This Week In Pizza: Mark's Pizzas

 

 

Like finally giving Pizzeria Badiali their long overdue, trying out Mark's Pizzas was one I'd had kicking around for a while on the "Seriously Must Try" section of the endless list. 

Hey... I don't drive and do you know where this freaking place is? It's in a random plaza in Scarborough (and I mean east Scarborough, not your quaint Warden station Scarborough), nowhere near any GO station, and the TTC bus that goes out there is the one that ends at the Toronto Zoo... which is probably only half a dozen stops later! At this point you're closer to Pickering than East York. 

And yet... they've so consistently been regarded among the best pie Toronto has to offer... I couldn't just throw my hands up in the air and shrug forever. I mean, well I was doing just that... but no longer! Fortunately an old and close friend lives in Guildwood (which still isn't close to Mark's but at least within their delivery range) and so one recent night we collaborated to sample this critically beloved but distant pizza outpost.      

This is an extremely rare occasion wherein I never entered the actual place, so you're all spared my usual "the place looked and smelled like this, it was windy outside, I was wearing a brown toque blah blah" shtick (some people seem to not like those parts). However, we're not quite yet jumping straight into things because Mark's Pizzas has a very interesting website. They go into a lot of detail about their ingredients, their prep and process, there's a sweet shoutout to their small staff by name, an opening confession of sorts from the owner (presumably "Mark"?) explaining he is not a trained chef but just somebody who likes to cook for people... and then most interesting of all: a half hour video of him making an actual pizza! There's too much there to really describe in further detail so I really recommend checking all this out yourself. Really fascinating stuff if you are a pie nerd and its extremely rare for a pizza place to go so into the thick weeds on their website. 

More good news: because there were three of us (my friend and her mom, and then later her hungry brothers who probably ate the leftovers *edit: confirmed)... we got to try two pizzas! And let me tell you, these are bigger than your usual pies as well. I'm guessing probably 16" instead of your usual 12" (so an extra large at most chains). 

Feel like I've been sampling a lot of pepperoni pizzas lately in these reviews. Regardless, this one puts a different kind of spin on things. On paper, it's really just their pepperoni pie with basil and some hot honey (which is smartly on the side, bless them). Basil is the most classic pizza topping of all time (duh)... but basil and pepperoni isn't really a duo I often think of on a pizza. If executed right it would make sense right? Sausage and basil work brilliantly in all sorts of pastas together... 

There's also something about basil on a pizza that's just so appealing to the eye, and the presentation here fits that bill. While the cheese does look more on the yellow side, meaning a bit more oil/grease within (the contrast with the pure white box doesn't help) the blend of colours on this pizza is really quite stellar... I especially like the outer layer of the red sauce around the crust and then the core of pepperoni and cheese in that center. This may seem like much ado about nothing but at this visual level you can tell this was a pie built and crafted with precision and care. It bodes well.

Now for the important stuff. Unlike the New York City style slices I've reviewed a lot lately, this exchanges that crisp base for something much softer and floppier. Not a bad thing: the foundation is still firm enough to hold up the toppings, which is good because this thing is loaded with pepperoni. Deceptively so, like a secret base of them were hiding beneath the cups and cheese resting on the surface. 

It's a simple pie, but a very good one. With all that salty pepperoni and shavings of dry cheese, that basil and hot honey are crucial in balancing out those heavy flavours. The basil is a pungent, leafy presence... only slightly baked and so keeping much of its distinctive taste and moisture. Refreshing! And crucial: the sheer amount of pepperoni on this thing could've been entirely overpowering (and texture-wise it kind of is, making this a somewhat chewy pizza in a meaty way)... but that basil just gives the tongue a reprieve from all that cured saltiness. 

As for the hot honey... well hot honey makes almost any pizza better. There are exceptions (a white mushroom pizza with lots of blue cheese, for instance) but when you have a pie so heavy with pork as this one... adding a bit of sweet and a sneaky bit of spice to it really brings out more of the flavours within, like adding a keyboard part that fits neatly into an already great melody. Once again, bless Mark's for keeping the hot honey on the side rather than drizzling all over once fresh out of the oven. This both allowed us to add however much we wanted to each slice, but more crucially kept the honey from melting into the slices while the pizza was steaming hot... which would turned the affair into a sticky mess (and lessened the taste). Seems like obvious stuff, but in my experience you'd be surprised.

