, but it just needs a lot more... creativity, sauce, something beyond simply throwing the basics together.

Overall. It might sound like I'm being more negative than positive, but this is just a very okay pizza. Just lacking so much to make it truly good. If you're drunk on Queen West near Bathurst, a slice from here will do a fine job filling that stomach hole. This is very decent! But not memorable. It's a "B--" for me, possibly closer to a "C++" considering its sparsity. It does reheat in the toaster oven quite well (the large amount of cheese doesn't dry out), and so we'll give it that nudge in the grade for that. Very solid for a big, filling slice if you're in the area. Not a must try destination... although definitely a big improvement from Pizza Pizza in the Queen/Bathurst area.            

This Week In Pizza: Junior's Pizzeria

 

 

One of the early restaurant casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic was the legendary Vesuvio Pizzeria out in the Junction neighbourhood of west Toronto. The story of Vesuvio is astonishing: a restaurant started by four brothers and a father that remained family owned for over six decades, even fighting the bizarre era of prohibition in the Junction area (for real, no establishment could serve alcohol on that stretch of Dundas Street West until the year 2000. Seriously!) By the sounds of it the Pugliese family had considered scaling back the business even before the pandemic and once that hit, the difficult decision to close down made the most sense.

It was a hell of a run, and Vesuvio will truly and forever be an original legend of Toronto pizza. However, soon after this closure, a few longtime employees of Vesuvio decided to start their own pizza joint to pay homage to the old classic spot. The place is indeed named Junior's both as a description of themselves (they were the "junior staff" of the longtime restaurant despite over a decade of working there) and as a tribute to the long time pizza chef of Vesuvio, nicknamed Junior.     

Naturally, Junior's had been on my list for a long time and I was finally able to sample them on a recent  Saturday inbetween working an Argos game and playing a baseball game (summer is my busy time, yo). The inside of the joint is rather sparse: some quirky decorations on the walls and not really anywhere to sit (it's a rather small establishment as well). To my surprise (and unlike the old Vesuvio) Junior's actually offers slices... but I was rather hungry and so elected to order an entire pie to myself.

 

One of my usual pizza "go to's" when given the opportunity, is a fairly simple one: bacon and goat cheese. It's a nice balance of tender saltiness and delicious creaminess. This is what you see above, and Junior's definitely gets it right. The bacon is maybe a tad undercooked (I'd prefer it crispier) but this is legitimate bacon (not crumble) and is plenty flavourful. Goat cheese is, of course, goat cheese... it needs to be a bigger part of anyone's life. 

The best thing about this pizza is the diversity of textures. It's buttery soft and wonderful in the center, with some nice crunch in the crust. A tad on the chewier side, but never to the point of overstaying it's welcome in the mouth. This is a thin crust pie, unlike Vesuvio which was a bit thicker, but you can definitely taste some similarity to the departed legend, mostly in the cheese.

 

 

Frankly, I like this a little more than I did Vesuvio (which was very good!). This is a vibrant tomato sauce as well, with a hint of sweetness and most importantly, is a consistent presence throughout the pie. There's just terrific balance here: not too much or too little of anything and that buttery dough really blends pleasantly into every bite. It might not be the most filling pizza, due to its thinness, but aside from that this is just very tasty stuff.

 

Overall! Colour me impressed. This is fantastic stuff and I liked it pretty much instantly. Can't really find any faults in it, and while it didn't completely blow me away enough to earn one of my highest grades, this has to be at least a "B++" for me. Really, really good, and worth a visit.   

   

This Week In Pizza: GATTO

 

 

GATTO (Italian for "cat") is a homey restaurant nestled in on the rather hip stretch of Bloor Street West between Runnymede and Jane. It isn't the cheapest area to frequent, and I still miss the now long departed Yellow Griffin pub that had about 100 different burgers... but it's a nice stretch to take a stroll on a sunny summer Saturday.

