pizza Archives - Page 2 of 2

In Downtown

Pizza Fabrika: Pizza for the People

April 6, 2015

Pizza Fabrika is located on Denman Street close to the West End. To go with their artisan pizza, they serve a variety of craft beers. I came here for a Zomato MeetUp event to enjoy some delicious food and meet some foodies.

The inside has 2 long tables, which are great for groups. They have smaller tables for 2 -4 people.

Beer Bison Meatballs ($8) is served with tomato sauce, gremolata & Grana Padano. There’s about 25% pork and 75% bison meat in the meatballs to give it the firm and unique taste.

Mac and Cheese was cheesy and full of flavour. It is topped with gremolata.

Beet Salad ($6) has herb ricotta and walnuts on top. It was a pretty good salad. Good for before the meal of pizza that we were about to devour.

Arugula Salad ($6) is topped with toasted pine nuts, yellow tomato dressing, and shaved Grana Padano. A simple and light salad.

Lamb Sausage Pizza topped with arugula.

Margherita Fabrika Pizza has tomatoes, fior di latte, and fresh basil. I had high hopes for this pizza, but the topping just fell off the pizza and didn’t hold together well.

Pesto Pizza with yellow pepper, tomato, and goat cheese. It’s a vegetarian option, but I just loved the pesto! Who doesn’t love pesto.

Dark Matter Pizza is their featured pizza and it has sausage made with Dark Matter Ale beer, braised short ribs, and sautéed mushrooms. Yummy flavour!

Overall, the topping had a great flavour, but some of the pizza’s were quite soft in the centre and didn’t hold well together. Sometimes we needed a knife and fork to eat it.

We Rate Pizza Fabrika:

Address:
1680 Robson St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.pizzafabrika.ca/

In Italian

Buca Osteria & Enoteca: Pasta, Pizza and Pig Ears

November 7, 2014

After touching down in Toronto, Flo and I went to Buca on King Street for dinner. It’s been a few years since I’ve been here but I will remember they had some pretty damn good Italian food. They have 2 more locations Buca Bar and Buca Yorkville.

Like always, remember to make reservations or else you will be out of luck. We managed to snag a reservation on Open Table at 6pm a day before due to cancellations.

We were seated in their wine room and it was really beautiful seeing all their varieties of wine.

There are lots of tables and seats in the area. It’s much more calm and relaxing here compared to their main dining area.

Peroni is served in a large wine glass. I never felt more sophisticated drinking beer out of this glass. I like Peroni because it’s light with a hint of citrus.

We chose two types of their Salumi Di Buca, which are their daily meat.

Prosciuttini, which is a cured leg of pork with colonata spice.
Coppa, cured pork shoulder with ciociare spice

Then we got 2 of their formaggi, which are their cheeses:

Ricotta Di Bufala, is their whipped water buffalo milk whey cheese
Pecorino Toscano, Tuscan DOP Sheeps milk cheese, aged 8 years

All the the choices were great and they came with their daily preserves. It’s a fun item to pick a few meats and cheeses and enjoy a good chat with friends while picking at the plate.

Gnocco Fritto ($7) are Tuscan spiced crisp dumpling. It is basically a big dumpling that is hollow. It is served with lardo, which is basically fat.

I thought it was an average dish. It looks beautiful, but I didn’t like the idea of eating fat and deep fried hollow dumplings.

Orecchio Di Maiale ($8) is a great dish to share. It is crisp pig’s ears with wild fennel and sale di cervia. It is so crispy and is music to my ears. It was good for the first few pieces, but it did get quite salty after a while.

Fungi Pizza ($24) has sauteed seasonal mushrooms, marscarpone, gorgonzola and marjoram. This pizza was quite rich and heavy. The mushrooms didn’t shine through as it was overpowered by the various cheeses.

Bigoli ($18) has torchio-cranked duck egg pasta, duck offal ragu, venetian spices, mascarpone, and basil . The portion was small for the price, but it tasted good.

Their food is pretty good but you have to choose the dishes carefully. Here is my last visit from 2012. I do like the atmosphere of Buca and it is quite lively.

