This Week In Pizza: La Roma Piccola

 

 

La Roma Piccola (translating as "little Rome" in Italian) is a fairly new Italian restaurant on Queen Street East in Leslieville, opening up during the late summer months of last year. This stretch of Queen East from Logan to Leslie is indeed loaded with many high quality pizza options: Frankie's Italian, Slowhand, Samaira's Kitchen, and of course my personal favourite Descendant. Some tough company indeed... La Roma has to really bring their game if they're going to impress among that type of company. 

The previous tenant of the location was also an Italian restaurant named Baldini, which had been a steady presence in the Queen/Pape neighbourhood for two decades. Leslieville was seriously much, much different in 2004 (strongly suggest going on Google Maps and their earliest street view images, what a trip)... alas another one bites the dust of that era.

I'd actually been to Baldini before! For their pizza, even. However... it's another one of my "probably had a beverage too many to accurately describe this" stories. In my defense though this wasn't pure lonely sadness like my first Maestro's experience. Instead, I'd gone with an old friend for a cocktail making class at nearby Reid's Distillery... I still worked there at the time and there were some extra curricular cocktails for us once class was dismissed. My friend and I both being hungry afterwards... the only thing I recall about Baldini's pizza was an outer crunchiness to it (imagine the crust of those frozen Ristorante pizzas, which are decent for frozen pies) and also that the inside of the restaurant had such dim lighting that taking a good photo of the food was simply impossible. Very meh-to-okay... my friend's pasta dish was far superior.

 

 

Ah, Valentines Day... couples are out on the street with bouquets of flowers, red and white heart-shaped balloons, the sweet scent of love is in the air. Yeah I %*@&$ hate Valentines Day. My heart is as cold as a snowstorm of course (like the one-two punch that hit Ontario this same week), and venturing out to Leslieville at a peak dinner hour on V-Day... it was impossible to escape the constant reminder of this contrived "holiday". Hey, I'm not a total ghoul... go enjoy spending special time with the person you love, happy for ya... I just personally hate the day where around every corner it's rammed into my face both by people I know and complete strangers. Bah Humbug. Humbug I say!

Right, the review. One thing I found very interesting, upon entering La Roma, is how the inside of the restaurant is almost exactly like the old Baldini was. Sure there probably was a new coat of paint, maybe some new tables? But even then I'm not sure! The floor plan of the tables, the setup of the bar... I swear it's identical. This is also a very tight space: not a lot of room for a person to linger about and wait for a take-out order, even with the place 1/3 full (luckily I was smart and phoned for it ahead of time). Not to mention had I lingered there longer than a couple minutes, the aggressively generic classical guitar music on the playlist probably would've put me to sleep while standing.

 

 

This is the 'Diavola' from La Roma, and as you can see... it is extremely basic. "Diavola", as a reminder, roughly translates as "Devil's Fire" or "Devil's Pizza", the connotation being that such a pizza will be extremely hot with spice. Interestingly, in Dante's Inferno the final circle of hell, where Lucifer/Satan himself resides, is actually depicted as a completely cold and frozen place rather than one of eternal flame... and Dante Alighieri was of course Italian. The allegory of the very bottom of hell being a lake of ice can be interpreted as being the furthest distance from the warm love of God and heaven, thus why these very worst among sinners are not even granted the gift of heat or movement. This has completely nothing to do with pizza but I have to put all that English Literature knowledge from university to some use... plus the Inferno is just a great read.    

If I'm using this review as an excuse to discuss a literary work from the freaking 14th century... probably not a good sign for the pizza. 

First off, if the intention here is to be spicy (which the name 'diavola' obviously suggests) then yeah, total and complete failure here. I got no spice or heat from this pizza whatsoever... there's a slight bit in the salami if you're really looking for it but it's barely anything, plus nothing in the sauce or even a simple drizzle or sprinkle of a chili something... nada spice on a well below zero February evening here in Toronto. Plus, the salami itself is sliced so damn thin... you barely get any of it's fatty texture or flavour either. Big disappointment there. 

 

        

The real strange thing about this pizza though, which I hope this awful photo helps demonstrate, is how strangely this thing cooked in the oven. You can tell that the underside of the slice is really soft, there's a solid layer of not fully baked dough there... yet the outer edges of the crust have some char to them. Nevertheless, the consistent doughiness throughout every slice really gave off a taste of this pizza being undercooked. Beyond the thicker part of the crust, there aren't any nice baked-in air bubbles within the bread... so many bites have an almost raw cookie-dough like texture to them. 

And it's strange because not only is the crust well baked (a good crisp crust for the record) but the edges of the salami slices on top of the pizza are actually burnt. Not well done, like legitimately burnt. Look at the terrible picture above, the top of the slice to the left of the yellow light. You can also tell the salami is overdone by how much it's curling up on the pizza, such as in this picture below:

 

 

If Pac Man were a mediocre pizza...

Have to mention the cheese. It's bad, man. Real bad. Not even completely melted (notice the little shreds of it around the edges) and it tastes like any frozen pizza cheese you've ever encountered. You know those Pillsbury mini-pizzas you can microwave? I had those (or something similar) a lot in high school and the cheese on here tastes exactly like that... just vague plasticly texture and flavour lacking seasoning or pleasant gooeyness or anything you associate with a half-decent pizza mozzarella. Not sure I'd even call what's on here a mozzarella at all, frankly. It's cheese-like product. Among the many sit-down restaurant pizzas I've reviewed, this is among the worst cheeses I've encountered. Pathetic.

There is one thing saving this pizza from complete disaster... the tomato sauce. Like Baldini before them, it makes me wonder if La Roma is a place that does pizza just cuz and is way more focused on their pasta dishes, because this is legitimately a terrific sauce. Bright and bold, lingers on the tongue and has a pleasant fullness to it... plus little bits of stewed tomato and some oregano that add some extra zing. I truly enjoyed the bites of crust here way more, because that's both where most of the sauce was and it was the only part of the dough that actually was properly baked. A vivid tomato sauce with nicely fresh baked bread? If the whole pizza had the same quality as its outer edges, we'd really have something here instead of this slab of confusion.    