This occasion was only two of those three descriptors. I was set to play some Saturday hardball but them lousy rain clouds washed us out, and alas I was already in the west end when the notification came. Already at Runnymede and Bloor with nothing to do, a rumble in my stomach... seemed a good time for some pizza and to finally sample GATTO. Despite having opened in 2018, they aren't a place I've seen or heard a lot of hubbub about... in fact I only discovered them via Google Map search. 

Well, as they say, when on Bloor West...

I went in and the decor very much fits a "Italian family restaurant" vibe, with tablecloths, curtains, and a modestly sized front patio even. Checking the menu, I opted for a pizza they call the "Asiago", named for the hometown of GATTO's head chef. Asiago is also, of course, a type of cheese featured on this very pizza... along with spicy soppressata, fior di latte, shallots and San Marzano tomato sauce. 

Sigh. Full disclosure... I completely confused "shallots" with "scallions" when ordering this, because my knowledge of onions is clearly terrible. Naturally, I was quite surprised to see these red thin strings of onion instead of a smattering of tasty green ones. I generally don't like non-green onions (unless crispy or deliciously caramelized) and so my first thought upon opening the box was "ohhhhhh crap".

Still... this pizza was not cheap and at this point I was already committed to reviewing it, and now that I've sufficiently cursed my own idiocy lets get into that.

 

 

As you can see, GATTO is a wood-fired style of pizza and those specific elements are strongly on display. Decent char on the crust with a nice balance of chewy and soft, nice droopiness at the beginning tip of each slice (always a good sign the dough is freshly prepared) necessitating some slight folding of the slice lest the toppings drip onto the ground. There's the firm and buttery fior de latte cheese, and that sweetly acidic San Marzano tomato sauce bringing it all home. 

Perhaps in large thanks to the Pizzeria Librettos and Queen Margheritas (RIP Queen East location) of the Toronto world, this style of pizza has become much more prevalent over the past decade and a half. Which is good! It is a very delicious style of pizza, one very delicate to execute properly (the dough prep and temperature have to be fairly exact considering the high heat of the wood burning oven) but when cooked just right... it's nearly impossible to encounter a truly bad pie in this style. 

The drawback of this type of pie becoming more common, at least from the perspective of a reviewer/crazy pizza critique man? A lot of them tend to blend together, taste and quality-wise. I've gotten some flack for keeping Libretto high on my pizza lists (and I will have to re-evaluate them again soon it's been a while) but they've always had an extra "oomph" to their flavours that impressed me everytime... compared to say Terroni, which I found very good but didn't leave that same lasting effect, or conversely Bello... which completely blew me away on every level and I would consider a better pizza than Libretto now. 

What I'm saying is: there are a lot of places doing the wood-fired thing now and many of them fall into that range of "very good" but lacking distinction from one another. GATTO is closer to that group than anything particularly outstanding. And this is a very good pizza indeed: the asiago cheese adds some dry gritty taste atop the creamier fior de latte base (texture-wise it's very nicely melted) while the infamous shallots (not scallions) thankfully don't overpower my onion-adverse tongue and instead provide some pleasant sweetness to the affair. The real star topping, however, is the spicy soppressata. Thinly sliced, but that flavour and heat packs a presence indeed. A gently slow building heat that isn't quite as gentle when it peaks... entirely manageable for those who like their spice, but even so the "spicy" description of it is no falsehood.

 

Overall! Yes I would recommend GATTO. It's a high quality pie, although not (in my mind) a "must try" destination here in Toronto. Reminds me a lot of Goodfellas (the pizza chain not the film, although I hope I amuse you) in just being a very good wood-fired pizza joint (GATTO is probably a little better than Goodfellas, the flavours have just a bit more punch). Nothing that'll completely blow your mind, just a tasty flavourful pizza with on point ingredients (the San Marzano sauce really does make a difference, just wish there was a bit more of it on here). I'd say it's in the low "B+" range... a strong outing, sure, but there are others with that grade that have impressed me more with their uniqueness.     