The sauce and crust don't stand out as much, but both do their jobs admirably. This is more of a softer crust, pillowy and only crunchy on those top charred bits. It's more of a hearty tomato sauce with a faint sting, which combines well with the pepperoni. As for the cheese, you can see (in the photo of the entire pie) how it mostly congregates in the center... leading into a sort of texture journey if you eat your slices from the pointy end working towards the crust: gooey cheese initially and then much saucier as you approach the edge, with pepperoni prominent throughout. Quick aside, now there's an article for another day: how do you eat your slices? I'll have to remember that.

 

     

Moving onto the second pizza, a vegetarian option as my dear friend's mother requested as such. What we've got here is a white pizza with arugula, squash, mozzarella, goat cheese and some shaved pecorino? I can't find this pie on their website anymore (must've been a special) and so I'm guessing what that last cheese is... but it's definitely a shaved hard-type of fromage.

In an absolute shocker, both my friend and I preferred this slice over the pepperoni one! My credentials as a meat-lover (such as they were) are in serious jeopardy. What is most interesting are the bits of squash: I'd never tried squash on a pizza before, possibly have never even seen anybody offer squash on a pizza, and the thought to put it on there had definitely not once crossed my mind. \

Here, the squash really works wonders: it's extremely well prepared (more juicy than firm) with a thick jam-like texture and just the perfect amount of sweetness. That sweetness really gives dimensions to this pie, which would otherwise be just the leafy spice of arugula and a mix of creamy cheeses (I would still eat that though). 

Whereas the pepperoni pie was tasty but unbalanced, this particular pizza has that harmony between the elements. You can really taste the mix of cheeses more (and the goat cheese keeps the composition softer once cool), the arugula and squash pair perfectly (like a good restaurant salad) and it loses nothing taste-like when cold. A truly unique creation and a very impressive one that I liked considerably more than I thought I would.

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Overall! Even had we stuck with just the pepperoni pie, I'd still be giving this a very good grade. The addition of that squash pizza though... absolute game changer. Like pulling off a highlight reel dunk instead of an acrobatic layup... both are good but only one of those really gets the crowd off their feet. 

I haven't described the mozzarella cheese much so I have to mention it's really marvelous in a "behind the scenes" kind of way. It doesn't jump out in particular but is solid and doing important work throughout... giving a slight buttery hint, still keeping its moisture when when cold... it's the crucial glue holding it all together (man I hate the unappealing way I describe good mozzarella as "glue" but you know what I mean here with my analogy).

Mark's Pizza definitely gets a firm recommendation from me. Their only major failing is just being so damn far from anything (apologizes to east Scarboroughers, but you're used to it I'm sure). Since we tried two very different pizzas, individually I'd grade the pepperoni one a high "B+" and the squash an "A--"... so going right down the middle Mark's gets a "B++" from me. Really damn good pizza and probably makes my Top 30 in Toronto comfortably. 

Check them out! But, if like me you live west of Warden Avenue, or Midland Avenue, or Brimley Road, or McCowan Road, or Markham Road, or Scarborough Golf Club, or Morningside Avenue... its quite a trek from any of those and they do have weird hours, so definitely check ahead of time before embarking on the adventure.          

This Week In Pizza: A Kipling Station Double Feature

 

Two pizza reviews for the usual price of none! 

Initially my plan was to review these two places individually... but alas I realized I didn't have as much as usual to discuss with either of them (especially the second one). Solution: squish these two neighbouring joints together into one Franken-review. Hey, the slices I ordered from both places happened to be fairly similar... so why not a direct comparison? So that's the idea here, although one was way, way better than the other...

Anyhow, the Kipling/Bloor-Dundas West area isn't one likely to win a Walk Score competition... but there are some noted food joints pretty close to the train station... longtime staple Apache Burger probably the most famed among them. This was of course a mission for pizza, and my two targets were Donatelli's and Milano's. 