On that note of confusion, this is a pizza that got better on the reheat test. Better! Normally you're hoping to just break even at best and not dry out the leftovers... here? Well because so much of that bread was soft and undercooked... frying the slices in a pan on low heat gave the bottom of those slices some desperately needed crispiness. All of a sudden, you had something kind of resembling a pastry with that still soft dough on the inside... but at least there was now a layer of separation.  

 

 

Overall... a very very tough one to grade. The inherent lack of quality in the salami and especially the weak potentially frozen cheese (blech) makes it an automatic non-recommendation. But how to properly grade it? I can't give them points for being better once I lightly fried the slices... that's something I know how to do in order to make cold pizza tastier and I don't work in your restaurant. You're getting marked on what you initially served me... and it's never a good sign when the more I think about the food the less I liked it.

If not for that genuinely excellent tomato sauce, this could be near the very bottom of my Top Toronto Pizza list. If I want undercooked dough and plastic mozzarella I'll microwave a frozen mini-pizza like I did at age seventeen. But that sauce... is truly legit and I did enjoy those fluffier bites of the crust as well. Basically one third of this pizza was really good and the rest was underwhelming terrible emptiness. 

All of that considered... I think a weak "C" sounds about right. Not even Top 150 I think. Memorable only for how bizarrely baked it was... but the lack of imagination with the spice, overall limited flavour and really cheap cheese on this thing... I'll almost certainly never go back. Aside from the sauce, it's almost as bland as the boring classical guitar music they played. Also... Slowhand is a short block away, their prices are similar and their pizza is actually terrific. Go there instead.                   

The Tuesday Taste - Jersey Mike's Subs

 

 

I'm all out of hope

One more bad break

could bring a fall

When I'm far from home

Don't call me on the phone

to tell me you're alone

 

Another Tuesday... another Taste! Ah yes, these weekly Tuesday reviews are indeed my 'Happy Place'...

 

 

Did you know Danny DeVito is from New Jersey? It's pretty subtle I know.

Speaking of Jersey (Joysee!), this week we're talking about Jersey Mike's, an extremely popular American submarine sandwich chain (guess which state they're from) with over 3000 total locations. In the past year they made a deal with Redberry Restaurants (they handle Burger King and Taco Bell's Canadian operations) for Jersey Mike's to make rapid expansion into the Canadian market. Yeah... maybe considering the current news, talking about "American rapid expansion into Canada" isn't the most comforting thought now is it... 

 

 

The backstory of Jersey Mike's is somewhat staggered. It starts in the 1950s near the famous Jersey Shore in Point Pleasant, NJ. For a bit over a decade they existed as Mike's Submarines, named for original owner Michael Ingravallo although ownership had changed hands by the early 1970s. Enter Peter Cancro, who at a young age (14!) scored a job working behind the counter for Mike's Subs and immediately fell in love interacting with customers. A few years later, so the story goes, the sub business went up for sale and Cancro, only seventeen, managed to buy the store with help from an ex-football coach who also happened to be a banker. 

The little sub shop continued to do great business and gradually built up a reputation as a local legend, a necessary stop when visiting the Jersey Shore. Unlike many modern little restaurant shops that expand almost immediately upon becoming any kind of sensation, Jersey Mike's (genuinely cannot find exactly when they changed the name) under Cancro's ownership took over a decade to begin seriously franchising outside of New Jersey. After some financial hiccups during a 1990s recession and a 2000s modernization, the brand has clearly enjoyed exceptional success all over the northeastern United States. 

Just recently in November of 2024 (which feels like decades ago) Cancro, now in his late 60s, sold the majority share of his ownership in Jersey Mike's to a private equity giant named Blackstone. As an actual teenager in the mid-1970s he'd managed to put 125,000 dollars into buying the original sub shop... in 2024 he sold control of it for 8 billion. Billion with a 'B'. Man... I consider the concept of the "American Dream" a complete and total illusion 99.9999999 percent of the time but even my cynical heart is impressed by that story, although it is rather fortunate (extreme understatement) how 17 year old Peter Cancro happened to know a banker willing to loan a teenager over a hundred grand...

Anyhow, before somebody reading this article starts writing a schmaltzy Hollywood screenplay... Jersey Mike's have very very recently (a couple weeks ago) opened up a little spot in the Union Station food court/hall/eat-a-torium, which is their first ever location in Toronto proper (there had been a couple in Kitchener and Markham I think). Union Station happens to basically be connected to a building I work in... so off into the Union Station Eatatorium we go!

 

 

Jersey Mike's Union Station is almost like a submarine-sandwich-making factory, an assembly line to optimally create lots and lots of sandwiches for lots and lots of people. I went twice in the span of three days (more on that later) and the experience was identical: steady lineup of at least a dozen people with more coming behind (it's a tight spot, real estate-wise) and one of the many staff members will approach people in line so as to get their orders in ahead of time. You get a copy of the order and your name, leave the line and pay at the actual till (cashless I'm certain) and then linger about and hope you remember both what number sandwich you ordered and your own name. 

Considering their consistent busyness, the system is about as effective as can be (there are a zillion employees working too, which I don't envy as that is not a spacious work area). I'd estimate about a fifteen minute span both times from entering the line to walking away with a sandwich... which doesn't sound great for a sub sandwich but remember... lots of customers in a small space. All that in mind, not bad at all and didn't make me late for work either time. 

 

 

He's finally getting to the freaking submarines factory! First go around I went for a cold cut sub, this being their #5 Super Sub: ham, provolone, cappacuolo and prosciuttini. With the cold cuts there is also the option to "Mike's Way" it: adding tomatoes, sliced white onion, lettuce, a healthy drizzle of their red vinegar and some spices. I gladly accepted, except for the onions and tomatoes because I'm a weirdo (feel free to throw your tomatoes at me... there are more of them now because I didn't order them!)

 

 

Mmmmm... open faced club sandwedge...

First off... the mix of three different sliced pork meats? A bit of a false tale. While the other two have somewhat of a presence, the ham (unsurprisingly) is what takes up the majority of this cold cut portion. However... it is a very tasty ham... great moisture, the precise amount of saltiness to subtly enhance the taste... the exact type of bright texture you find in a ham that's been sliced before your eyes (which for the record they indeed do... there is a giant slicer and it is constantly in use).

