This Week In Pizza: BIG 3 Detroit Style Pizza

 

 

 

BIG 3 is one of those pizza places I probably discovered on one of BlogTo's typical hype articles. "NEW RESTAURANT IS SOOOOO POPULAR YOU HAVE TO ORDER YOUR FOOD SIXTEEN YEARS AHEAD OF TIME! WHOAAA!!!"

Indeed, there was an article back in 2021 that gave this very notion about Big 3. And yet... they've never really come up in discussions I've had with fellow pizza lovers, nor has Big 3 been recommended to me on any online forum I inflict-oops-I-mean-share my work upon.

They've been on my list for a while regardless, because I'm the Pokemon of pizza reviewers (gotta try em all!). After a rather disappointing job interview one recent Tuesday, I slowly made my way from Midtown Toronto back into my old neighbourhood of Yonge and Bloor, eager for some pizza.  

This isn't an area I visit at all anymore, not since I moved out on my own well over a decade ago, despite obvious nostalgia (my old high school is also nearby). Much of it has become unrecognizable to me even in that relatively short time... towering modern condos replacing little places and spots I can still recall vividly in the fading recesses of my mind. Yonge street is especially this way, but Church Street still retains some kernels of the places I remember. As I was about to enter Big 3, which is a few doors down from the 519 community center... I suddenly realized the location of Big 3 Pizza is precisely where a really great sandwich shop/deli named The Garage (I think?) used to be... a place I haven't thought about in well over twenty years. 

It's located inside an old brick house, where you walk up a short set of curved steps and the ordering area must've been a living room many decades ago. As such, it's a tight space with minimal seating... but fortunately it was a rarely pleasant and sunny November afternoon and the place wasn't exactly packed either. One aspect that caught my eye, and I'd noticed this online when checking out their menu, is that they also sell frozen versions of some of their particular pies. This is becoming fairly common now: Libretto, General Assembly and Piano Piano all do the same thing... but Big 3 is the first Detroit style pizzeria I've seen doing this (and they provide fairly specific cooking instructions as well).

Since I don't often carry around an oven with me... I went for something fresh: a pizza cleverly named "Take Me To Church" featuring mushrooms, sopressata, ricotta dollops, mozzarella, truffle oil and globs of tomato sauce on top (their website seems to have the wrong photo for this one). 

 

 

Toronto has quite a few Detroit style pizzerias now. None have even come close to matching Descendant, but Slowhand in Leslieville is truly worth a visit... and others like 8Mile certainly do the style reasonable justice. Aside from the semi-gross and expensive Oswald's, Toronto's take on the Detroit style tends to hit a solid baseline.

BIG 3 falls right along that baseline. There are some elements I really like, and others that underwhelm. The mozzarella cheese? Very meh and generic, like store bought shredded fare. The tomato sauce on top? Hearty and flavourful, like it belongs in a delicious lasagna. The sopressata? Fairly okay, not much of a spice or flavour presence. The ricotta dollops? Invaluable... the truffle taste seems centralized within them and it really elevates what would otherwise be a very repetitive, mediocre pizza into an interesting one. The mushrooms are mushrooms, nothing special or terrible. 

How about the texture? Is it enjoyable to eat? Overall... yes! Once again, the mozzarella really holds it back... it's just bland and once cold gets in the way of everything else. But despite that, they get the textures of a good Detroit style pie right: that thin crispiness on the edges, wonderful soft doughiness in the center. Good on the reheat as well: didn't go stale or lose a whole lot. Aside from the truffly ricotta (a strong presence sure but I would've liked just a little more of it) there's a good balance and distribution of the toppings (especially counting the tomato sauce as a topping, which is probably my favourite aspect of this pizza).

Overall. There isn't a whole lot more to say beyond: there are a few things they do very well, and a few that fall into generic territory. I do wonder if they have a prepared base for certain pizzas (frozen or otherwise) and then add required toppings as necessary, since it would explain the very forgettable cheese and salami. When you sell your pizzas frozen as well... I tend to put two and two together. 

Even if that is the case... well I don't recommend Big 3 as a "must try" but they're good enough to earn a lower end "B" from me, because like I said this had more tasty elements going for it than not. It's a weird one because if everything worked, it'd be pretty terrific... but its like they cheaped out on particular things and so it's a fairly uneven experience.  