 

Starting with Donatelli's Pizzeria: this was a spot highly recommended to me by a pizza-knowing baseball friend (who still hasn't tried Descendant last we spoke) and it's a good thing he brought Donatelli's up a few times because this is probably not a place I would've discovered otherwise. For instance, BlogTo has yet to write an article on them and they can't go two days without burping out some kind of click-baity pizza piece. There is a notable YouTuber (5 million subscribers??? Curse my stubbornness with the written word!) who did a video on Donatelli's called "Discovering Toronto's Hidden Pizza Gem", which does seem kind of like a spoiler in the title but it's a four minute video so what are gonna ya do. 

Aside from that and another (much less viewed) video sampling... there just isn't a whole lot of content about Donatelli's out there. Is this seriously going to be the first actual written review of the place? I mean, cool... good for me *pats self lightly on back* but the place has been open for about a year (best guess) and you'd think by now one of the major papers or Toronto Life would've wandered in. Donatelli's does have an Instagram page also and as far as those go this is a pretty bland one: the pizzas look great but why are they posting the exact same pictures of their specials every... single... day. For real. They have over 1200 posts and I'm gonna estimate 1000 of them are of the same nine pictures over and over again (obviously I did not scroll down that far to find out, I don't hate idle time enough to do that to it). 

All this backstory stuff now cast away forever, lets get into the good stuff. Donatelli's is yet another very small joint: you walk in and there's a counter to order from, a drink fridge, and some stools by the entrance window to sit at. Classic pizza parlour setup, and you can tell the place is still fairly new because the tiled walls are still shiny and white. 

To my immediate concern, there were only two types of slice available at this moment and both looked like they'd been sitting for a while. Bad luck on me! I wasn't going to wait around for something fresher either: I live on the opposite side of town, the sun was setting fast, plus I still had to go try the other place. So, I went for the best looking of the limited available options: a pepperoni slice with jalapenos. Normally a good combination, but those peppers looked awfully dried out. 

Apparently Donatelli's either cooks or reheats (or both) their pies in a conveyor oven (I wasn't watching super closely but it definitely didn't look like your standard pizza oven). I will say the effect was similar to reheating a thicker pizza in a toaster oven: it gets a little dry on the edges but at the right temperature you can restore most of the softness. One issue though is you can't get it steaming hot this way (without losing even more moisture) and so it cools again very quickly. 

Still, despite those dry edges... there was a good amount of lighter crisp to this, the crust especially was much fresher than I'd initially feared. Good balance of crunch and doughy layers. As for the flavours... some pretty good dimensions here! I think they (very smartly) added those additional dollops of tomato sauce(after the oven)to order and that stuff really explodes in the mouth with a zing. Very finely blended, almost like a puree, and it strongly leans on the sweeter side. 

Good pepperoni as well, salty but not too much so, and both are tastes that linger in the mouth for quite some time after each bite (always a good sign quality-wise... call it the Anti-Little Caesar's Effect). The crust almost has a hint of roasted corn to it, while mostly tasting like a fried bread but without excess oil. It's also nicely seasoned, and the faint shavings of some parm-like cheese do add a nice extra subtle taste to it all. A lot of good stuff going on here, there's terrific balance and texture... and once again if you've been reading my reviews I prefer slightly too much sauce over slightly too little.

Unfortunately it's far from perfect and I think there's an easy obvious blame for that. I didn't get much of the cheese at all, really on any bite, as its presence was very much a numb non-factor. Likewise the jalapenos, while plentiful, emerged only occasionally with any kind of faint bite to them. The problem is clear: that slice be sitting out too long and while with expert reheating you can save some of it... you can't save it all and the dulled cheese and peppers were the biggest casualties of that. Even the second half of my slice, now entirely cooled again... really lacked a lot of the vividness I'd so enjoyed before. Still entirely fine lukewarm/cold, actually... but a lot of the sparkle had been lost.

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I'm going to give my final thoughts and grades at the very end. For now, lets move onto Milano's Pizza (which will be shorter* I promise)

 

 

Compared to the new-ish Donatelli's, Milano's might be the oldest active pizza spot in Toronto I've reviewed (now that Vesuvio is gone, RIP). According to their website: Milano's opened in 1963 and when you walk into the place, see all the photos on the wall of junior sports teams they've sponsored, polaroids of former staff and a bunch of other random nic-nacs that wouldn't be out of a place in a legion hall... yeah you definitely believe it. 