The capicola (same thing, I'm saving my vowels) and prosciuttini are here mostly as supporting elements, and while in the background there is a hint of both in their limited slices... especially the prosciuttini with it's nice cured black pepper flavour along it's edges. Regardless of the least interesting meat hogging the spotlight, there is a healthy amount of cold cuts on this sub and never a bite you feel like it's just empty flavour or bread. Even just a regular size (which this was) hit the Satisfaction Button for my hunger. 

As for the "Mike's Style" thing... it's really that drench of red vinegar that brings the most. And frankly... I like it! This works... not only does it add some pungent arouma but that slight initial acidic sharpness mixed with a lingering but not overpowering sourness... it's kind of like a typical vinegar based "sub sauce" lots of sub places offer anyhow (usually white vinegar based I'm guessing), just with a bit more sour vinegary depth to it. Holds up even after a few hours! After my shift I was pleasantly surprised to find half my sub was neither soggy or reeking of vinegar. 

 

 

Indeed, a healthy amount of sliced meats for your buck. What about the bread though? Well, it's a tougher, chewier type of bread... normally not my preferred type of outer layer but probably necessary considering you want this thing to hold together and avoid sogginess when you're pouring an actual liquid (the red vinegar thing) onto it. Tastes fresh enough anyhow... chewy doesn't always mean dry or stale after all. It works for this sandwich and really isn't the attraction regardless. Decent.

 

 

Part two! Because snowstorms have left me wandering Union Station a lot during the past week...

Jersey Mike's have two distinct categories of sub sandwiches: the cold cuts and their grilled options. Seemed only fair to sample both, right? On my second trip, I kept things simple by going for their #17 Famous Philly... basically a New Jersey version of a Philly cheesesteak with beef steak, grilled onions and grilled peppers, with some white American cheese. Also, that photo above is terrible (the sub was surprisingly uncut... is that a Philly cheesesteak thing?). Here's a better shot of what we're dealing with:

 

 

Definitely generous with the steak, so points there. Geez... I recall Tim Horton's several years ago (back when their food was merely meh instead of irredeemably bland) offered some kind of steak sandwich. I ordered it, and by gum (poor gum) it was the most pathetic steak sandwich I've ever seen. That bit of steak in the photo above, the bit slipping off the bottom of the bun... is roughly the equivalent of the total amount of beef on that waste of time from Tim's. So credit to Jersey Mike's, there's a decent amount of steak on here. 

 

 

Where Jersey Mike's steak sandwich falls short, and it now makes significant sense in retrospect why they have two other cheesesteak options that are exactly the same just with more stuff (jalapenos, mushrooms etc)... this really just is all beef and not much else. As such, while tasty and really doing the best it can, you can't escape the dryness. That white American cheese melts delightfully as a layer underneath the steak, the onions bring a bit of valuable grilled sweetness that (as usually not an onion guy) I do love on sandwiches when cooked precisely like this. 

If anything, within the confines of this simple construction... I'd have liked more grilled peppers. They are tasty and add such a sweet flavour punch (and crunch) when you get them. One more thing: the crustier style bread doesn't work quite as well with chewier grilled items like steak than it does with softer cold cuts, though again that could totally be my own preference. 

I'd say... this cheesesteak sub sort of works (and when fresh it smelled freaking great). The steak itself is certainly well grilled but you never find yourself chewing on it any longer than necessary, plus it has its own decent beefy beef flavour. Really close to being a damn good sandwich, the most important elements are there... it just needs a little more support.

 

  

Overall! Yeah... definitely worth a look. Both my visits, with very different sandwiches, had their own separate merits... though I much prefer their cold cut option with the red vinegar dressing (it's a must) over the grilled steak one. That cheesesteak sub was fine and tasty for what it was, but the Super Sub I genuinely really enjoyed. If you're torn between, go for the slicer over the grill. 

I'm curious how this ambitious move into Canada will go. This Union Station location is clearly very very busy, but it's also Union Station... the busiest train hub in the whole country. Every damn one of these food stalls has some kind of lineup, even Wetzel's Pretzels! (I am not making that name up). 

We'll see I suppose. All I know is, with Quizno's now completely gone from Toronto and Mr. Sub about as rare as a four leaf clover... it'd be nice to once again have a readily available sub sandwich chain option that isn't goddamn Subway. 

Speaking of, I would like take this moment to anoint Subway as the true King. Yes, the true king of the very worst big fast food chain that exists. I've seen Subway are doing breakfast sandwiches now too, ha ha ha... can you imagine somebody dumb enough to eat those? I bet they'd... oh no. Oh no... I have to review them... don't I? Oh no.... OH NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

 

 

 

Anyhow, Jersey Mike's is indeed good! Tasty subs, good ingredients on both ones I tried but I much preferred the cold cut one. Won't blow your mind, the lineups are a thing and Toronto has legit incredible independent sub sandwich spots like Lambo's or Good Behaviour which I would highly recommend over this American import... but Jersey Mike's won't be a let down either.      

 

----

 

Tuesday Tune

Hey, Billy Idol is playing at my summertime gig this upcoming May (hopefully that crooked fucking Ontario Place spa plan is kiboshed by then... please please please don't vote for Doug fucking Ford next week). Idol has some songs I'm quite fond of ("White Wedding" is such a killer) and it should be a fun one. Here's his maybe most famous song? I don't think I even knew this was Billy Idol for a while.

 

 

That's all for this week! If you're reading this from anywhere that isn't southern Ontario... would you like some of our snow? We have plenty of it and we'd love to give it away! Until next time, stay safe, stay warm, break in those winter boots and don't spill that mustard. 

                                   

This Week In Pizza: Za Cafe Pizzeria and Bar

 

 

Here's some Inside Baseball: anytime I struggle for how to open one of these reviews (which is basically every single time) I like to look into the name of the place and see if there's some kind of interesting factoid or joke I can dig out of it. 

