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
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