I actually had tried Milano's before, back in 2020 (great year am I right). Vaguely, I remember being pretty impressed, and was keen to rank them on The Big List version one. Of course, this was about a week before the 'Some Creep on The Danforth Steals My Phone' incident, which meant the loss of (among many other more important things) all of the photos I'd taken of pizzas sampled that year. Like I said, 2020. Great year.

Well now, we're finally back and here's Milano's. This was my second pepperoni-type slice in about the span of twenty five minutes, but this one (as you can see in the photo above) is much more of a no frills straight-forward attempt. 

Starting with the positives: it smelled great. If I'd grown up with a pizza place like this nearby, I would still be tasting the nostalgia while breathing the cold December air. The sauce... more on the herbal side which I'm normally not a fan of, but at least you can taste it throughout the slice and it works well with the thin light crisp of the base. Very underwhelmed thus far, though.

The rest of it? Just not a lot going on. Generic crust (little in the way of flavour beyond ordinary bread), unremarkable cheese and the type of pepperoni you've probably had a thousand times on okay-ish pizzas, which is what this is. Nothing offensive, but nothing that stands out in an especially delicious way either. It reminds me a lot of Pizza Nova, actually... and I mean Nova now not ten years ago when they were still pretty good. Even the little pepperonis are similar, but worst of all was trying to reheat it in the pan (thin crust). Avert your children's eyes (unless you want them to suddenly go vegan) and behold this horror: 

 

        

For real. After several minutes the cheese refused to get even slightly warm and gooey, so I flipped the thing (toppings down just for a quick minute), and I still couldn't get this cheese to melt (congealing seemed more it's dance). Trust me, it tasted about as good as its radioactive shell looked. After two bites I gave up and picked the pepperonis off just to eat those). 

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Overall! I don't think it's going to be much of a shocker which pizza I preferred. Yeah I can't even make a good fake-out because this isn't even close. I'm not going to dock them for that awful reheat (it doesn't help) but Milano's was just so blah... beyond an okay texture before you got to the crust, this was like every random mediocre pizza I ate in my teens/early 20s. Very forgettable, no seasonings, extra hint of secondary flavour, and so much of a Pizza Nova clone I was worried the heartburn hounds would get me good (they didn't, so points for Milano's there). For an old school type of place, this was probably a damn fine pizza twenty five to thirty years ago... but the playing field has jumped several levels in that span and flavour-wise they've been left well behind. I'm obviously not going to recommend them, but it's a quirky little time capsule to visit as a place at least. For that, I'll be kind and award a "C+". But that's the only memorable thing about it.

As for Donatelli's... I could tell (especially with the bland Milano's slice following them) that there is some good idea of flavours and quality here. Those two tomato sauces couldn't be more different, and I liked the little touches around the margins Donatelli's did as well (the seasoning, roasted corn hint in the crust). Alas... I can't completely look beyond that numbed cheese and those stale jalapenos that just didn't bring the ooph I was hoping for. 

However, clearly I'm feeling kind today and I will chalk those shortcomings up to just arriving at a bad time. It won't change my grade for now, but there was clearly enough here that I think another visit is deserved... only this time ensuring I get something straight out of the oven. Because if the entire pie can be as terrific as those glimpses I got a sense of... now we're talking something special, perhaps "Top 20 in Toronto" special. Lets call it a strong "B+" in the meantime... which is enough that I would recommend trying them out (but again, its gotta be fresh because that conveyor belt oven isn't keeping anything warm for long in December weather).

 

So much for keeping this review short, eh. I even dialed down the personal backstory more than usual! Like how the first time I tried Milano's, I was actually at Kipling Station to buy a bike from a dude off Kijii (the bike ended up being a lemon and got stolen within a month. 2020! Great times). Anyhow so after I bought the bike I noticed a little winding street leading up to Bloor and so with th  

     

This Week In Pizza: Pizzeria Badiali

 

 

For starters, I'd like to thank both cold December weather and the Prince Street Pizza sensation here in Toronto. The rare times I'd passed by Badiali, or spoken about it with other people... the prospect of huge hungry lineups dissuaded me from making the trip. Solution: pick a cold cloudy day in the infancy of Canadian winter! And so I went, during the middle of a Thursday afternoon (after yet another internally disparaging job interview... my least favourite running joke ever). 