In this case we're looking at the word "za", which means what exactly? Is there a particular meaning in another language? A slang that isn't exactly translatable? Well! "Za" has many associations in the diction of a variety of global cultures... depending on how much you really wanna trust Google. '.za' is also the internet domain code (think .ca here in Canada) for the country of South Africa, something which dates back to the heavy Dutch influence (the "za" stands for Zuid-Afrika) in the last few hundred years of their history... isn't colonialism fun?

'Za' is also... and I swear I did not know this... slang for marijuana, used mostly in text form and possibly meaning it's some potent shit (way to make me feel old and out of touch, internet). Mostly though, seemingly the general consensus about what 'za' actually means... is pizza. Yeah. 

I mean, considering I'm writing a pizza review here and not a paper on anthropology, this all feels obvious but seriously though... calling your pizza place "Za"? Consider how 'za' is just 'pizza' in shortened form... essentially making the name of this restaurant "Pizza Cafe Pizzeria and Bar". Goofy right? Detective Comics Comics would like a word. 

This isn't even the first place I've ever reviewed named Za! There's a Winnipeg pizza chain named "Za Pizza Bistro" that opened up in downtown Toronto back in 2018. They were part of a quick fad of 'pizza places that for a flat price let you put anything and everything on a pizza while we build it in front of you, like a sub sandwich shop' that hit the Toronto pizza scene for a bit (the big American chain Blaze was another that dipped their toes here for a time). Of them all it appears only Pi Co has still survived with any kind of presence in the years since. 

Honestly, the only thing I remember at all about Pizza Pizza Bistro (sorry I mean "Za" Pizza Bistro) is going after work with a couple of co-workers, when one of them got at least eight toppings on their little thin pizza. Eight! And not even toppings that at all work together! I wish I'd taken a picture (I looked into the archives I swear) but it was something like peppers and olives and artichokes and two different kinds of sausage and cucumbers and onions and sliced tomatoes and pineapple and chicken and quite probably more. There might've been ranch on this creature. I've been in this pizza game a long time now and few pizzas I've ever seen can match the sheer monsterism of that one.   

Za Bistro was an early casualty of the pandemic (watching people build your pizza like a submarine sandwich while also social distancing... tough one) but they still seem to be doing fine in Winnipeg. Za Cafe, the place we're actually here to talk about (oh right, them) well... I have no clue what their deal is, backstory-wise I mean. They have two locations (one on the border of Mississauga/Brampton) and the one within sight of Old City Hall on Bay Street. The latter spot happens to be on my way to the Winter job... and after probably a dozen miserable Queen streetcar rides and passing by Za Cafe without the energy, time or hunger... I finally left home comfortably early enough even if the infamous 501 did its worst (which it usually does).

 

 

 

There's a decent amount of construction/building restoration going on at the corner of Bay and Richmond Street West, leaving some of the ground level businesses obscured by scaffolding, Za Cafe included. It's nearly impossible to notice the place even exists unless you're deliberately seeking it out or walking very slowly right past it. This likely explains why the restaurant was completely clear of patrons at 4:45pm when I wandered in for my takeout pie, although 2-5pm are typical restaurant dead-hours plus it was also a Monday. Being shrouded by several metal poles doesn't help, I'm sure.

The interior of the place is certainly going for your "sleek yet casual Financial District restaurant" vibe, with these red velvet-looking chairs and marble walls and counters (frankly it reminded me more of a salon than anything else). Places like this don't particularly impress me: It's all clean and elegant looking but there just isn't any heart, any imagination or character. It sticks in your mind about as well as the big box artwork upon the walls. A comfortable place to have a meal? No doubt, but I also doubt a place like this leaves as much of a distinct memory compared to an old school spot that's like walking half a century into the past, or the Colborne Piano Piano where the decor of the place is totally vivid and unforgettably wild. This kind of stuff doesn't affect my grading of the actual pizza, not really... it's just when a place feels semi-soulless I have to mention it. 

There's a modest wine selection, considerable cocktail tools behind the bar (a mallet even, plus I know dehydrated garnish when I see it) with some premium/import name beers on tap. It can be a bit awkward waiting for a takeout order in a completely empty restaurant with only the bartender/server for company... who also happened to be a pleasant but extremely shy young lady stuck lingering in the front of the restaurant because, aside from the kitchen staff, she was the only employee there. It's moments like this I'm especially glad I do these reviews as incognito as possible: mentioning I planned to review the place would've dialed the Awkward Meter past safe-for-consumption levels.

 

          

Jumping into the pizza itself! As you can see, Za Cafe does the Neapolitan wood fired oven thing, and this particular pie (named their "Spicy House Sausage") has a nice spread of toppings on it: crumbled sausage, rapini, thinly sliced garlic, basil, oregano (in there somewhere) some green chilies and of course standard tomato sauce and cheese. 

There's a good even thinness (which the photo shows) to the shape and the bake of the pie, and I certainly did not find this as floppy or droopy as some pizzas in this style can be. Some good bubbles of char as well, enough to keep each bite of crust interesting. 

Texture-wise... it gives you exactly what you want with this kind of pizza: softness, folds well, a good presence of gooey cheese, it's not particularly chewy even once cooled off... just a general sense of freshness within all the key ingredients. I think I'd like a bit more airiness or fluffiness within the breadier spots of the crust itself: it's sort of 'just there' rather than adding anything of interest to the overall product here, but as is its entirely fine.

 

 

Doubling down on the lead photo because, I think I can state objectively that this is an extremely pretty looking pizza. Just something very visually appealing and colourful about those pockets of white cheese among all the greens and reds surrounding it. 

How about the taste? I gotta say... it tastes almost as good as it looks. Nothing flavour-wise is super vibrant, but everything here (the sauce, the sausage, the rapini, the cheese, the dough etc) works really well together. This is 'Team Effort, the Pizza'... elevating elements that are merely good into something notably better than the overall sum of its parts. 

If anything here is close to outstanding, it's the cheese. Very soft, light and buttery... while its even distribution throughout the pizza is another positive point in how well this thing was constructed. The lightness of this mozzarella also helps cut through the bitterness of the rapini (which itself isn't all that garlicy or bitter) and the slight oiliness of the sausage. 

