If you've read even just a few of these pizza reviews, I'm sure you must know by now how much I love my long intros... but there isn't a whole lot of buildup to this one. Rejoice!
In seriousness though, I'm couldn't even find out how long La Famiglia on Danforth has been around for... their website or the rest of the almighty internet providing zero information (although keep in mind, my research ability/willingness grades out optimistically to "Lazy"). This place could be celebrating fifty years tomorrow, or three. Who knows? They even have an extensive FAQ page on their site... and go figure it's dozens of questions about deliveries and 'how to pay' type stuff. Bah!
So, the story of how this little pizza parlour came to be is entirely a mystery to my knowledge. Location? That's easy: a side-street corner in the middle of the uneventful stretch of East Danforth between Main Street and Woodbine (filled mostly with car dealerships and supermarkets, with the occasional random cafe or restaurant). Walking into their space in the middle of a weekday afternoon, you get the sense of a small, old European cafe or bar (complete with soccer match on a big screen). With only a few small tables inside, this is more of a take-away joint and they do offer slices... so I went for two different ones (coming in at around 12 bucks all together... although at first the fella forgot and only charged me for one... "six bucks for two slices? Best deal ever!")
No real description needed for what our first slice is here (obviously their vegan potato and pesto offering, duh). La Famiglia describes themselves as a New York style pie and they definitely get the prerequisite crispness down. It's a fairly thin crust and there's some happy crunch to the bottom of each bite, a nice foundation for the intense cheesiness of this pizza. Indeed, the cheese-to-everything-else ratio is rather askew here, especially the Hawaiian slice, but it is a quality mozzarella at least... a hint of butteriness lingering on the tongue. As for the rest... pineapple is pineapple and the ham, while lean and tasty, is a bit dry on the edges (as will happen to ham if sitting out for even a short while).
Slice number two! Not exactly sure what you'd call this one, but the basics are: pepperoni, roasted red peppers, thinly shaved sausage, and a healthy dose of seasonings. It shares that same crispness as the Hawaiian but the flavours here are much more dynamic. You get a good balance of sweetness from the red peppers, which themselves are pleasantly soft and fresh-tasting... complimented by the sausage and pepperoni combo (not overly salty as well, thankfully). The thinly sliced/shredded sausage is a bit unusual as well, but that does keep it from overwhelming the other flavours with its fattiness as many chunkier bits of sausage can when on a pizza. You only get a hint of it this way, and it's interesting to see sausage in such a secondary role.
I didn't get a lot of tomato sauce on either slice, which is not ideal for my particular tastes, and it is an overall hindrance to this pizza. When you do taste it, the flavour leans more on the herbal tomato sauce side rather than acidic, hearty or sweet. Alas, the lack of sauce does lead certain bites into the Dry Side of The Force, particularly once it cools down. Fortunately a thinner crust pie can get away with this much, much easier than others.
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Overall! For a basic, thin crust slice... this was pretty good. Emphasis on "basic": this is a shorter review than usual because La Famiglia on Danforth keeps things incredibly simple. Just straight-forward thin pizza with good quality care and ingredients, which shines through most with that irresistible crispness to each bite (the crust has it as well). The cheese is somewhat excessive but that's a very minor complaint, and if not for that lack of sauce presence I'd really call this a mostly unknown pizza gem in Toronto's east end. Regardless, it's simplicity doesn't necessarily equal "bad", not at all, and both slices hit the spot quite a bit. This gets a strong "B" grade from me... if you happen to be walking by and the slices look fresh from the oven, I doubt you'll be disappointed one bit.
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