They were indeed busy but there were only four/five people ahead of me in the inside queue (which is way better than having to wait for half an hour outside, which I'd feared). Overall, the whole thing took maybe five minutes, probably less... and there's something about their interior atmosphere I quite like. You have the big window facing out onto the corner of Argyle and Dovercourt, surrounded by houses, and yet there's so much traffic both vehicle and pedestrian that sitting by this window would be perfect for an afternoon of people watching. It's no surprise this spot was a cafe in previous incarnations. 

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Thing is, I had tried Badiali pizza before. A couple of years ago, actually. Similarly on a random afternoon, I went with a baseball friend who knows his pie, along with some of his pizza loving chums... and we split one of their vodka sauce pizzas. Problem was, I wasn't feeling super great that day and my sense of taste and appetite was greatly diminished. It was a serious struggle to even finish one slice! Shocking, I know. In that moment I could get a faint sense of the quality (think I mentioned it reminded me of a really good grilled cheese sandwich in pizza form) but with my senses diminished as such... it felt dishonest to properly review or grade them.      

For a couple of years I sat on this one... knowing they deserved a second chance for me to fully appreciate what they were about, but the opportunity to easily do so wasn't quite so easy. If I still worked at The Drake Hotel? I could've knocked this one off a week later! ...but The Drake was rid of me a good twelve years before Badiali even opened, and I'm rarely ever in that area at all anymore. Don't even recognize that stretch of Queen West at all! Plus, as I mentioned in my Prince Street review... I hate waiting in line for anything (even pizza), and the summertime lineups for Badiali tend to bend around the block. 

So instead, I visited Badiali on a reasonably chilly December afternoon. Also like the Toronto Prince Street, Badiali is a quaint but small operation on the inside... with just a tiny little waiting space and a short lineup corral leading to the counter (thus why you see lineups often stretching long into the outdoors, which also has stanchions set for lineups). Unlike Prince Street, Badiali has a little fenced in patio adjacent to the Dovercourt road sidewalk... a space completely closed and without tables or chairs for the current winter season. Man... I picked simultaneously a good time of year to avoid the lines but a terrible time to comfortably eat the damn thing. Luckily there's a park nearby for resourceful bums-I-mean-pizza-tasting-experts like myself.    

Hey, how about we talk about the damn pizza already. Badiali offers slices (bless them) and as you see in the lead photo I got two of them to try: their standard pepperoni offering and a vodka sauce creation (the very one I'd tried on the first go). First with the pepperoni slice, check out this additional picture:

That is what you call a perfectly thin slice, my friends. You can see the crispness of it leaping at you from the pixels... but oftentimes a slice so thin can be unappealingly crunchy and gritty (there's a place called Baldini's in Leslieville I tried that was so extreme in this case, even baked to order, I didn't even want to review it. Not a horrible pizza, but definitely a swing and a miss). 

Well, Badiali does not have that particular problem whatsoever. The texture is flawless: you get that thin crunch but its soft with some give to it, without any kind of dry crumbliness whatsoever. Frankly, this was an example of a term I'd like to coin as "Love At First Bite" (surely no one as clever as I has ever thought of that one before, right?). I find with the absolute upper upper tier of pizzas I've tried, you simply know instantly how incredibly excellent they are. I'll describe this sensation in more detail at the end but needless to say I wouldn't mention it were this not one of those occasions. 

What exactly is Badiali doing so well, you ask? As I mentioned, the texture of both slices was sublime despite being notably different (the vodka slice much softer). The gentle baked crisp of the pepperoni slice made it a pure delight to chomp into, while the pillowy crust counter-balanced all that. This crust was simply exceptional: almost like a freshly baked light doughy breadstick with a faint hint of butter and garlic. I was tempted to get a dipping sauce for these slices (and I recall their dips are quite good from that first trip) but fundamentally this crust needs none of that. 

Speaking of basics... this is a very simple and common concoction: it's just a pepperoni slice. However, like a classic Margherita, only because its simple doesn't mean it has to be boring... and there are little flairs in here that enhance and make this pizza so dynamic flavour-wise. You can't quite see it but there is just a faint addition of grana padano (and pecorino) shavings on here, adding a subtle hint of dry and salty cheese atop this affair. For the record, any kind of cheese in the parmesean-like family is a wicked addition to a pepperoni pizza... even my dad did this when we'd get 2-4-1 pizzas back when I was in Grade Three. 