        

This Week In Pizza: Prince Street Pizza

 

 

After trying well near 150 pizza places in Toronto over the past half decade... there just aren't that many spots left for me to review that have a high level of hype surrounding them. It's pretty much why many of my more recent reviews have been more obscure/off the path types of places, in hopes of finding a another hidden diamond somewhere (and Pizza On Fire proves they do indeed exist). In terms of hot spots, Badiali has been the biggest one on my list for a while (I've tried them before but need to again to properly write about it) but now perhaps a new champion of Toronto pizza hype has emerged: Prince Street. 

You see, Prince Street is in fact one of the more famous New York pizza joints. A couple of years back a friend of mine tried them there and gave a glowing account, even sending a picture so as to playfully tease me (it did look pretty darn good). Then around autumn of last year, it was announced that Prince Street would be opening a location in downtown Toronto as part of a new condo/mall named The Well. Fast forward to now, and here we are... with the Toronto edition of Prince Street Pizza featuring lengthy lineups just as the New York one does as well. 

Obviously, me being me, I had to sample them for myself at some point... but this also clashed with my intense dislike of waiting in line for anything. The additional factor of not living downtown made me fairly content with the reality I'd be putting this one off for a while, at least until said hype slowed down a bit. However, as often seems to occur, I just happened to be passing through the area after work and thought "Screw it, I'm right here. I'll suck it up, wait and now see what all this fuss is really about".

The inside setup is a little tight, almost like a fast food joint where you walk around a coral to approach the counter. There's no seating (again the inside is tiny) and even the waiting area is awkwardly small and right by the entrance/exit. They offer full pies but I wasn't keen on lingering around another 25 minutes, and besides their selection of slices is impressively extensive. Prince Street is fairly unusual in that they (or at least the Toronto one, can't speak for NY) offer both their standard and square style of slices. Wanting the full experience, I went for one of each: the Naughty Pie for the square slice, and the Fancy Prince for the standard. 

 

Same photo twice! Because it's so nice. Starting off with the Fancy Prince, which is essentially their take on a classic Margherita... hoo boy. This is really something. The tomato sauce explodes with vivid sharp flavour, and there is plenty of it (like they read my mind!). It's a thin, crisp slice, toeing a good balance of soft and crunchy... with both textures playing off each other fantastically. The cheese is fairly understated but good in its own right, sort of acting like the glue holding the other flavours together (and not tasting like actual glue, thankfully). 

What I really enjoyed most, however, was the shredded basil. Basil in this form added such a leafy fragrance to this slice, spread about on nearly every bite it's a sneaky good element among all these other strong flavours and textures. It's a simple slice all right... simply phenomenal. 

The Naughty Pie is the square slice you see, and a very different kind of experience. While it looks similar to the rectangular Detroit style, it's a bit different in composition and doesn't have that baked crispy cheese along the edges. To describe the Naughty Pie, this is a vodka sauce base with pepperoni, a drizzle of honey, regular mozzarella and a nice glob of ricotta cheese. 

The vodka sauce is the real spotlight here: it's a fairly oniony, subtly spicy (it builds slow) sauce that seems to seep even into the depths of the dough, or at least the oil does. This gives the slice an element of messiness (as most deeper dish pies are) and also a very consistent flavour and texture throughout. The slice itself is very soft, aside from the pepperoni parts, and impressively not very sticky either considering the addition of honey (you don't really taste it, aside from an occasional hint of sweetness). 

It's a good, flavourful oily pepperoni cup, but even more key is that ricotta cheese: without it, this would still be a high quality slice, just very oniony and oily... but the ricotta is a true stroke of pizza genius, countering that strong flavour with delicate creaminess that acts almost as a filter through it. Now you have a true dynamic combination of taste and texture, and it all works together beautifully.

 

Overall! God. Damn. I certainly expected it to be good, but considering the lineup and all the surrounding hype (people legitimately taking selfies in line) I wouldn't have been shocked if my final verdict leaned towards "great but overrated". Strike both of those descriptors. A few bites in I messaged my very same friend who had tried Prince Street in New York and said "half an hour in line, and totally worth it". 

This is just phenomenal pizza, and both slices were equally excellent despite how very different they are. Good enough to make you forget you spent a significant amount of time in a lineup for a mere pizza. It's not quiiiiite among the very inner circle best of Toronto, but the fact they can completely nail two different styles of slice... create such vivid, unique and memorable flavours on either slice... and isn't really absurdly pricey either (much cheaper than District Pizza, which belongs nowhere near this particular discussion)... I'm giving Prince Street an "A-", and a strong one at that. Versatile and of very high quality. This is probably one of the ten or fifteen best pizzas Toronto has now.             

