There's always a baseline of hopeful expectation anytime I set out to try a new pizza place. After all, time is precious and choosing to use some of my own supply to both travel to and sample a spot... well even in a vacuum that commitment tends to either further enhance or detract from the experience later on in retrospect. "This place was awesome, what a great way to spend this free afternoon!" Or... "Man not only was that pizza dreadful, I wasted my time getting there." See what I mean?
As for Lorenzo's... well this particular afternoon I decided to head up and visit them... also happened to be my birthday. So yeah... no pressure!
We were off to a good start as the weather was pleasant and sunny as I headed up towards Pape and Danforth, meeting my old friend (and long time occasional pizza trying associate) along the way at Donlands. Navigating Pape is rather clunky at the moment, what with the imminent (and presumably soon to be endless) construction of the Ontario subway Line clustering wooden walls and dead ends all over the place. We wisely took a side street as a slowcut shortcut and basically wound up right near Lorenzo's Pizzeria by dumb chance, it being nestled in the unassuming corner of Fulton Avenue and Pape right across from a high tension gas station (it was genuinely bizarre: the pizzeria as calm and relaxed as could be, while constant noisy confrontation played out between car drivers on the other side of the street).
Lorenzo's is both an extremely new pizza spot (opening just this summer) and an extremely small one: these four little stools, arguably more for decoration, are all you get for seating. At least, that's all you get inside, as there is some outside space with movable chairs that make for a sunnier, more comfortable (less knees touching the ground for us tall people) eating experience.
I'd worked up quite a birthday appetite and ordered two slices: one their standard pepperoni slice and the other what the co-owner calls a "Trenton slice", with the distribution/placement of cheese and tomato sauce reversed (sauce on top of the cheese, similar to some Detroit styles although this here wasn't deep dish of course).
The inquiry upon what made a "Trenton" slice led to my friend and the co-owner chatting quite a bit (she has the same name as my friend's little daughter) about the challenge of both finding places to live in the city and raising a young family, noting how this portion of East York is expansively residential. I believe the owner mentioned how she and her husband commute all the way from Caldeonia/St. Clair to Pape and Fulton (a notch south of Mortimer) to operate Lorenzo's, which is certainly no small journey to undertake daily.
Onto the pizza, starting with the pepperoni slice (I also got a dip which you see in the top part of the photo, more on that in a moment).
I think in general, we all like our pepperoni pizza slices to be a bit greasy. There's obviously too greasy, like 'the paper plate is disintegrating in my hands greasy'... but when a place nails that precise level and feel of greasiness, it really is marvelous. Which this slice here does. Plus, it's that good kind of greasiness that's loose and subtle, not the bad kind that's old, heavy and lard-tasting.
The pepperoni itself is quite flavourful too. Not overly charred or crispy (there are some edges of goodness) but the pork does have a nice zing, tender flavour without extreme saltiness or spice. Not all that peppery either, just a straight forward quality cured sausage.
I'll dive more into the texture of this pizza here with the "Trenton" slice, as it is very worthy of discussion. Layers, Jerry! Layers of texture. The sauciness on top combined with the light crispiness of the bottom, the gentle chew of the baked fermented dough between... it's all lovely and delicious. The crust brings more of an oilier, hollow crunch that is likewise enjoyable.
I've gone on the record many (too many) times about how I love a saucier type of pie (explains my affinity for Chicago style), so this Trenton slice having the tomato sauce so prominently on each bite (it really is like reversing the sauce and cheese) well you can say I'm definitely a fan. You'll need a quality, robust tomato sauce to pull such a thing off of course, which is most certainly is: there's a stewed, deeper sweetness to this sauce that settles nicely despite being such a big great flavour. Really great stuff, although the cheese is so overshadowed here that it kind of blends flavour-wise into the dough.
While New York City inspired, these slices are indeed thin but not "floppier than a cheap wet sandal" thin (the analogy... hits.... keep... coming!). This allows that precious bottom crunch to really shine through. As for the dip, my friend/longtime occasional pizza trying associate and I were brainstorming for quite some time trying pinpoint an exact flavour within. There's a definite rich creaminess to it, not so heavy with the garlicky punch for a "garlic" dip and it very much reminded me of an Alfredo sauce with less butteriness. Very easy to dip as well, with more of a clinging consistency than a gloopy, scoopy one.
A young couple with a stroller, who had taken the remaining front patio chairs and sat nearby to us, suggested quite confidently to us that the ingredient we were dancing around was artichoke... a shock to me as a fervent non-liker of artichokes my entire adult life. Something about that weird texture and initial off-bitter taste... no thanks. Same reason I'm not a fan of brussel sprouts either.
Nevertheless, the artichoke element of this dip worked very well... bringing an addition dimension to an already effective creamy garlic concoction. Definitely helps any flavour when it's swimming in creamy garlic goodness, if we're being honest.
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Overall! If you noticed how I didn't say anything substantial about something here I didn't like or that didn't work for me... that would be a very astute observation, dear reader. I'm glad you're reading my work so thoroughly! Anyhow, yeah this pizza is simply awesome, fantastic, fantastically awesome and awesomely fantastic in all the right ways.
There isn't anything all that mind-blowing in terms of the creations they're offering (at least as far as slices go, their full pies veer a bit more creative) but this is an extremely memorable pizza nonetheless. The wonderful texture, the bare bones yet charming family operation vibe, the very interesting Trenton slice... I was very impressed with all of it. Toronto's pizza scene has come a very, very long way in the past decade or so but one thing we still need more of (aside from a legit Chicago dish option) are more places that sell slices at this level of terrific quality.
I'll give Lorenzo's Pizzeria a strong grade of "A-" which lands them quite comfortably in the Top 25, maybe even top 15, of all Toronto. Legitimately that good. Plus, they didn't disappoint a pizza loving lad on his birthday... which has to count for a couple bonus points.
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