We Rate Buca:

Address:
602 King Street W.
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://buca.ca/

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In Italian

The Rolling Dough: New Pizza Place in Burnaby

September 21, 2014

The Rolling Dough is a new pizza place in North Burnaby, which opened on August 2014. I often go to Gaya Sushi next door, so I was quite curious to try this place out when it opened. M and I came here to grab takeout for lunch as we noticed they had a few promotional deals going on. We ordered 2 medium pizzas and it took about 20 minutes to be completed. We called ahead of time so we didn’t have to wait.

Inside the store is their large stone pizza oven that they use to make all their pizza.

Making lots of pizza all day everyday, except on Sundays.

They have 3 sizes of pizzas – 8″, 12″ and 14″. They roll our their dough everyday and try to use local produce where possible. Nothing is frozen or premade.

There are a few seats inside and outside, but most people do takeout.

M and I did a pick up order since we wanted to eat it at home. Too bad they don’t deliver.

The Rolling Dough Chicken (12″ – $18) has roasted chicken breast, monterey jack cheese, salsa verde, cilantro, and Feta Cheese on the thin crust.

Meat Lovers (12″ – $17.50) comes with ham, pepperoni and spicy Italian sausage on top of the thin crust.

Both pizzas were quite thin and did stay crispy after we took it home.

The toppings held together nicely and did not fall apart.

Taking a few bites of each pizza, it’s very different from Panago or Dominos. It’s much thinner crust and not as oily. The pizzas were average, but didn’t feel like they were worth the price because of their thin crust and you won’t get as full. Do keep an eye out for promos on their website as they do have some good deals. When we got 2 medium pizzas, the second one was 30% off.

If you are looking for a late night pizza joint, their hours are short and only open till 9pm.

We Rate The Rolling Dough:

Address:
2900 Bainbridge Ave
Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://rollingdough.ca/

In Four Beakers

Pizzeria Farina: Amazing Pizza in Vancouver

September 14, 2014

Pizzeria Farina is located right by the entrance to Chinatown near the Viaducts. They open daily at 5pm and stays open until the dough runs out. This place is really close to my work and never open for lunch. Apparently they always run out of dough, around 8pm or 10pm depending on the day you’re here. They are also the same owners as Ask for Luigi and Pourhouse.

I came here with M, KoreanGirl and Scarface came here on a Friday after work to enjoy some great pizza. You can either eat in or take out.

The interior is quite small and cozy. You will find a communal dining table in the centre for 10 – 12 people.

The are also 2 tables of 2 and 4 seats by the window. So, that’s about 20 seats in total.

They have sparkling or still water on tap! Pretty awesome! I’ve slowly grown to like sparkling water, so it’s great you don’t have to pay for it.

They also have different sodas. We got Boylan Ginger Ale, Boylan Cane Cola and Brio Chinotto.

Margherita ($12) has tomato sauce, mozzarella, olive oil and basil. It was basic, but it was so good! The dough was thin and crispy with the perfect amount of toppings. I could eat this all day! Highly Recommended!

Funghi ($15) has Mushrooms, mozzarella, parmesan, red onions, garlic and arugula. The edges were a bit burnt, but this pizza was good too. It was crispy at first, but if you do wait too long, it will get soggy in the centre because of all the cheese.

Special ($15) has tomato sauce with prosciutto cotto, pancetta, parmesan, fior de latte & fresh basil. Mmm that pancetta was really good on the pizza.

They also have Chili Infused Olive Oil and Oregano Infused Olive Oil for the pizza. The chili one is quite hot, so don’t have too much. But, it is really good.

Overall, Pizzeria Farina has amazing pizza! I would definitely recommend it. Start with the Margherita Pizza as that is the best one! MMmmmm mmmmmm this place is really good! One of the best pizzeria’s in Vancouver.

We Rate Pizzeria Farina:

Address:
915 Main Street
Vancouver BC

Website:
http://www.pizzeriafarina.com/

In Italian

Novo Pizzeria and Wine Bar: Burrata and Creme Brulee

June 23, 2014

Novo Pizzeria is located in Kitsilano near Burrard and West 5th Avenue. There is street parking and underground parking as well. Novo Pizzeria serves up Neapolitan pizza created in their wood burning oven. Owner Carmine Paradiso opened Novo in 2011 because he loves Neapolitan pizza and couldn’t find any authentic ones in Vancouver.