Speaking of that sausage (this is named their Spicy House Sausage pizza after all) the only real sting I get from the pork itself (beyond occasional fennel seeds) is a hint of a chili oil the pizza is perhaps lightly dressed in, or marinated within the sausage itself. The real fire, a modest one, are in the little green chilies hiding among the green bits of rapini... they have some punch. As for the sausage bits they have a pleasant loose crumbling texture even if there is not much particular flavour beyond that chili oil taste. 

Another secret weapon here is the basil. Excellent call: a leafy zing that really gives a finishing extra layer among the other flavours. I don't recall much about the tomato sauce, which normally isn't a good sign, but I think it leaned more on the sweeter side and it certainly didn't offend me via it being too generically sweet or just not there at all. The overall texture is likewise a general positive: good soft chew, a bit of crisp char here and there, and held up pretty well on the reheat test as well even with a crispier base. 

 

 

Overall! PizZa Cafe Pizzeria was not a disappointment, in fact it probably slightly surpassed my moderate expectations. I think the biggest weakness here is how very 'just good' all these ingredients and toppings are individually... the primary reason I'm going to give Za a strong score is because, in this experience, all of this worked so very tastily and well together it was kind of a perfect storm. 

Good concept and execution within designing a pizza deserves points and they've earned them... but I suspect one of their simpler offerings, such as a basic Margherita or a pie with just cheese and pepperoni in the spotlight... good chance it might not be quite as successful. Aside from the cheese, none of these ingredients were all that vivid or memorable on their own. 

As such, if you do check them out I'd recommend one of the more interesting concoctions on their menu. They're kind of on the verge of a recommendation from me, only because that one pizza worked so well to my tastes but knowing the great grade I'm about to give might not match their overall flavour quality. Still, I can only go off of what I tasted and experienced and so Za Cafe gets a solid "B+" from me. Genuinely really enjoyed this one and could be a potential borderline Top 50 in Toronto if indeed their simpler pizzas are as tasty as the one I had.

Plus one more time... that pizza just looks so darn nice. 

                            

This Week In Pizza: Maestro's Gourmet Pizza

 

 

Off the bat, I think this place deserves an immediate point in regards to its name. "Maestro" is just one of those words that is fun and satisfying to say out loud. Try it yourself right now! Pretty good, right?

Maestro's Pizza have two locations (three if you count a St. Catharines outpost that may or may not still exist): one in Leslieville (across the street from a Value Village I visit from time to time) and one on Kingston Road just a block north of Queen Street. Back when I worked at Reid's Distillery and the Leslieville Maestro's had just opened, I recall a co-worker saying she'd had them in Ajax (a location which has now closed) relaying they were pretty decent. 

In the files of "Things Best Not Reviewed While Sad Drunk and Lonely" I tried Maestro's a couple of winters ago and I'm not even going to try and find the picture I took at the time (trust me it ain't worth it). At the time I recall being underwhelmed (if that's a word) but mostly distracted by the realization two girls I'd once dated lived within that same block of each other... oh booze, you rascal... (pardon me while I tug at my collar).

Regardless, over time I began to think Maestro's deserved a second (more sober) look... so that's what I did here. On a night that was -14(!) no less, I ventured out again to that Kingston Road spot and got the pizza you have seen above. 

It's definitely a takeout spot in terms of spacing, with a couple of tiny tables (with some newspapers) by the window. A bit of a shame they're semi-hidden away on a side street corner a block north of Queen as I could imagine in the summertime, with the crowds lined up for a concert at nearby History and a gigantic park also a hop skipped jump away... (at least Holi Taco is a killer option more in view of foot traffic).

The lady behind the counter was extremely kind and not at all annoyed with my last second topping change (heh sorry): they have a one topping walk-in special and initially I was going for their "meatball" option, but changed it to Canadian bacon juuust before it was too late. With the gift of retrospect, this was an exceptional call on my part... which I will explain momentarily. 

 

   

The moment is now! The bacon ends up being the best part of this entire pizza. It isn't so much of a peameal bacon (though there is a thick fattiness and specific familiar tenderness) but the "Canadian" part of the advertised name comes from its flavour: a very strong hint of maple all over this bacon. 

It's a pleasant addition of sweetness within the salty fat and really gives this pie a much needed flavour boost... because the rest? Very ordinary, although there isn't anything offensively wrong about it. In fact it's quite solid, but not without its flaws.

The crucial flaw being: where's the sauce? I mean, I like a slab of cheesy bacon bread as much as the next person (who wouldn't) but I can't even describe what this tomato sauce tastes like because... well can you see any in the photo above? Exactly. 

So what you're really getting here flavour-wise is gooey cheese texture and the maple sweetness of the bacon... and honestly I've had so many pizzas that can't even get a single thing right, that a pizza getting two things on the button? Entirely acceptable. Enjoyable, even. To Maestro's credit, neither the cheese or the bread tastes like your run-of-the-mill "we don't care" generic frozen dough or plasticy shredded cheese. The cheese here has enough of its natural oils that it doesn't go horribly stiff once it gets cold. Actually, if I may... I'd like to make a coincidental comparison: 

 

This is a bacon pizza from the Pizzaville here in the Beaches (they have a 1 Topping special for like 10 bucks, decent) from a couple weeks ago, and I think using this example properly illustrates the difference between a perfectly decent-ish pizza from a good-ish one. Here's Maestro's again:

Now don't get me wrong, I generally like Pizzaville... they're one of the stronger prominent pizza chains around (not high praise exactly, but I consider them reliably acceptable... they're arguably better than Pizza Nova at this point, though maybe the Beaches one just stinks). 

Maestro's is the better pizza because there is so much more depth to the flavours even beyond what you can already see: Pizzaville's cheese, for example, has a bland blocky thickness to it that becomes very noticeable very quickly since it's such a cheese-heavy pie, while it really has little taste to it. Maestro's likewise relies on heavy cheese, but there's more of a baked oiliness to that flavour that elevates it a quite bit. It's more of a stringy 'melt off the slice' type of cheese. 