  

    

This Week In Pizza: Pizzeria Rustico

 

 

Compared to I'd guess the majority of my neighbours... I'm essentially a newcomer to the east Beaches neighbourhood of Toronto. Even after nearly a decade! As such, my memory of longtime places now departed is considerably hazy. 

I have very fond memories of The Salty Dog Pub, Bam! Bistro, remember Whitlock's (which has been a cursed location since closing a few year back), Hogtown Smoke, Cinamon Indian Bistro, a Pizza Hut on the corner of Hambly/Queen, and of course (most importantly) the famous Lick's Burgers near Waverley where the staff would all sing your order. When speaking to an older friend who grew up in the area, however, I can't even imagine what that main stretch of Queen Street East looked like when I was in high school twenty years ago, nevermind thirty when he was. 

The Upper Beaches area triples down on my severe lack of recollection, since its an area I frequent much, much less (being separated by a cliff will do that). I'd first noticed Pizzeria Rustico a couple of years ago as a papered up storefront while I was walking by, unsure if this was some restaurant that had escaped my notice before a demise, or a new place waiting for the endless pandemic to ease up already so to finally open their doors.

Turns out both were somewhat correct. Upon ordering from Rustico, seeing the "Since 2004" on the box made me immediately curious. Their website is very minimal and provides no back story or "About Us", but digging deeper I discovered this was a re-opening (dating to about last year) at a new location. Again, I couldn't find definite information about where the old one was (I suppose I could go back to the restaurant and ask... but that sounds like actual work and ugh that stupid cliff). However, searching the interwebs revealed an establishment called Rustico Italian Food, a resto/bodega which seems to have shuttered back in 2018... located, yep, at Warden and Kingston Road which is barely a block away from where Pizzeria Rustico is now. Seeing as the (very limited) online reviews of both places refer to a chef named Joe... I'm confident you, dear reader, can put away the Holmes hat and take this leap of an assumption with me. 

Oh, and also checking this article the logo looks nearly the same. But still! Detective work! 

Walking inside Pizzeria Rustico reminded me a lot of, and yes I know I refer to it often, my days working at Pizza Libretto Ossington... but hear me out. I haven't been back to the Ossington one in several years so maybe they've expanded it, but as the original location it is considerably smaller than the newer ones... which despite it being so busy back then still gave it a homier, more intimate vibe. Rustico's interior aesthetic is much the same: a quaint Italian eatery with enough sheen and style to suggest high quality food, but with a certain warmth to be welcoming rather than fancy, aggressively hip or pretentious. Aside from the red lights seeming on some kind of overdrive, it's an appealing space for a sit down dinner. 

Many of the pizza options featured toppings I prefer to avoid (artichokes, olives) and while I was incredibly tempted to try one of their white pizzas with potatoes, sausage and pecorino cheese... for a first visit I buckled and kept it very simple with a Diavola. 

Simple is indeed the name of this match: It's just sauce, cheese and spicy soppressata. "Diavola" essentially translates as "spicy", or "the devil's spice" if you want to be more eloquent about it... which means that there are many different versions of a Diavola pizza. Many I've encountered will use a chili oil, or hot peppers, or even a spicier tomato sauce to enhance the heat. Rustico here chooses to let the salami do all the heavy spicy lifting, and we shall get into whether or not they succeed. 

We'll start with the basics though, since this pizza is depending so much upon them. The crust! I will say, the fantastic Somun Superstar aside (also on Kingston Road, just a few leaps westbound)... it'd been a while since a good crust/dough had come my way. Superstar utilizes their mastery of baking, whereas Rustico somehow creates a dough that is impressively light and airy, but with that valuable crisp and baked flavour. It's really good, and holds up on the reheat also (a little tougher after the pan, but far from chewing old gum).

The mozzarella likewise is of good quality. It's melted in that sweet spot of having enough coverage across the pie, but still firm and wonderful when you get a good bite of it. Even cold (always an effective test) this cheese holds up and keeps its flavour, and when warm it is very on point. So far so good. 

Now for the sauce. Possibly my favourite thing here because it has a subtle little flavour to it I haven't encountered often. It leans on the sweeter side of tomato sauces, but it's much more of a fruity sweet than an sugary one. Some cheap pizza sauces can lean sweet and it's a fleeting sensation to disguise the lack of anything else. Here, Rustico brings something that while still tasting very much like a good tomato pizza sauce, also has this sort of plum/pear note that sneaks in, says hello, and gently waves goodbye. Very interesting stuff. 