M and I decided to give Novo a try after work one day. We have been to a bunch of other pizza places in town and wanted to see what people were talking about.

The interior has a comfortable and relaxed setting. You ca see the open kitchen at the back of the restaurant. It’s pretty fun to see them making pizza and preparing all the other dishes.

Burrata ($14) is served with arugula, oven-dried tomatoes, and house made bread. Oh boy, was this delicious! It had a soft texture, so, when you put it on the bread, it just oozes all over it. Highly recommended.

Sicilian Meatballs ($10) also is packed with currants, pine nuts then topped with reggiano and marinara sauce. The meatball were a nice size, but M thought it was just an average meatball. Nothing is noticeably different.

Ravioli ($19) has roasted pecans, gorgonzola pear balsamic cream sauce, and prosciutto.

I wasn’t a fan of the dish because it was rich and had a sweet taste. When you take a bite with prosciutto, it helps cut away the sweetness.

Novo DOP Margherita Pizza ($20) is made with DOP (denominazione di Origine Protetta) marked ingredients. These items have been made it it’s traditional ways to set a high quality of standards of produce in Europe.

This pizza is made with imported DOP San Marzano tomatoes, DOP Bufalo mozzarella from the Campania region of Italy, basil, Frantori Cutrera DOP, cold extracted olive oil, DOP parmigiano reggiano, and pesto.

Clearly, there is a lot of love and passion for quality ingredients that went into this pizza. You can really taste the freshness of the ingredients.

Tartufo ($21) has fior di latte, truffled mushrooms, fennel sausage, and truffled oil. This pizza was ok and I was surprised it didn’t have a strong truffle taste.

You can ask for chili oil for your pizza. It’s not spicy, but it adds a bit more flavour to the pizza.

Toasted Hazelnut Creme Brulee ($9) has Frangelico ganache under the creme brulee, rosemary and pinenut cookies, and a orange granita. Best creme brulee that I’ve ever had! The flavours were great and I could eat this over and over again.

Cappuccino was ordered at the end of the meal to finish off the evening.

Overall, there were items that were a hit and a miss. I didn’t find their staple items – pizza or pasta exciting. But, this is based off the few items I tried. My most favourite items are the burrata and the toasted hazelnut Creme Brulee!

We Rate Novo Pizzeria:

Address:
2118 Burrard Street
Vancouver

Website:
http://www.novopizzeria.com/

In Italian

Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria: Pizzetta Lunch Special

June 22, 2014

I never take many trips to South Surrey, but while I was in the area, my coworker took us to Famoso Neopolitan Pizzeria in Morgan Crossing for lunch. I’ve been to the Commercial Drive location a few years ago and I remember the pizzas being pretty decent.

Once you are seated, there are menus at the table. You will find pencils and note pads on the table to write down your order. It helps you remember you are ordering when you go up to the counter.

I always thought this was a weird concept that you would have to go up to the counter to take your order and pay. Why can’t they just come and take your order? It’s part of their service-style across all their locations. I personally find that it just cheapens the experience.

Pizzetta is their lunch special and you can choose from a small pizza, which is half the size of their regular pizzas with an optional side.

I chose the Don Andreas pizza and the Napoli Salad ($12).

Don Andreas pizza is recently new on their spring and summer menu. It has creme fraiche, fior-di-latte, roasted chicken, corn and chipotle salsa, avocado, chopped cilantro, lime wedge, and served with a side of Valentina hot sauce.

Napoli Salad has field greens, ripe cherry tomatoes, diced red onions, carrots, chickpeas, and a balsamic vinaigrette.

Having the salad and the pizzetta was a good size for lunch. The quality of the food was pretty average.

We Rate Famoso Neopolitan Pizzeria:

Address:
15865 Croydon Dr Surrey BC

Website:
http://www.famoso.ca/

In British Columbia

Panago: Nacho Pizza

May 27, 2014

Earlier in May, Panago was promoting the Nacho Pizza. This was an interesting pizza they were promoting since a few years ago, they launched the Beef Taco Pizza and it’s still on the menu.

It’s a nice pizza to spice up the Summer. Unfortunately, they seem to have discontinued the pizza and is no longer on their website. I am sure if you really wanted it, you can request it by putting the same ingredients together.