The real secret weapon of Maestro's is this garlic dip. You can perhaps tell by the deeper colour that this is not your standard salad-dressing-like "sharp fleeting garlic meets creamy" like dip. Rather, you get that beautiful black garlic element: smooth and endlessly rich, that precious garlicky taste takes it's time dancing in your mouth... this was truly exceptional stuff (I of course notoriously adore garlic and this impressed even me). Goddamn, I would buy this in bulk if it were sold in stores. 

Overall! For a pizza joint that has two current confirmed locations, both in areas where I have varying degrees of emotional baggage... this has to have been the best result possible because this pizza is entirely good. 

It's far from a "go try this immediately" kind of place. If anything, I used my comparison with Pizzaville with considered intent because that's exactly the kind of pizza this is. Imagine a bready and cheesy pie, with a good topping but little sauce, that is a couple of notches above something very streamlined and average. That's Maestro's! 

I wouldn't pay like 20 bucks for a pizza here, but a cheap little walk-in special to share among friends? Excellent value there... plus that black garlic dip is genuinely killer. That dip alone gets an A-... the pizza itself is more of a "B-". This part of town is especially short on top quality pizza options (especially with the demise of Somun Superstar and Otherside) and so finding a good enough one within bike riding distance... I'll settle for it. 

 

The Tuesday Taste - Daddy's Chicken

 

 

I guess I should've known

by the way you parked your car 

sideways

that it wouldn't last

See you're the kinda person

that believes in making out once

Love 'em and leave em fast

 

Another Tuesday... another Taste! Here on the weekly review show we continue with the Winter of Fried Chicken... and lets just say daddy's home with this one... (cut me some lack, there were several far worse jokes I could've made there).

Daddy's Chicken is a hole-in-the-wall on the north side of Queen Street East very close to Leslie Street. In early 2022 Daddy's took over the location previously occupied by Little AAA Bar, one of the short lived cousins of the popular St. Lawrence Market watering hole (and well regarded BBQ joint) AAA Bar. 

Little AAA had a solid little run... I definitely wound up enjoying a beverage there more than once or twice. A softball pal of mine (our home field is a few blocks from there) might have mentioned that one of the owners/managers of the old bar was involved with this new fried chicken joint taking it's place? Maybe??? This is vague anecdotal information, shared over post-game pints multiple years ago... I feel awkward even random messaging him just to confirm this very random thing (hey! Remember something you may or may not have told me one summer night in 2022? I'd like some journalistic clarity and conformation now please). So yeah... possibly true, more than quite possibly not. Thank you for reading this paragraph without anything resembling a conclusion! If only I were paid by the word (or at all) Dickens style...

Onto Daddy's Chicken itself, which my journalistic "skills" can confirm does indeed exist. Phew, still got it. Daddy's have something displayed in their window which you don't see often (or maybe ever): a long rectangular picture of fried chicken sandwiches from other places side by side in comparison with theirs... even with price points for reference! Sassy. Diving deeper into Daddy's Chicken's Instagram, this image wasn't even computer generated or spliced together by separate pictures... they actually staged this in their own restaurant on one long table and took the footage of it. Must have been an awesome day for the staff meal. 

I suspect the point of this display, aside from making a passersby very hungry, is to demonstrate the size and visual quality disparity between these popular fast food fried chicken sammies, and what Daddy's offer as a counterpoint. To Daddy's credit, this cute stunt wasn't firing upon any of Toronto's smaller well known chicken spots (PG Clucks for instance). Rather, the periscope is clearly targeting the gigantic end bosses of KFC, Popeyes, Wendy's, McDonald's etc (plus Dave's Hot Chicken is also in there... maybe there's some kind of specific Leslieville rivalry since sure, Dave's is expanding rapidly but far from approaching the presence of those other ones).          

Curious atmosphere to the place. I recall Little AAA being a very dimly lit bar (seems a very Queen East thing) and while Daddy's can't do that exactly (gotta see what the food looks like) really gives a lot of dim yellowed lighting. Like an old bookstore, while the design has a rustic diner feel, no? Classic booths with a very well tread-upon wooden floor. As for the overall vibes/atmosphere when I came in... totally charming. Amazing how much the attitude of the employees can make a place way more like a quirky cabin diner rather than a bleak setting for something bad to happen in a David Lynch film (RIP). 

The counter lady apologized/not-apologized that I'd wandered into her 1980s dance party on this slow Sunday evening, and her choice of tunes lived up to that warning. There were plenty of Bananaramas and Abracadabras for all. Considering many of the concerts I've worked to actually pay my bills... I'm more than happy to groove along with some Borderlines. 

 

Lets chomp into the fun part, shall we? Daddy's have some some intriguing menu options: two coleslaws (regular and spicy), mac and cheese, pickle chips (huh? Pickles in chip form? Another woman was eating them while I was waiting for my order and I peeked... imagine breaded and fried pickle slices)... oh and of course Daddy's has chicken in a variety of formulations. 

If I hadn't actually made my own homemade mac and cheese that very night before I probably would've gone for that as a side... but timing is what it is (story of my life) and so sandwich and just fries is our simple sample here. 

Daddy's Chicken has three spice options for their chicken (CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTER): the regular thing, the "hot" best-of-both-worlds ground, and the"hot hot". As brave as I like to think I am with spice... this was my first time here and I didn't wanna risk my taste buds screaming from an inferno while I'm tearfully trying to think how to review anything that tastes like non-burning. The middle option it was... more on that decision later, but first have some fries. 

 

  

Fries are odd to describe in that they're so simple yet so likewise simple to screw up or truly elevate. Also there are nuances blah blah blah.

These fries lean on the simpler side, mostly a salty seasoning (not too much) a thicker cut than what you generally find, and the texture really lands into a soft fluffy territory. It still works though because these are good fries quality-wise, lots of good potato in here... just maybe not as crispy as I usually like. Still, that real potato sense is valuable (rather than a mass-produced unmistakably frozen scent to them) and these carry very minimal oily taste at all... while fluffy to the point it seems like the soft potato innards want to burst out. Please, thank me later for the horror movie visual there. 

Anyhow, overall good fries though not my usual preference for texture. Definitely good flavour (and quantity... big paper bag lemme tell ya). It's too simple (salt) making the flavour very reliant upon just potato... I admire basics done well but man an extra dash of something here would really do something. Especially when the texture is too soft to 'insert joke here' about.

