When I write these reviews I have a regular habit of researching the backstory of the restaurant (or fast food chain in the case of the Tuesday reviews) after I've already tried the food and compartmentalized my opinions and conclusions on it. In a way this is like doing things backwards I suppose, but it helps me approach these places with a (mostly) unbiased perspective. Finding out after the fact about a "rising from the ashes" or "overcoming a global pandemic" story doesn't change the taste of the food sure, but it does add some colour and flourish to the tale these businesses have lived.
In the case of La Casetta, this "low-knowledge" approach was especially wise, lest my expectations be severely affected otherwise. See, I thought this was simply a well reviewed, potential hidden gem off the well-worn paths in Leaside... but I learned after my visit there's a fair bit more. You see, much like my Tulia Osteria story, we've got another case of a chef/owner being somebody I worked with in the past. Yep, Chef Mathan Rajaratnam and I crossed paths well over a decade ago at Pizzeria Libretto Ossington (he was the lead pizzaiolo back then and really knew his stuff, which should not be any surprise).
If that were all, then I'd have chuckled at the cliche coincidence of "small world" and carried on as I normally do when trying new pizza. Thing is, this isn't Chef Mathan and Chef Giovanni Sarra's rookie restaurant venture either: the duo in fact also own and operate Oro Di Napoli in Mimico, Cafe Di Oro in downtown Toronto and a place I even wrote about last autumn in Pizzeria Via Napoli near Islington station! In a bizarre quirk, all four restaurants even use the exact same template for their websites (yet don't boldly mention the existence of the others).
Hey, seriously good for them... I'm just saying for me it's a good thing I didn't know this until after the fact because I've tried those other places and greatly enjoyed them (Oro Di Napoli is probably still in my Top 15 for all of Toronto). Knowing La Casetta was a part of this would've both seriously raised my expectations and made comparisons between these places inevitable in that moment of sampling it. I'm only human after all... once you are aware of a fact it's impossible to simply flip a switch and turn that information off in your mind. Maybe with enough alcohol... but I'm not endorsing that kind of behavior (any more at least).
Okay! With another classic long ramble out of the way... La Casetta is an cozy Italian restaurant tucked away in a mini plaza on Millwood Road, a location askew by the very winding streets of residential Leaside. They've been open since mid-2022, with Chef Mathan and his wife jumping at the opportunity to open a restaurant so close to their Leaside home. Since that opening they've become that hidden neighbourhood gem I mentioned, known only to locals and crazy adventurous pizza maniacs (not that you know any of those, nope). Coincidentally, La Casetta happens to be across the street from an old school pie joint Bravo Pizza (still there!) one of the very first places I ever tried when undertaking this Endless Pizza Quest(TM) back in autumn of 2018.
The inside of La Casetta reminds somewhat of a French cafe: a nice mix of wooden decor and white tiles, with some quirky and elegant decorations throughout. Artsy and chic without being pretentious or unwelcoming.
I was torn between their Diavola pizza and their Casareccia, which in retrospect it's a damn good thing I went for the Diavola because the Casareccia is the exact same pizza (topping for topping) I tried at Via Napoli several months earlier. Could've made for an interesting comparison I suppose... see how similar my observations and eventual grades were... but yeah I'd prefer not to repeat myself.
Coincidentally, La Casetta happens to be across the street from an old school pie joint Bravo Pizza (still there!) one of the very first places I ever tried when undertaking this Endless Pizza Quest(TM) back in autumn of 2018. The inside reminds somewhat of a French cafe: a nice mix of wooden decor and white tiles, with some quirky and elegant decorations throughout. Artsy and chic without being pretentious or unwelcoming.
I was torn between their Diavola pizza and their
Casareccia, which in retrospect it's a damn good thing I went for the
Diavola because the Casareccia is the exact same pizza (topping for
topping) I tried at Via Napoli several months earlier. Could've made for
an interesting comparison I suppose... see how similar my observations
and eventual grades were... but yeah I'd prefer not to repeat myself.
Here is that Diavola! (which as I've said in previous reviews a few times essentially means "devil's pizza" because of the spice). Normally this version from La Cassetta comes with kalamata olives but I axed that since I don't like olives, but also this particular pizza (in my opinion) doesn't really need that bitterness and salty taste obstructing the fantastic flavours going on here.
Yeah, this pizza was fabulous. Sans olives what you've got left is thinly sliced spicy soppressata, basil, fior di latte, classic San Marzano tomato sauce (a fixture of many Neapolitan pizzerias) and that vivid orange drizzling is an in-house bomba sauce.
Starting with that bomba sauce... truly the secret weapon of this pizza. While bomba often has more of a spreadable consistency (like a pesto or a paste) than a thicker liquid one, this La Casetta recipe is a bit creamier and lighter... reminding me of a punchier type of vodka sauce in some ways. You get a lot of spicy red pepper heat to it, a gentle sting that blends into that slightly creamy texture quite nicely. There is indeed considerable punch but never does it totally overwhelm... settling nicely in the back of the mouth instead like a quality rhythm section. Excellent stuff.
The rest of the pizza is more straightforward: salami, cheese, basil and sauce... but that doesn't mean it is undeserving of praise. That San Marzano tomato sauce is a necessity for so many top notch pizzerias with good reason: the slightly sweet, the tiniest hint of acidity and full lasting flavour of it just gives a pie such an excellent foundation to work from.
We've got great fior di latte as well, soft and squishy to the touch and on each bite... plus a very subtle smattering of shredded grana padano. Meanwhile, the leaves of basil are baked enough for their leafy flavour to seep into the pizza but not too much to be overly charred and bitter. That vivid fresh taste is especially nice here next to the heavier and spicier elements.
The soppressata... precisely thin, not a lot of that salty or fatty pork taste at all, and it itself has a considerable heat to it that hits the middle of the tongue (rather than the bomba sauce which sizzles all over).
If there's any weakness here... it's that the crust is merely okay. A bit dry, hollow and crunchy, with a slight cornmeal dusting to it... again it's entirely fine but rather boring in comparison to the orchestra of spice and flavours happening on the rest of this pizza.
---
Overall! Simply an excellent take on a Diavola pizza, executed with skill and expert precision. Having that creamy bomba sauce on this thing elevates an already good pie into a spectacular one, really the key difference between the grade I gave Pizzeria Via Napoli and what I'm going to give La Casetta.
In the back of my mind, considering some of the identical pizza offerings on the menus of all four of these restaurants... it's hard to shake the sense I'm comparing a bunch of completely similar pizzas against each other. All wood burning ovens, all menus with minimal deviations conceived by the same chefs... am I tripping over myself by retreading the same ground? Maybe. Probably.
Nevertheless, an incredibly damn good pizza is an incredibly damn good pizza. La Casetta is much closer to the Oro Di Napoli level than Via Napoli... this was an absolute delight to try something so delicious and flawlessly done (it even reheats in the pan extremely well!). I have to give them at minimum an "A--", placing them deservedly in the true upper echelon of Toronto pizzas.
Despite the ties and connection with those other (perhaps better known) pizzerias, La Casetta still manages to feel like a true Leaside hidden gem that I highly recommend checking out if you can.