Time for the headliner, the salami. The Diavola soloist, in this case. It's a thicker cut/slice, and in of itself? Tasty. Plenty of flavour, not aggressively salty or oily, and they are generous with it. The spice? Ahhhhh. Sorry, but it's just not there. Trying a piece of the soppressata on its own... there's a bit of a building earthy heat that eventually arrives in the back of the mouth, but vanishes very quickly. I'm no spice fiend (though my tolerance might be stronger than some) however I was hoping for even just something that would elbow my taste buds into "ooooo, nice" on the heat front. 

Perhaps they're going for a more accessible level of spice here, which is fine of course... but this brings everything all around to Rustico's biggest failing for me: as a simple pizza it works but it's really just missing one thing. This pizza is my only example sure but judging by the menu, they keep things rather straightforward (which is why the white potato pizza caught my eye, it seemed so out of place amongst the rest). That's a terrific modus operandi when you can nail the absolute basics, which Rustico absolutely does. However... what elevates a pizza from very good to elite can be such a little thing. A little dollop of creamy cheese, a sprinkle of cracked pepper or herbs, a certain drizzle of oil... all of those could've really unlocked the true potential of this pizza here. 

 

Overall! Many of the reviews I've read online (after I tried Rustico myself, I like going in blind without pre-context) were very positive of their pizzas, although slightly discouraged by the price-point. I'll theorize that how basic their pizza is might play a role in that discouragement: paying a premium price for something quite good but also not... exciting. And man... some chili oil or pickled peppers on this Diavola here would elevate it so, so much. Even if it cost an extra couple bucks, just that added element would catapult it up the list. 

As is, Pizzeria Rustico is a very good pizza that gets the fundamentals extremely correct. It's that inescapable sense of lacking 'something' that means I have to land them in the "B" range, although it's on the strong side of that grade. Perhaps one day I'll go back for that potato, sausage and pecorino pizza and re-evaluate, but until then.       

  

This Week In Pizza: Big Brothers Pizza (Kingston Rd)

 

 

Beware, the ovens have eyes. 2 slices plus 2 slices equals five. Big Brothers Pizza is watching you.

 

Now that we've gotten the necessary jokes out of the way, Big Brothers pizza! This is actually a mini-chain of sorts: along with their Kingston Road location (which I visited), deeper into Scarborough they have another outpost on Morningside Avenue... and it also appears they have a third location all the way in St. Catharines? Certainly no risk of territorial overlap there. 

Even with three stores Big Brothers is fairly new to the pizza scene, having first opened their doors in 2017. There's a link on their website that reads "School Pizza", an option I'm confident I haven't seen before. Basically it takes you to a form asking if your school would be interested in having Big Brothers cater for a scholastic event. Unusual for a company to be so specific, but honestly it makes a lot of business sense.

Getting into the pizza itself, as you can see I went for a slice instead of a full fresh pie. I have my reasons, primarily that I haven't worked very much this month but also! None of their full pizza creations seemed all that unique or interesting, and this slice was opportunistically very fresh from the oven as I arrived. 

This is their "Canadian" slice, which like most places is some combination of pepperoni, mushrooms, and bacon (I've seen it with ham before as well). I'm genuinely curious: why is this slice called a "Canadian"? What is the origin of this? My surface-level internet research yielded no definitive answers, beyond it may have just been a 1970s/80s corporate idea that everybody jumped aboard with. However it came about, it's a good combination so no complaints.

Big Brothers pizza is... very okay. First off I loved the smell: walking out with this hot slice on a slightly breezy day... the scent of oily, crispy pepperoni rising to my nostrils... it always reminds me of the excitement I'd feel as a child when pizza was on the dinner horizon. On first few bites, it's a very bready pie... a lot of thick white bread taste to it, which would get annoying quickly but there is some crisp to the bottom of it. 

I like how they use bacon strips, which keeps this slice from being a salt fest had it been bacon crumble, and the mushrooms actually have some softness to them. The bacon is juicy, the pepperoni crisp on the edges... the overall texture of this pizza is definitely a positive, a fine sensation when eating it. 

That's important because in terms of flavour? Not a whole lot here. Nothing unpleasant, just that every bite drifts into sameyness. The flavours all blend together into "tastes like generic decent pizza". None of the elements, sauce, cheese or toppings, really have anything that stands out... in fact it's that bready taste you notice most and that's just because the majority of this slice was the dough (the cheese layer on top is very thin).