Onto the main event, and it is a whopper indeed (a whopper in size, not at all like a terrible Burger King product). There is an objectively enormous piece of fried chicken on this thing... I mean for the sake of scale look at that slice of pickle off to the right of the sandwich, or the french fries directly next to it. This is genuinely a logistical challenge to hold this thing up and fit this sandwich in your wide open mouth. The fact that Daddy's offers a super sandwich with two portions of this chicken? At that point I'd bring an extra bun, maybe a forklift.

 

    

As mentioned earlier I ordered the "Hot" option (the middle choice beneath "Hot Hot") which unlike the regular option has a solid heaping of their 'spicy' coleslaw on top (also some pickle slices and a mayo). Strangely, Daddy's Chicken's website describes these as "deep fried" pickles which they clearly aren't... but truly that's a small observation rather than a complaint (there's already plenty of fried goodness on this sandwich to go around).  

The secondary elements, mostly the slaw and sauce, really do add a lot to this sandwich. Can't say I encounter a "spicy" coleslaw very often but this one has some genuine sting to it, with some legit bitter red cabbage crunch. Really tasty with more of a vinegary slaw element, and there must be something in the brine or an oil that gives it a bit of a legit pop of something heat on the tongue. 

Sauce? It's a lime and jalapeno aioli, which wisely leans more into a sweeter than spicier profile that balances well with everything else here. If everything tried to be spicy... well everything would taste spicy but there's is thankfully some significant depth here. Likewise the bun has a bit of a light sugar sweet touch to it and is firm enough to keep this enormous chunk of chicken from becoming a chaotic mess (or at least try).

This is a nearly impossible sandwich to eat without it completely coming apart in your hands eventually, so be ready. This is dark meat chicken as well (thigh according to their menu) which lends itself even more to falling to pieces. 

 

 

All that aside... this is one hell of a fried chicken sandwich. Exceptionally juicy and thick, with a loose breading that keeps a consistent crunch all the way through. Never a dry crunch, but it never gets soft/soggy at any point either... nor are there large dead zones of just batter and empty air. It's all crunch, all chicken folks. 

Definitely somewhat fattier and greasier than your typical fried chicken (which aren't exactly kale salads to begin with) but never does that become the dominant taste or texture. I certainly didn't get that gross "ughhhh" draining pain in my stomach that often happens with greasy food like this, which is a credit to the quality Daddy's puts forth here.

The flavours here are really great. I mentioned the coleslaw and the aioli, but the spice within this "hot" chicken itself seriously doesn't play around. It's a consistently good burn all evenly throughout the mouth that at times had me having to suck some some air into my mouth for a second just to keep it reasonable. An impressive heat that actually got me sweating just a little on a chilly January evening. Also, very much the kind of spice that gives false security, rather than rushing up the street to meet you immediate sting. Upon the first bite I was thinking "oh, there's a little something but I'm easily fine." By the fourth bite... "Oh."

 

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Overall! A genuinely charming spot (solo 80s dance party or no) that makes freaking enormous and delicious chicken sandwiches. Absolutely without a doubt, Daddy's Chicken gets a recommendation: their "hot" sandwich brings a great mix of gradual heat, a lime sour/sweet mayo, a coleslaw with some zing and of course a honking chunk of tasty juicy fried chicken. 

Between this and Birdie's (which I may have liked slightly more, but they're also quite different with a more American buttermilk style)... Leslieville has some mighty fine options for fried chicken. Daddy's have odd hours (they're closed Monday-Wednesday and shutter 9pm those other nights, or earlier if they run out of stuff which happened the first time I went) so it's not exactly a place you're hitting up on the way home from the bar (like Queens Head or Lloyd's or Betty's nearby... not that I'd know, nope). 

I'm definitely keen on going back to try their maximum spice sandwich, which considering the more than respectable heat of the middle one... I can only imagine is probably a flamethrower on a bun. Bring it on.

 

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Chicken Run Around The World (tell em what you heard)

My YouTube diet is basically three things: videos about cooking food or attempting to do it, musical reviews/instructional stuff, and of course the hack frauds at RedLetterMedia. 

This video below is the former, a (clearly very popular) channel I discovered fairly recently where this dude and his friends try and compare lots of fast food chains, or (like the video below) perform the recipes and judge the differences from different countries. 

The hell. That looks like an insane amount of fun... why'd I choose the written medium again? I've got to fire that agent... 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday Tune

Easily one of my favourite Prince songs, it's such a wink wink and the melody is irresistible... it's about a car obviously, right? Of course...

Prince was a freaking genius, man. Songwriting, singing, guitar (holy shit) bandleading... he could do anything... 

...including hoop a bit too.

 

 

That's all for this week. Do I even have to do the thing anymore...

...probably not... but I will anyway! Stay safe, stay warm, don't believe any sound that comes out of Doug Ford's mouth and... secondarily most of all.. don't spill that mustard.

The Tuesday Taste (On a Wednesday?) - Kajun Chicken and Seafood

 

 

You can put your clothes back on

she's leaving you

No time to apologize 

for the things you do

Go rent a Ferrari

and sing the blues

Believe that Clapton was the second coming  

 

Another Tuesday... (I mean Wednesday, whoops)... another Taste! After a brief diversion back into smash burgers and a sit-down restaurant experience, we're coming back with more fried chicken from a little Ontario chain called Kajun Chicken and Seafood. 

Despite having 70,000+ Instagram followers (!) Kajun is a place I'd never even heard of before I noticed their new-ish location in Riverside here in Toronto while riding a streetcar to work. Their website provides next to nothing as far as backstory or information goes... all I can glean is that their headquarters are probably in Thornhill? I can say definitively that they have eight locations open as I write this piece, with four more said to open soon to complete a non-baker's dozen. These outposts are fairly spread out: Orillia, Hamilton, Waterloo, Oshawa... even the Toronto ones are as far apart as possible (Queen East, North York and east Scarborough).