Nacho Pizza (Medium $13) has fresh salsa, ground beef, red onions, jalapeño peppers, tomatoes, black olives, mozzarella, cheddar cheese served with a side of sour cream.

M and I thought this was pretty good. The spiciness of the jalapeño, went well with everything else. It’s like a nacho but without the chips. Panago is always coming up with different pizza themes and should be interesting to see whats next.

Website: http://www.panago.com/

In Downtown/Ryerson University

Scaddabush: Italian Kitchen and Bar in Toronto

May 20, 2014

An Easter Long Weekend in Toronto means a lot of people leave town, but M and I came to visit some friends, but realized a lot of restaurants were closed or fully booked with reservations. Looking at Open Table to see what was available, we got curious about Scaddabush on Younge Street. They also have a another location in Mississauga.

The are an Italian restaurant serving up meatballs, pasta, fresh mozzarella, and pizza.

The interior looked pretty cool. It’s also great for large groups because we saw a huge group come here for a birthday party. Maybe about 25 people.

They make all their Mozzarella in-house from 5pm – 11pm. They even tell you exactly who made it. It’s a nice personal touch. There is also a window where you can watch them make it.

Buratta ($11.98) is infused with honey and truffle cream, comes with focaccia crostini.

Straight Up Meatball comes shareable on focaccia crostini, cheese sauce, garlic chips, and fresh basil.It is about half a pound.

You have two choices to choose from:

Straight-Up Meatball (Classic) $12.28
Straight-Up Meatball (Stuffed) $12.68

Straight-Up Stuffed Meatball ($12.68) it is stuffed with pepperoni and mozzarella. Theres a good amount of pepperoni inside.

Italian Burger ($14.92) has certified Angus Beef, bruschetta, baby arugula, fried fresh mozzarella, balsamic reduction, pesto aïoli, and served on artisanal bread. You get your choice of side and Fabo chose fries.

Bolognese (Small: $11.97) has fresh fettuccine, classic Northern Italian meat sauce, and lemon herbed ricotta. There are two more additional sizes – Large ($14.97) and Social ($26.20).

The bolognese was ok, a decent amount of meat, but it’s not overflowing with sauce. The server warned me about this dish because a few people have complained saying there wasn’t enough sauce. I found there was a perfect amount of sauce.

Veal Parmesan ($18.92) is panko breadcrumb crusted, melted fresh mozzarella, special spices, served with spaghetti with tomato basil sauce. You can also get chicken parmesan for $18.24.

This dish was quite expensive for what you get and the quality was ok.

Pesto Pollo (Small – $13.97) has fresh fettuccine, sautéed chicken, baby spinach, semi sun-dried tomatoes, and basil pesto cream sauce. There are also two sizes available too – Large ($17.77) and Social ($31.10).

Overall, fun atmosphere with friends, but food and service was average.

We Rate Scaddabush:

Address:
382 Yonge St Unit #7
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://www.scaddabush.com/

In Kid Friendly

Wolfgang Puck Pizzeria and Cucina: Pizza and Pasta in Vegas

April 13, 2014

Inside the The Shops at Crystals right beside Aria is Wolfgang Puck Pizzeria and Cucina. My parents were raving about this place and how addictive their pasta was the day before. I was intrigued and I wanted to come here to see what they were talking about.

It has a warm and inviting atmosphere. Perfect for families. We came right when it opened and by 1pm, there was a good amount of people dining.

The other side of the restaurant, you can get a view of all the shops. Plus its great for people watching.

Shirley Temple was what my mom was craving. It is made using a mix of Grenadine syrup and soda. We were sad they didn’t use the recipe with orange juice.

Complimentary bread arrived at the table before the rest of the meal came. It is delicious rustic bread with a few pieces of butter on the side. The bread was really soft in the centre and crispy on the outside.

Prime Beef Carpaccio has roasted garlic aioli, crispy artichokes, goat cheese, and arugula. Oh man, this was addictive. Highly recommended.

Veal Ravioli has porcini mushrooms in a brown butter sauce and crisp sage on top. My sister thought it was a bit salty for her liking but the first few bites were good.

Rigatoncini is smothered in piemontese meat sauce, garlic, and parmesan reggiano. The sauce gets into the inside of the pasta so you get a good amount of sauce in each bite.