 

Overall. Kind of like a "pizza by the numbers" experience. No major strengths or weaknesses, and nothing particularly stands out about it. Very forgettable, I'm sad to say... the type of pizza we've all had probably dozens of times and get them confused with one another. Since this is still pizza we're talking about... even at this level of 'unremarkable' it makes for a perfectly decent snack, and it held up well on the reheat in the toaster oven. I wouldn't recommend rushing to your nearest Big Brothers right this moment, but I'll still give them a lower side "C++" mostly for a decent baseline of quality.            

  

This Week In Pizza: Samaira's Kitchen

 

 

Way back in 2018 when I first started this endless journey of pizza tasting, there was a spot near the corner of Queen Street East and Pape that had just opened up called "Queen City Pizza" (replacing a longtime Amato's). I sampled Queen City and was very unimpressed: criticizing the extreme amount of bland cheese and how overcooked it was (although cutting their slices into three was uniquely weird).  

Queen City lasted maybe a year or so before shuttering, with Samaira's Kitchen eventually taking its place. The layout barely changed at all (even the tables are in the same places) but the prices jumped (Queen City wasn't a bargain, either, even in 2018 bucks). This steep escalation of cost in tandem with the place seeming almost exactly the same as before... well it certainly kept me away for quite some time. 

It's been at least over three years since Samaira's came to be, seemingly of high enough local popularity and quality to sustain and survive some rough times for restaurants... and so the time had finally come for this mad pizza man to try them and see if they'd improved on the previous pizza tenants. I wandered in on a Tuesday early evening, slightly drunk (don't ask, rough week) and elected upon a two topping small pie. My choice was a typical go-to for me: goat cheese and bacon. 

 

    

Finally, a pizza with plenty of sauce! Thank heavens. Even Somun Superstar, which I absolutely loved, was stingy with that precious tomato spread. Not here. Also... the sauce has quite a nice hint of garlic to it. Did they know I was coming? What's going on here? Wild stuff, but much appreciated of course. 

On its own merit, it's a very okay tomato sauce. Fairly dried out in this form, particularly the more exposed parts, and beyond that garlic touch it's fairly generic. The crust is likewise fine... not remarkable in any way and it gets real stiff once the pie gets cold. We're off to a very inauspicious start here.

Fortunately, it gets notably better. Even without the addition of goat cheese this would be a very thickly cheesy pizza, as the photo demonstrates, and the mozzarella is a standout in its pleasant soft, gooeyness. It walks the tight-line of being so close to overcooked, but just at the point where you get a layer of crisp bubbles on top of the cheese, but the rest keeps its malleable texture. Even once cold, it never stiffened or dried out, which is a good sign of quality. Lots of sauce and cheese, together at last? I like the balance.

You can't really see because of all the cheese, but those are bacon strips in there and not crumble, so another point for that. I've always liked the goat cheese and bacon combo because when done right, you get an added creamy element to the pizza along with some salty tenderness. Samaira's delivers upon my mad creation with admirable skill: I enjoyed this pizza quite a bit. My suspicions are that a simple cheese and sauce pizza from them would be very unremarkable, considering the nondescript crust... but I'd still take even that over multiple other pies I've sampled. 

 

Overall! Honestly my biggest hangup with Samaira's Kitchen is the price. This was a small two topping pizza (we're talking 10") that still came in over twenty bucks. It's a perfectly fine pizza but nothing mind blowing in terms of high quality, and considering its lesser elements (meh crust) the cost doesn't quite match what's inside the box. But I did like it: it's saucy, cheesy, a good amount of toppings scattered throughout, while the foundation finds that good spot between flimsy and too firm. Significantly better than Queen City, but I wouldn't say Samaira's is a must try spot. Beyond a nicely garlicky tomato sauce (which again is more of a 'me' thing), nothing really leaps out at you as being excellent. It's a "B-". Essentially the kind of place around the corner from your house you'd frequent for cheap pickup specials and never be disappointed... "that was solid and tasty". Problem is, those affordable specials don't exist as far as I've seen.       

This Week In Pizza: Wood 900 Grill and Bar

 

 

Allow me to take you back to a scene last November (of 2022): I'm miserably on the Queen streetcar running late for work (thanks to said streetcar) and just staring out the window in hopes of relieving my growing anxiety about this unbearable situation. This is why I bike in the winter when I can, folks. Despite my internal screaming the car lingers at Parliament and Queen for abnormally long, and through the window on my right I spot something: a new pizza joint. 

Fast forward almost a year, and various circumstances found me hungry and in that particular neighbourhood. Wood 900 had indeed been on my Big List of Pizzas To Try since that initial discovery, but like a good nine tenths of that massive list I hadn't been in a huge hurry to seek them out. 