So! Not much backstory this time (please save your applause), rather we're diving right in pretty early. It was a very cold January evening and, seeing as the name of the place boasts of their chicken and seafood... I had to sample both. What you see above is what they called a super combo thing? Two pieces of fried chicken, two fish tender things, a biscuit and two sides (I went with fries and coleslaw, nice and simple). This all came in around 18 bucks... not bad considering the variety and amount of food. 

 

 

Here's your biscuit and... yeah this is pretty rough stuff. Not a good start. Say what you will about Popeye's (seems they've really declined in recent years) but they make decent biscuits... there's an irresistible butteryness in there that makes them somewhat tasty even when there's also a dry chalkiness to the texture.(Church's Chicken make really good ones, for the record).

These Kajun ones? A bit of a honey glaze in the taste, but beyond that... you get all those bad dry chalk-like aspects without that butter flavour you need to make this work. I barely even wanted to finish this thing... the bread caked at the roof of my mouth on every bite and all I could taste was bland chalk bread... genuinely bad. 

 

 

We're off to a very weak first impression, and sadly these fries are not going to boost the experience. Unlike that dreadful biscuit, these are merely 'whatever' as far as fries go. Good seasoning (like a sweet salt and pepper) and they are soft inside... however the dominant taste is like old frying oil and that flavour (for what it is) really fades very quickly, as generic frozen fries tend to do. At least there's some effort to give these some zing, and they are enjoyably crispy. Alas a generic frozen french fry is always going to be just that and it's hard to overcome. 

 

 

Can anything save this? How about coleslaw? Answer: nope.

Hey... again the level of quality is really just so generic and predictable. Spoilers, but you've eaten food like this a zillion times before. None of this stands out or is exceptional remotely in any way. This coleslaw is a prime example of that... I can't say it's amazing because you can find this exact thing at this exact same level of quality almost anywhere... but because it's a creamier slaw (my usual preference) I liked it a bit more than it probably deserves. It pairs nicely with the fish tenders, which speaking of...

 

 

This is legitimately the only somewhat interesting thing I sampled here. A nice layer of breading, the fish is tender and nicely flaky with plenty of subtle fishy flavour (imagine a higher end frozen fish fillet from the supermarket), while a nice little hint of pepper gives it some extra dimension. Not greasy or oily either... a bit floppy (it'll collapse! A third of this portion fell onto the gross streetcar floor an instant after this photo) but generally an enjoyable fried fish portion. Would make for a great taco actually... hmmmm...

 

Who doesn't like a taco picture? Sociopaths, that's who...

 

 

Time for the fried chicken! The main event! 

Look... fried chicken is delightful by it's very nature. Crunchy and breaded, juicy and tender... the baseline is high enough that it's difficult to be totally disappointed. KFC does (it's been years since I tried the infamous Double Down but that dry ass stale bird still haunts me) but for the most part you're playing with house money. It's hard to screw this up.

Kajun doesn't screw it up, but man. This is so bland and boring... there is nothing to this at all. I ordered the spicy one too! Nothing resembling seasoning, or marinated taste, or herbs within the breading... this is a dictionary photo of what fried chicken looks like and it makes absolutely zero effort to rise above that.

You can be a significant disappointment while still being just okay. Look... your restaurant is freaking called "Kajun" (an obvious play on Cajun food), the only thing your website describes at all about yourself is a love for Louisiana cuisine... and yet this is such a painfully meh fried chicken with absolutely nothing memorable about it. While I don't think "cajun" when I think fried chicken (more seafood boils) where are any of those cajun spices or flair? There is no spice whatsoever (and again this was the "spicy" offering) no earthy flavours or any hints of onions or pepper... nothing stands out about this whatsoever beyond "fried chicken be fried chicken".

The chicken itself is juicy, the breading is quite crispy and peels off quite nicely. Nothing stale or chewy or overly fried. Texture is not the problem here, they do nail that part. It's the complete lack of flavour imagination, or seasonings, or spice (seriously... they give packets of hot sauce and a pre-packaged honey mustard... nothing made in house) that simply makes this a seriously forgettable showing here on the weekly review. 

 

 

Overall. It can't all be Pianos and Rosie's and Birdies... we were due for a let down and Kajun Chicken and Seafood sure as hell is one. Been a while since I experienced a meal so easily forgettable as this was... at least Tim Horton's pizza was interestingly bland, or Taco Bell had some genuine cheap nostalgia. This? What is the point. And what's most frustrating is how some small changes could've made this actually pretty good. 

But it isn't. I strongly do not recommend Kajun at all. It's so precisely just slightly below average to be actually frustrating. They are cheap, I'll give them that... but now I think I see why. 

Checking their Instagram again (70,000 followers! How?) I think I'm going to invent a new rule: if you're curious about a restaurant you've discovered on a site like IG or whatever... unless they're showing actual photos of their items on a real table or in their kitchen, rather than a sleek shiny graphic... be suspicious! Legitimately great food spots will happily share pictures of the actual items they make and are selling... designed visual trickery to boost a promotion? Bad sign.

Want proof? Look up PG Cluck's IG and compare it with Kajun (who somehow have 5x more followers... wtf). Or Chica's, or any smaller burger joint that isn't McD's or BK. You get actual photos of actual food! 

Yep, making this a new rule and I'm christening it, because this was such a lame let down... the Kajun Rule. Let it be known! If a restaurant only shows graphic design images of their food, and the not real made-to-order stuff... odds are extremely high they are gonna be meh at best. Which is what Kajun is... meh at best. 

Apologizes to the very nice dude behind the counter, who seemed youthfully confused by the very menu above him... but his kindness did not go unnoticed.                

 

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Playing Chicken

Since we're talking chicken this week, here's a video from one of my favourite food related YouTube channels wherein Andrew Rea (in his own comedic way) walks through nearly every method of screwing up cooking a chicken breast. I most certainly cannot say no animals were harmed in the eventual making of this video (though no chicken was wasted) 

Tuesday Wednesday Tune

 

Had this song stuck in my head for the past week, so now it's your turn suckers! 

Funny enough, had I posted this review on time/the usual Tuesday schedule, it would've been this artist's birthday. Didn't plan it that way but would've been a heck of a coincidence...

That's all for this week! We'll have something tastier on The Taste next time... ideally. Until then, stay safe, stay warm and most of all don't spill that mustard.