But what is most important is how well you nail those basics, which Badiali does. The sauce is likewise terrific, vivid with tomato goodness (it leans sweet but not too sweet or acidic,... fantastic balance). Good pepperoni (just enough grease and crisp on the edges) and the cheese firmly holds it all together... not a standout (at least on this slice) but you know it's there doing its thing at a high level. Again, despite the basics of these ingredients... this pepperoni slice was a collage of flavours working in symphonic harmony with one another, creating a song that lingers on the tongue and mind well after the final movemen-I mean bite. Truly one of the very best pepperoni slices I've ever had this side of New York City... and I don't think it was immediately fresh out of the oven either. Huh. 

 

  

I'll try to be more brief with the vodka sauce slice, as by its nature there is less to discuss here. Once again, simplicity! This is just a cheese pizza with vodka sauce in for tomato sauce (and vodka sauce is a type of tomato sauce anyhow). 

While probably I prefer their pepperoni offering, this is likewise a terrific slice. Much more subtle, soft and cheesy than that other one: gone is that irresistible crispness and instead you get a pleasant bigger sensation on each bite. The butteryness of the cheese (they say its fior di latte on this one instead of mozza and the difference is evident) almost expands in the mouth on each bite. Just fabulous flavour, texture with just the right amount of it to not be lacking or overpowering. 

Getting into the vodka sauce itself... this is a very different vodka sauce than the one I recently tried with Prince Street (sorry to keep using them as a reference* but hey, both are NY styles). The Prince Street vodka sauce was excellent but much more aggressive than Badiali's, with a stronger oniony/garlicy punch and very oily. Badiali's vodka sauce aims more for the subtle: its far creamier, with a tiny hint of tomato sweetness and the faint poking of onion on the back of the tongue. A beautiful compliment instead of a headline attraction, dominating the overall flavour much less. To be honest I'm not sure which I'd prefer as they're difficult to compare... both are great in their own ways.

Finally... the reheat test. Despite my own screwup (keeping the slice in the pan on low heat juuuust a bit too long, stupid music distracting me)... yeah Badiali nails that one too. It (me) made the bottom a bit too crunchy from the pan heat, but the flavours were completely reawakened (it was the vodka one I reheated) and the wonderful taste and texture of the cheese was still there. Even the crust held its soft dough... marvelous.

 

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Overall. Yeah this pizza sucked don't go there. Like and subscribe West Collier Street, ring the bell we've got merch and pizza shaped hats on our webzone for sale.

No in seriousness though, like wow. Damn! A rare occasion I couldn't even find a minor fault in anything here. Uhhhh.... there was a bubble in my pepperoni slice? And even that was fine because it was still soft! Badiali passes every test I look for in a pizza. Flavours? Fantastic, rich and lingering. Creativity? Nothing crazy, but the sheer simplicity of their vodka slice deserves some points for pulling that off so effectively. Atmosphere? I love the small, cafe-like feel of the interior... plus I didn't have to wait an hour in line! Texture? Second to none. So enjoyable on each bite, and different on either slice.

It says a lot when you can keep things so simple, and yet execute them at such a high level that your little spot can be the buzz of the pizza game for so long. They aren't re-inventing the wheel here, but they make one hell of a wheel nonetheless. For me, this is easily one of the ten best pizza places in Toronto at the moment... probably even Top Five. 

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Earlier in this review I mentioned the concept of "Love At First Bite". To me, its a sensation of instantly realizing this is something incredibly damn amazing... something that makes your taste buds light up like a pinball machine with multiball. You legitimately want to say "Oh my gawd" aloud. It's a sensation that can be fleeting once you sort of get used to the flavours you're experiencing... say by the fifth sample its still pleasant but not as overwhelmingly transcendent as that initial greeting. To run with the 'love' analogy... it's similar to a first kiss with somebody. While consistently wonderful, its the first one that burns into your memory. 

Well... Badiali was consistently wonderful throughout every bit I got to enjoy of these two slices. Phenomenal pizza, barely a flaw or a scuff to it, and I can't recommend them enough. A true contender. They get an "A" from me, and I don't give those out generously/really ever. One of the best pizzas I've had in this city.  