You walk in and the interior is not typical of a pizza place... more like a cheap diner disguised as a fancy restaurant. The entrance is dim aside from some neon, and then the actual inside sticks to a fairly basic colour scheme. Not an insult, for the record... there's nothing unappealing about it beyond it's stark simplicity. If not for well over a dozen booth tables you'd think this was just a large well lit dive bar, and perhaps it was previously. 

To my delight, in 2023 dollars the prices here are extremely reasonable. I'm not sure I can ever recall a wood-fired pizza at this low a price point... even eleven years ago when I worked at the Ossington Pizzeria Libretto their pizzas cost more than Wood 900's offerings do now. Certainly a curious eyebrow raiser, but no matter. In I went for their two topping special... tax and tip later it was fifteen bucks. Like stepping into a time machine! 

The place was also nearly empty on a Friday night (hmmm) but they were getting a bunch of orders on the phone. Indeed, during my brief time inside an Uber delivery driver got rebuked for not arriving with a proper bag.

 

 

My two toppings were spicy salami and mushrooms, and immediate positive points for using mushrooms with some moisture to them. I talked about this in my review of Ambassador, but as delicious as mushrooms are on pizza one problem I constantly encounter is how they dry out and wither in the oven. So having mushrooms here with an agreeable, juicy texture was a very pleasant surprise. The flavour? Fairly lacking of that rich, wonderful earthiness you normally expect... these are semi-watery and I suspect previously frozen. 

The spicy salami, however, I quite enjoyed a lot. Finely sliced, not oozing with grease, with a nice little kick of sting just to let you know it's there. Solid stuff. As for the cheese... fairly standard mozzarella I'd say. Enjoyably gooey, with some of the waxiness you get from cheaper cheeses (and lacking the delectable soft buttery taste you get from the really good stuff. So far... with okay-ish mushrooms, enjoyable salami and mediocre mozzarella... pretty all right I'd say.

You're probably thinking, as I was... come on now. This is a wood-fired pizza coming in at almost half the price as almost any other of that style in the city. There has to be a horrible catch! Indeed. Not horrible, mind you (or me I guess, considering how I framed that)... but this pie has some glaring shortcomings and the main culprit is the bread. 

There is some nice char, but aside from that it tastes of nothing but dryness. The bottom of the pizza is excessively dusty, like to the point it coats your fingers after a few bites. This can happen depending on the type of oven, and with a stellar pizza it's a mere inconvenience rather than an irritating nuisance. But really, the issue is how much this bland crust feels chalky and dehydrated in the mouth. It's less noticeable in the center of the pizza, where the cheese and toppings are doing the work (in fact, the slightly droopy texture in those parts is extremely nice)... but when you start taking bites of the outer edges, the true quality reveals itself. 

The sauce isn't much to talk about either. It's at the level of your generic, store bought canned fare. Tiny bit of sugary sweetness, which again sorta works on the cheesier bites... but it's very meh. Another issue was the reheat: I used the frying pan on low heat and slightly covered it (to lock in even more of the moisture), but even executing that considered step could not save this crust from drying out even further. It didn't translate well on second heating... most of the flavours were more muted and the awful bread crumbled apart in staleness. Didn't even eat those bits. 

----

 

Overall. The biggest "bad" of this pizza stands out the most: it's an unappealing, flavourless dusty crust that might be one of the least pleasant I've encountered in my many pizza travels (at least, not counting the worst of the big pizza chains). It's a glaring weakness that drags this down pretty significantly, because otherwise there's rather a fair bit of charm to this. It's a cheap wood-fired pizza that does its best with the limited quality it has, and when fresh I enjoyed about 75 percent of it. They get the droopy, gooey feel of a wood-fire pie quite right, and while the flavours suffer on the reheat that foldable texture mostly remained. 

It's a tough one to grade. They're far from a "must try", but I had more moments of positivity here than I did with say, District Pizza... which for just two slices was significantly more expensive than Wood 900. Lets say.... Wood 900 gets a "C++". If they had even mediocre dough this is easily a couple grades higher, but alas. An admirable effort.              

 

This Week In Pizza: District Pizza

 

 

 

Appearances can be deceiving. While oftentimes an attractive looking spot will offer up a likewise quality product... I've encountered many sleek spots where all the effort went into the flash and none into the actual pizza.