Spaghetti has tomatoes, basil, garlic with housemade meatballs. Very classic and simple dish. The meatballs were huge and it is very filling. My sister and my dad really liked this.

Wild Mushroom pizza has bechamel, fontina, thyme, and arugula on top. It has a thin crust and perfectly crisp all the way through.

Overall, the food was done pretty well and no complaints.

We Rate Wolfgang Puck Pizzeria & Cucina:

Address:
3720 S Las Vegas Blvd
Las Vegas, NV

Website:
http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/restaurants/fine-dining/53877

In American

Panago: Deluxe Spicy Pepperoni Pizza

December 22, 2013

Panago Pizza recently introduced their new Deluxe Spicy Pepperoni Pizza. As Panago pizza is very close to our place, M decided to order some for lunch. Best lazy meal ever. We both love spicy food, so we really wanted to see if it would really set our taste buds on fire. The basic pepperoni pizza is awesome and you can’t go wrong. When you add a bit of spice into the picture, it should taste good.

We ordered a Large Deluxe Spicy Pepperoni Pizza for $15. It is made of Italian tomato sauce, spicy pepperoni, and mozzarella. There’s so much pepperoni that you can’t even see the pepperoni slices underneath.

It wasn’t very spicy and had a bit of a spicy tingle. If you want some extra spice to it, add some tabasco sauce or Franks Red Hots sauce.

To balance out the greasy pizza, I ordered the Chicken Garden Salad that comes with grilled chicken, romaine lettuce, green peppers, grape tomatoes, and red onions. It comes with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. The salad was alright. The chicken pieces tasted ok, but it wasn’t great.

Overall, the Deluxe Spicy Pepperoni Pizza is a good item to order when people are over.

Website: http://panago.com/

In British Columbia

Pizza Hut Canada: Crunchy Cheesy Bites Pizza

November 13, 2013

M and I were watching TV one day and we saw that Pizza Hut Canada just introduced the Crunchy Cheesy Bites Pizza. A large 2 topping pizza is $17.

Crunchy Cheesy Bites Pizza is different from a regular pizza. It has a crust made of cheesy bites topped with crunchy corn flakes. Even though type of pizza is new in North America, it has been around Asian for some time.

You can rip off the bites and eat the separately, or enjoy it in its original pizza style.

When the pizza arrived, it has some resemblance to what you see in the commercials. As I opened the pizza box, I was so excited to dig in.

The cheese does look like it’s oozing out, but wasn’t cheesy at all. The inside of the bite was hollow and the cheese was hard. When you bite into the entire bite, its squishy and doughy. There was not crunch in the crust at all. Maybe the pizza was overcooked.

It doesn’t live up to the hype. It was alright, but I wouldn’t order it again. I still liked the hotdog stuffed crust they introduced a year ago.

Website: www.pizzahut.ca

In Fast Food

Pizza Hut: Rich Gold Pizza and Crown Pizza in Korea

October 31, 2013

I thought I knew pizza … but when I came to South Korea the pizza wasn’t the same. M and I made it a mission to have pizza at Pizza Hut. Their pizzas are quite different and you won’t be able to find it in North America. Imagine sweet potato and minimal tomato sauce on your pizza. To me that’s nuts.

Pohang has a new Pizza Hut and we found one in their Downtown core.

They have 4 styles of pizza:

Rich Gold
Crown Pocket
Cheese Crunch
The Special

The salad bar used to be good, but this particular location sucked a lot. Two people must share a plate for the price you pay. The salad isn’t fresh and a bit wilted. The fruit looked stale and old, but you can try rambutan and passion fruit that you can’t easily find in North America.

On the bright side, you can get pasta, rice cake and mussels at the bar too.

This is what I grabbed. Everything tasted ok, but I wouldn’t get the salad bar again. Nothing tasted fresh.

Pizza Hut’s Rich Gold Pizza (Medium – 27,900 won) has a sweet potato mousse circling the crust. It’s essentially two carbs in every bite.

We got the supreme toppings but minus the meat since we were eating with some vegetarians. It tasted pretty good surprisingly. It still doesn’t compare to normal pizza because they use little to no tomato sauce. It’s mostly just cheese and sweet potato.

