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.
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