District Pizza is a rather swanky spot in the Distillery District neighbourhood of Toronto. With it's large glass windows it looks more like an art gallery from the outside than a pizza joint. Heck, there is even art inside:

Those are indeed painted pizza boxes, which I cannot recall ever seeing displayed in such a way at any other pizza joint. It's a nice touch, and definitely supports my "art gallery" comment above. 

It's an appealing interior, but that said what really matters most is the flavour and quality of your pizza. How does District grade out on that front? I ordered two different slices to answer this very question: their version of a meat-lovers, and a special of the day/week/month with pulled chicken, chorizo, cilantro and pickled onions. The two slices came in around twenty dollars, which is awful steep even by today's standards. The Distillery District is a touristy destination, and clearly there's a touristy price markup in play here.

 

 

Looks decent enough. But flavour? Alas, this is where it all falls apart, my friends. The chicken is fine and nicely seasoned, the pickled onions a nice addition of sweetness... but dear lord this slice is way, way too damn oily/greasy. Like, to the point your fingers still smell and feel of it hours later. You could lubricate a bicycle chain with this stuff. 

The culprit is mostly the chorizo, which is rather unpleasant in its excessive fattiness (and sadly prominent on the other slice as well), and that flavour bleeds into every bite of this sorry pie. A shame, because the rest is rather okay... but that greasiness dominates the entire non-crust aspect of this pizza. It quickly becomes tiresome and slightly stomach-turning.

For the record, I have to mention here that an overtly oily pizza need not be a bad thing. Fresca on College is one of the oiliest, dirtiest (in a good way) slices you'll find, but it works better for them because that oil doesn't dominate the other flavours as it does here. Plus, that Fresca oil is garlicky so... checkmate.

This Meat Lovers one (officially named "Pleased To Meat You", yeah) is a bit more tolerable on the oily front, though not by much. Strangely, this pizza reminds me a lot of the chain Pizzaiolo: there's a sort of herby, olive oil taste to things, in the crust especially. There's a similar hint of light wheat in there as well.

Both of these District Pizza slices tasted rather undercooked as well: an undeniable doughiness that I usually don't mind, but a greasy slice like this really needs more crunch and crisp to counter-act it. Un-surprisingly, on the reheat (in the pan) was an improvement for this very reason. More crisp and it cooked out some of the excessive oil and grease. You could still taste it and the flavour domination sadly wasn't avoidable... but it wasn't nearly as unbearable as when fresh. Another disappointment: there are red chilis on this slice, but is it spicy? Nope. Barely taste em. What a shame.

 

Overall... I went into this one with what I'd call "curious expectations". Most of the reviews I've found regarding this place have been negative and I see why. It's way too expensive for what you're getting, and while there is some modest quality... even without that awful oily sausage taste this would be far below a must try pizza place. It's never good when your pizza reminds me of a prominent Toronto chain, and I'd frankly much prefer what the chain offers (they're also much cheaper). 

There's enough 'good' hidden away in here to save it from being completely terrible, but I cannot recommend trying District Pizza... not even out of curiousity. Maybe if it wasn't ten bucks a slice? Give me a break. Giving them a "C+", and even that might be generous. I like the cool style, but the substance is flawed.   

This Week In Pizza: Somun Superstar Sequel

 

 

It's an interesting question, when having reviewed a pizza place before... how long is a necessary length of time until a revisit is prudent? At least two thirds of places on my big list are places I've only tried once (and more than half of those I don't require or desire a second visit) and the fact of the matter is: places can change. Certain chefs or pizzaiolos come and go, recipes get revamped, a mini-chain expands and the quality diminishes, new ownership mixes things up... or hell our own tastes as pizza enjoyers shifts as well.

In my experience trying places multiple times, almost always the secondary/later evaluations tend to be lesser to some degree. Or in the case of my true favourites (Descendant, Defina) my high levels of expectation have been happily maintained. My point is, aside from getting Pizza Nova on a good day (and those good days have been real rare the past several years)... I can't exactly recall a recent notable pizza that has been even better on my second try. 

I wrote about Somun Superstar back in 2020 when (like most of us) I had nothing to do... so I tried a bunch of restaurants closeby to me (takeout at the time, of course). Somun Superstar is a Bosnian joint that specializes in their baked somun bread, essentially the Balkan version of flatbread or pita. When first opening in 2019 they specialized in cevapcici sandwiches with their baked-in-house breads. The pandemic hit and, considering they already had a large oven, decided to start offering pizzas on Friday and Saturday nights. This caught my attention, and led to the article linked above.