 

This Week In Pizza: Ambassador Pizza Co.

 

 

 

 

Trying three different pizzas in one day? It sounds like a tall task, but it is also a labour of love. Delicious, delicious love...

Recently I wandered out to the Bloorcourt neighbourhood of Toronto (I'm an east-ender so it was a minor trek) and after trying the other local pizza joints Levant and Mac's Pizza... it was time to complete the trilogy with Ambassador.  

Ambassador Pizza Co. is one of the more unusual styles of pizza you will find. While it looks fairly standard on appearance, it is a Windsor style pie and there are details that make a Windsor pizza what it is... most notably the preparation of specific toppings. 

A friend I play softball with (who grew up in Windsor) raves about this type of pizza, and this being my first foray into it... my curiousity was high. Ambassador doesn't have a lot of options (most are simple variations on pepperoni and mushrooms, some with peppers) so I kept it simple and went for a pie with... yep, just mushrooms and pepperoni. 

 

 

Distinctive Element of Windsor Pizza Number One! The pepperoni. Instead of using your typical sliced pepp cups, the pepperoni you see here is shredded. Strange! But effective. You sort of lose a bit of the oiliness of the pork, but the distribution of the pepperoni is more total and consistent in every bite. It does give the pizza a constant saltiness, although not to the point of ruining the other flavours... and having that enjoyable texture of the shredded pepp all throughout the pie is definitely a positive. Kind of like a slightly more aggressive ham, flavour-wise.

Distinctive Element Number Two! And probably the most unique: the mushrooms. Here's the thing, I love mushrooms on pizza. When done right, especially on white creamy pizzas... truly a divine experience. Problem is... most places throw their pre-chopped mushrooms on top of a pizza (so they've already been exposed to air and lost some moisture anyhow) and after fifteen minutes exposed in a hot oven... you get dried out, withered slices of mushrooms that often taste like dust. Wood-fired pizzas can avoid this somewhat since even in the higher oven temperature, the exposure to heat (and thus drying out) isn't as pronounced... but regardless this is a very finicky topping that rarely turns out optimally. Thus why I usually avoid them.

Windsor pizza, however, uses canned mushrooms (or bagged, seeing into Ambassador's fridge while ordering)... which on first thought sounds extremely odd and possibly gross. Having now tried this though... it makes a lot of sense! There's a certain juiciness and meatiness in these mushrooms that is nearly impossible to find any other way on a pizza. While they are somewhat watery, it isn't to the point that it makes the rest of the pie soggy in any way. Indeed, the cheese itself seems to absorb a lot of that and you get a hint of mushroom taste in the cheese as well. It's really quite delightful. 

There are layers to this pizza, both flavour-wise and texturally (it's a word now, damnit!) that are unlike anything I've tried before. It really took me a long time to figure out how I felt about this pizza... it was tricky to determine how much I liked it, because this was truly a curveball to me. For the record, this rarely happens... usually after a slice I have a pretty clear idea how I generally feel about a pie (and clearly I've tried a few). This one? Threw me a genuine loop. The simplicity of it, yet being so different and honestly quirky enough... it took me a while.

Overall! Ambassador is good. Very good, in fact... even though it took me a while to definitively reach that conclusion. I'm not quite as big a fan of the shredded pepperoni as I am the canned/bagged mushrooms. You sort of lose that distinctive crispy, oily slice texture, and having that salty pork seeping into every bite of this pizza was just a little too much, for me anyway. The mushrooms are awesome though, even on a reheat (aside from the crust going stiff, this translates well on the reheat) and the entire pizza is just very excellent on every level. Good, firm mozzarella cheese also, a nice level of char on the crust, and the sauce holds it together (nothing special but also far from generic). 

This has to be a "B++" for me. Didn't completely blow me away... but I was mighty impressed and really hadn't ever encountered a pizza quite like this before. And yet, all the flavours blended together seamlessly. Definitely worth checking out. Neat stuff.           