Bulgogi Crown Pocket (Medium – 28,900 won) has bits of beef on top with peppers, bbq sauce, ranch, and mushrooms.It’s pretty expensive since the pizza wasn’t that big. The bulgogi was a bit sparse and you could barely notice any meat.

Nestled in the crust is sweet potato purée and cream cheese. I thought it was a gross combination.

Bacon Steak Crown Pocket (Medium – 28,900 won) has a sweet sauce drizzled over the peppers, cheese and green beans. It was ok, but I didn’t like the sweet and savoury combination.

I wasn’t a fan of these Korean-style pizzas. It’s a cool sounding combination but not nice on the palate. The price was very expensive! It was about $28 for a medium pizza. Also, the service was quite poor

Have you tried these before?

Website: www.pizzahut.co.kr

In American

Chicago Food Planet Tours: Gold Coast & Old Town Food Tour

October 4, 2013

I had a week in Chicago and it’s quite hard to eat everything. There’s only so many restaurants I can go to in one day. I contemplated for a long time if I should take a food tour or not. 7 restaurants in 3 hours is always enticing for a foodie for $50.

Chicago Food Planet Food Tours offered a tour of Gold Coast and Old Town‘s best eats. It’s a cool neighbourhood, but the only reason I went on the tour was to try a slice of deep dish pizza from Lou Malnati’s. I really didn’t want to eat a whole pizza to myself or eat alone.

We explored:

Lou Malnati’s
Delightful Pastries
Kamehachi Old Town
The Fudge Pot
The Spice House
Old Town Oil
Tea Gschwendner

The group was only 16 people, so it was a nice decent size. What made me feel awkward was that everyone else came to the tour as a group or a couple. It made me feel like an awkward turtle.

Lou Malnati’s

Our first stop was Lou Malnati’s for their famous deep dish pizza. This was the starting point of the tour. They are an iconic Chicago-Style Deep Dish pizzeria. It’s been around since 1971.

All 16 of us sat down and started beginning chowing down on our meal.

We began with a salad.

Then the deep dish pizza! So satisfying and the crust is so crispy. Definitely the highlight of the tour.

Tea Gschwendner

We then walked a short distance to Tea Gschwendner. They are Europe’s leading specialty loose Green, Black, Oolong and White teas merchant and have been around since 1987.

We were given a little lesson about different types of tea and how to make tea.

Iced tea was given to everyone as a refresher after the yummy pizza. As it was a hot summer we definitely needed.

We then headed into Old Town and was told about the history of some notable buildings and history.

Kamehachi Old Town

Kamehachi Old Town is Chicago’s first Japanese-style restaurant, sake cafe and sushi bar . It has been around since 1967.

We had 2 types of maki rolls, but only 2 pieces. It was ok, but not great. Coming from Vancouver, this doesn’t even compare to what good sushi is like.

The Fudge Pot

The Fudge pot is Chicago’s oldest chocolate confectioner, butter toffee and home-made fudge shop. They have been around since 1963 making delicious sweets.

We were taken to their kitchen to hear the history of the Fudge Pot and their production.

The butter toffee samples we received were pretty awesome. So addictive.

Spice Merchants

We then stopped by the world-famous merchant of hand-prepared spices, blends and artisan seasonings. Once you step close to the door of this place, you’ll definitely smell the amazing flavours. It’s quite strong stuff.

They have hundreds of spices! They have even made their own special blends. You can probably find any spice you’re looking for.

We looked around the shop and then taken to the back to get a lesson on different spices, best ways to store spices and how to get the most flavourful spices. Interesting stop on this tour, but we only smelled spices.

Old Town Oil

Old Town Oil is America’s premiere supplier of aged balsamic vinegars and 100% extra-virgin olive oils. I’ve never seen so many tins of olive oil and balsamic vinegar before.

We were able to try all the flavours we wanted. Interesting flavours.

We continued walking around the neighbourhood and heard more about the history.

Delightful Pastries

Our last stop of the tour was at Delightful Pastries. It’s an authentic Polish-European bakery serving pastries, pierogies and pies.

Two Macaroons

Two different types of perogies.