 

 

 

*final Prince Street Pizza reference! PSP is really incredibly good.... but Badiali is better. A full notch better, even     

This Week In Pizza: Liberty Pizzeria

 

 

Give me liberty! Or give me... pizza!

Also: Liberty Pizza is not located in the Toronto neighbourhood of Liberty Village... they call the newly transforming Regent Park home instead. So why are they called this? Whaaaa? As ridiculously expensive and underwhelming as District Pizza is... I at least get why they're called that.

At the risk of skipping my usual dawdling intro paragraphs (I'm sure all you readers are heartbroken), I'm sorry to say that Liberty Pizza was a solid disappointment. Google Reviews seem to love them, with an average score of 4.7 as I write this. I'm sorry, but huh? Was the best pizza option in this area a Domino's or something for like thirty years, and so anything slightly better in quality gets a laundry basket of undeserved praise? Actually... if the only pizza I could eat for three decades was Domino's... well I suppose by now this would be a cheeseburger or shawarma blog instead but nevertheless!

I'm being somewhat unnecessarily mean because Liberty isn't actually bad, but it also is distant from amazing and I had higher expectations for this one. Especially at the price (nearly 30 bucks)... you've gotta bring something more than this. It also reheats terribly (more on that later) and frankly none of the key components of a pizza (sauce, cheese, bread) are strong or notable enough to elevate its most lacking elements. 

 

 

So what exactly is the problem? Why is this humble (but experienced) pizza reviewer so dismayed by a place with consistently excellent reviews? Well, I'll start with the positives: the thin crust texture works to its favour. The pickled onions are pleasant and provide some delicate sweetness. Annnnnd that's all. Seriously, like I said... nothing here is especially bad, but none of it jumps out either. 

As you possibly know I tend to like sampling unusual topping combinations as a way of judging the creative skill of a pizza joint. One of the many reasons I like Descendant so much is because many of their pies combine ingredients you might not have thought could work so well together. It's a tricky balance: I don't like crazy for the sake of crazy, but there's also a reason I don't just order a cheese or pepperoni pizza everytime I try new places.  

This here is Liberty's "chorizo" pizza, additionally with pickled onions and sliced potatoes. While I strongly defend pineapple and even chicken (when done right) on pizza... potatoes on a pie has never been a winner for me. Basically, I've never encountered one where it works, and despite initial optimism Liberty doesn't pull it off either. Tomatoes and potatoes (rhyme time!) are an awkward fit to begin with, the starch doesn't blend well with the saucey acidity... and then factoring in the dough... you get a lot of bites of flavours and textures clashing. A white pizza with potatoes makes way more sense: give it a creamier, cheesier base and it can blend together (in theory) nicely. Here, with tomato sauce? Just doesn't work for me.

But the real issue aren't the potatoes, which themselves are nicely sliced and individually enjoyable. No, it's the sausage. You call this a chorizo pizza, and sadly the chorizo is the topping that stands out the least. You barely notice it: not much flavour, the bits of it are tiny, and well frankly can you even see it in my photographs? No, this is more of an onion and potato pizza, with faint notions of pork. Man, what a let down. 

It's also waaaay too overseasoned. Normally I like a pinch of pepper or garlic or whatever as a nice compliment, but this is just overkill. Seasoning shouldn't overshadow the main attractions, and frankly considering how bland/not a presence the chorizo is on this pizza... it feels like an attempt to hide it. Even tasting one of the very little bits of pork on its own... just bleh. Little flavour.

For whatever reason... reasons that make little sense to me... it reheats horribly. Even in the pan, low temperature... it gets super dry and crusty, and loses the little flavour it clings to. At this point... a complete waste of money. 

Overall. Yeah no. I don't get it. Maybe it's my fault for ordering the weirdest pizza on the menu? But even then... the fundamentals were so underwhelming that I'm confident saying even if I'd ordered a standard pepperoni pie, I wouldn't recommend Liberty Pizza. Despite this review being largely negative, they legitimately aren't terrible... I'd take this over most big pizza chains... but that's not a compliment. Unlike a place like Otherside, which had considerable strengths brought down by considerable weaknesses... Liberty didn't show me anything worth considering a second chance. Sorry, but it's a "C" from me. Being so terrible and barely edible on the reheat clinches it. Not impressed whatsoever.