This Week In Pizza: Mac's Pizza

 

 

 

Strange, can't shake the feeling I've been here before...

Mac's Pizza began as a pandemic venture by former line cook Josh McIlwane. Much like the origins of One Night Only, Mac's Pizza initially only churned out a limited number of pies on Saturday nights... although unlike ONO (who sold pizzas out of their own backyard at first) Mac's operated more like a ghost kitchen in the back of Century Park Tavern.

Eventually the demand grew to the point that a full time location was feasible, and so Mac's took over the space once occupied by the now shuttered Village Pizza and... man I really feel like I've been here before? 

Indeed I have. I first reviewed Village way back in 2018 during my first pizza quest (back when my overall goal was to try just 30 pizza places... clearly I was able to rein myself in, har har har). Village Pizza was a briefly successful joint that even had a second location on Dundas West for a time, but shuttered well over a year ago for reasons that are unclear (at least via my lazy level of research). The interior of Mac's Pizza resembles the old Dovercourt Village Pizza setup nearly exactly: the long wooden counter where you order, the ovens and drink fridge are in the exact same spots... even the self-serve water station. I suppose if you're a pizza business moving into a space where the last tenant was also a pizza place, there probably isn't a necessity to completely overhaul the entire thing... but it was still weird I tells ya! 

This might've also affected my perception of the pizza itself, subconsciously thinking this was just Village Pizza rebranded... but again it was almost exactly the same! The super thin, crunchy crust, the cheese dollops... it actually shocked me to learn that McIlwane has no professional connection at all to this departed pizza joint that Mac's took over. Even if so, Village Pizza was excellent and certainly not a bad model and style of pie to emulate.

Anyhow, lets take a proper look at Vill-I mean Mac's Pizza! Starting with the vodka sauce slice you see below.

 

  

So the thing with super thin slices like this is: super crunchy. There are air bubbles in the dough as you can see, and so you're going to get a few bites that are just nothing except a thin collapsing layer of char. Not really a fan of overcooked pizzas to begin with (*cough* Domino's *cough*) and when a quarter of the bites you take of a slice are just wispy burnt bread... I'm less than impressed. You don't really taste any of the creamy vodka sauce either (can you even see it?) and the saltiness of the sausage dominates much of the flavour. 

All that said, when actually getting a bite of the pizza and not air... this was a solid slice. Strangely enough, I enjoyed it more on reheating the last half of it in my frying pan at home... doing so really brought the base mozzarella back to life and softened the overall texture. This is the type of pizza you really have to eat while warm/hot to enjoy it... when cold it's a chewy, dry, crumbly slog and the flavours numb far too much. Lets move on.         

I wasn't planning on trying this particular slice, the Lemonhead as it is called... but when I arrived at Mac's an entire pizza of this was just coming out of the oven and, seeing the dry condition of the other slices, well I had to experience something fresh.

This was a terrific decision.

Wow. This is some impressive stuff. It reminds me a lot of the cheese and jam slice Big Trouble (now on Geary Avenue) used to offer at their old location. Very cheesy, creamy, there's an underlying citrusy sweetness, and juuuust enough black pepper to act as a subtle counterpoint. I'm not a dessert person at all (always liked salty over sweet) but to me this is kind of like a dessert pizza, and it was simply marvelous. Decadent indeed, considering how intensely creamy the sauce beneath the cheese is (especially on a bite with the ricotta dollops) and that tiny hint of lemon in the back of your mouth. If it sounds like your thing, I highly recommend this slice. This is genuinely one of the more unique pizza concoctions I've tried and they executed it very well. 

 

Overall! Mac's is pretty darn good I'd say. The biggest weakness, at least with the non-Lemonhead slice, is how dry and crispy it gets when not fresh. It's a problem I have to dock them points for, but beyond that there's a good mix of quality and creativity here. Probably a nudge better than old Village Pizza, but they still get a similar grade of "B+". But you have to try them quick out of the oven.