The Chicago Food Planet Tour of Old Town and Gold Coast was fun and enjoyable, but if you are a hardcore foodie, a majority of the places aren’t super amazing. The shops are unique and have a long history, but it won’t keep you coming back. Especially if you are a local.

As a tourist, it was a good use of 3 hours to visit so many shops and restaurants, plus learn a little bit of history in these 2 areas. The 2 restaurants that stood out to me was Lou Malnati’s and The Fudge Pot. Mmmm pizza and chocolate.

Our tour guide was great! He was funny and was very personable to each person on the tour.

Website: http://www.chicagofoodplanet.com/tours/near-north-food-tour/

In Gastown

Pizzeria Ludica: Pizza and Board Games

September 15, 2013

On the outside, it still looks like the late Verace Pizzeria. It recently changed ownership and is now Pizzeria Ludica. They opened last week but did not publicly announce it to test the waters. M and I work close by and pass by all the time. When I saw Verace Pizzeria was closed, I was a bit sad, but on the door it said Pizzeria Ludica is opening in its place.

Don’t let the exterior fool you, they just haven’t gotten their new signs yet.

The interior looks similar too.

What makes them different than the other pizzerias is that they have over 500 board games. It’s all on the back wall. They have the usual board games to more unique games that places like Walmart or Target won’t have. Their collection is quite impressive.

M regularly plays board games so he found it cool that there were so many he hasn’t heard of. There’s no extra change to play games.

They are also happy to teach people new games to play. Very insightful staff!

They even have simple games for kids too. Definitely a great place to take your family.

M and I played Smash Up while we waited for our order. Lets just say, I kick ass in board games and I beat M. It’s quite a fun game.

While we were playing the game, the food all arrived. I must say, it was a challenge eating pizza, drinking, and playing games.

The menu items are similar to Verace.

Limonata Al Mosmario has freshly squeezed lemons, rosemary and soda.

Menabrea Beer ($5.50) was pretty good and had a bit of citrus notes in the beer.

Proscuitto Cotto e Funghi ($12.99) comes with mozzarella, ham and mushrooms. It was good, but need some more of a mushroom punch.

Margherita ($10.99) was one of the specials of the day. It is served with plum tomato sauce, fior di latte mozzarella, finished with grana padano, fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil.

The pizza was a good size, good for individual or sharing at about 12 inches. The quality was alright, but there could be more improvements. The basil was sparse and didn’t seem very fresh as it could be.

There are 3 types of oils you can dip with your pizza – chili oil, rosemary oil and garlic oil. My favourite was the garlic.

Overall, great concept with good quality board games. The pizza could use a bit of improvement since the pizza was a bit soggy in the centre and would flop over when eating. It’s quite hard eating it by hand, perhaps a knife and fork would be better. But, I’ve heard thats the style of Neapolitan pizza. I just prefer my pizza to be a bit more crunchy.

We Rate Pizzeria Ludica:

Address:
189 Keefer Pl
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.ludica.ca/

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In Four Beakers

Trilussa Pizza & Pane: Thin Square Pizza

August 11, 2013

Trilussa Pizza and Pane is located on Main Street near 28th ave. They serve up authentic Roman pizza and uses fresh ingredients that make the pizza taste great.

Alessandro Fonseca is the owner and the creator of the pizzas. Very friendly staff here too.

Our department at work decided to do a mini food crawl during the afternoon at Trilussa. I can’t believe I’ve never heard of this place because it’s so cozy…plus they have good pizza.

One thing you just have to get is the pizza. The prices are quite fair and all under $10.

Once you look at their counter full of the thin crust pizza, I am sure you mouth will start drooling.

They have a pretty cool way of cutting the pizza, so you won’t find triangle slices, but you will have squares.

Trastevere on the right has pancetta, mozzarella and pecorino cheese. Really good and goooey.

Garbatella has sausage, tomatoes and mozzarella.

Margherita has the tomato and mozzarella. It’s very simple, but is really good.

Attilio on the right side of the board has mushrooms and mozzarella. Simple, but really good!! This was my favourite because I love mushrooms.

Overall, the pizza was pretty good! I’ll definitely be back again. If you’re a fan of thin crust pizza and want to try something different, take a visit to Trilussa.

We Rate Trilussa Pizza and Pane:

Address:
4363 Main Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://trilussa.ca/

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