 

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Well, if you skipped the link, spoiler on that article: it was overall a very good pizza, elevated by its exceptional dough (shocker) and texture, with the rest of the elements doing a serviceable job. I do recall that they didn't cut their pizzas at the time, so I think I brought a knife and fork with me when eating it in a nearby park. 

Coming back now over three years later, was quite interesting. I admit I still have not tried their sandwiches yet, despite their location sitting about six blocks from my house (it requires trekking up a monstrous hill, okay?) Somewhat recently they ditched the "Friday or Saturday" pizza night thing, and now offer pizza every evening of the week they're open. It's still a limited window: you can only order a pizza after 4pm and the place closes as early as 8 some nights. 

Anyhow... after a long windy walk buying some Halloween candy, I stopped in Somun Superstar and ordered their Smoked Beef pizza. Here is the whole thing below:

 

 

 

Taste or flavour aside... that is just a beautiful looking pie. My first time trying Somun Superstar, I went simple: it was sliced sausage, mozzarella and sauce. Not here. This above is a pizza with their dry smoked beef, sudzuk smoked sausage, tiny basil leaves, tiny sliced mushrooms, kajmak cream cheese, and your usual tomato sauce and mozzarella.   

To cut out the dramatic buildup... the quality matches the aesthetic. This was simply phenomenal. Absolutely fabulous pizza. Again, the bread/dough grabs the spotlight... a light, yet fluffy and pillowy bread that is soft on each bite, almost heavenly how good this is when still warm and fresh from an oven. While I was waiting, a couple came in just to order some of the fresh flatbread by itself... just saying in case you don't believe me. I've said it a lot but having excellent bread is such an underrated aspect in a pizza: it makes the texture of it so incredibly enjoyable and can elevate otherwise mediocre ingredients. 

Fortunately, the other elements of this pizza far transcend mediocre. These toppings have a fair bit going on... but flavour-wise it's really the dry smoked beef that stands out. It is on the dry, chewier side, but who cares when you can get this much zing into such a thinly sliced and then baked meat. You get the smokey flavour more than the dry, but both are noticeably there...  almost like sipping a fine scotch in meat form. Really interesting and flavourful. The sudzuk is more like a black peppery, with mild-ish spice, thinly (and perfectly for this) sliced sausage that likewise isn't shy with flavour, but not dominating on bites either. This gives a hint more juiciness than the smoked beef, and they work in tandem marvelously.

But wait, there's more. The dollops of kajmak cream cheese, multiple ones on each slice, add some pleasant creaminess to it all. It's a loose cream cheese, with more of a thick yogurt consistency than your spreadable Philadelphia-like brand... and it provides a nice subtle hint of rich sweetness. A very fine balance to the multiple beefs adorning all of this pie.

The mushrooms and basil leaves are very much background features here: I only noticed each respectively on a couple of bites throughout the whole pizza. Tomato sauce is even less noticeable: I do greatly appreciate when a place (especially made to order) isn't a wallflower with the sauce and sadly my biggest complaint here is that you hardly get a whiff of it. No sense of what their tomato sauce tasted like at all... this could've been a white pizza very easily and made little difference. For a lesser pizza I would seriously dock some points... but man everything else here was just so remarkably good I'm willing to allow the moving screen. 

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Overall! Gee golly, I don't say this often but within my second slice I already knew this was one of the best pizzas I've had this year. To bring it back to my introduction about trying places again, it was very interesting to see how different Somun Superstar's pizza was after three years. Their foundation is their great bread and that delicious high quality remains... but this pie was much less poofy and more refined than that first one I'd tried... and more evenly cooked as well. They pass the reheat test (the bread loses a lot of that beautiful softness but gains some fine crispiness on the pan, low heat), the distribution of toppings is impeccable (each bite has something to offer, yet few are the same), the overall balance of everything is there... I don't know what else to say. 

When I first tried them in 2020 it was clear they knew what they were doing, but as suddenly making pizzas on top of their usual offerings (during a pandemic no less) was perhaps not in their initial grand plans... my theory is that they were fairly raw at the pizza game back then (my first review would've been within two or three months of them starting that). They were good then, and now with three years to work at it, they've gotten even better. Much better. In 2020 I gave them a "B+"... this one here is on the lower side of an "A--", for real. Needs more sauce, and maybe the simpler offerings are a bit more generous with that... but everything else just works so fabulously. The smokey beef, the creamy sweet dollops, the delicate dough, good solid mozzarella... its harmony and diversity for the taste buds. This is a Top 20 pizza place in Toronto, full stop. Bosnian pizza. Check em out.