Paoletti's Pizzeria

The way that I found out about Paoletti's Pizzeria was unfortunately due to their rivalry with the former Dantes (now closed) that appeared in the Toronto Star.  But lets not focus too much on that, and focus instead on the pizza!

Paoletti's is located in a non descript plaza.  It looks almost industrial.  If I wasn't looking for them, there's no way I would have known they were there.  We went on a Saturday afternoon, so there wasn't much in terms of a crowd.  We ordered our pizza and about 15 minutes later, it was ready for us to consume.  There were 3 tables there, so we figured we might as well stay there and eat while the pizza was nice and fresh.  We ordered a super deluxe pizza, but I can't remember if we ordered a mini or a small.  Looking at the picture doesn't really help me remember.  The pizza came topped with a very generous amount of pepperoni, mushroom, onion, salami, red peppers, and tomato.  I wish there was a bit more colour to the pizza, it was just all so red.  Everything was very fresh!  The downside, it was a bit salty for me (may be due to all the meat), and also, I wasn't a huge fan of the crust.  I like a chewier crust, this was a bit more bready.  I love to eat pizza, but i'm not too familiar with the different kinds of crust and what regions they are from.

Super Deluxe Pizza

Definitely worth trying their pizzas.  Not the best pizza that I've had, but definitely better than the chains.  Also, eating pizzas with so many fresh vegetables, tricks my mind into thinking that I'm eating healthy, kinda.

Paoletti's Pizzeria
8700 Dufferin St. Unit #18,
Vaughan, Ontario
L4K 4S6

Phone:  (905) 761-1115

Hours:  Monday - Sunday 1100a - 1000p

http://paolettispizzeria.com

Abruzzo Pizza

We decided to order pizza one night for dinner because we didn't have any time to cook, and it was late, really late (for us for dinner anyway), 900p before we decided to get food.  It probably would have been faster, and cheaper if we got those chain store pizzas, but I've heard so many good things about Abruzzo pizza.  It's a spot where, again, I've been meaning to try for years.  To satisfy my hubby's wanting of meat, and my needing to eat vegetables, we ordered a medium Abruzzo Special Pizza.  This pizza came topped with tomato sauce, cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, peppers, bacon, and onions.  I guess it's the equivalent of a deluxe pizza.  We also ordered a small greek salad.  When the pizza was brought home, we quickly dove into it.  The crust had a nice chew, probably would have been slightly crispy and chewy if we had eaten it at the restaurant.  But loved the crust anyway (just as good reheated in the toaster oven the next day).  The pizza also had a good amount of toppings too.  For the salad, the ingredients were fresh and was very good size, considering it was a small.

Greek Salad

Abruzzo Special Pizza

The hubby told me as we were eating, at such a late time of the night, the restaurant was still filled with old Italian men eating and drinking.  Thats definitely a good sign of the good food they serve there.

Abruzzo Pizza
9010 Yonge St.,
Richmond Hill, ON
L4C 6Z8

Phone:  (905) 881-8222

Hours:  Monday 330p - 1100p
             Tuesday - Thursday 1100a - 1100p
             Friday 1100a - 1200a
             Saturday 330p 1200a
             Sunday 330p - 1100p

https://abruzzopizza.com

Burlington: Son of A Peach Pizzeria, Tamp Coffee Co.

Afternoon trip to Burlington, for no reason other than just to eat.  I have never been to Burlington before, and wasn’t sure about what there was to see either.  All I know is that it’s near the Lake.  We left the house later than I was hoping, and traffic took longer than I thought.  Why is the traffic going there so bad?  Traffic was clogged up around the Ford plant area all the way past the mall!  But there wasn’t an accident or anything.  I asked my coworkers about that the next day and they said that’s normal.  Anyways, the two places my coworkers recommended for me to check out were Son of a Peach Pizzeria and Tamp Coffee Co.  We ended up arriving for a super late lunch, which turned out to be good timing, since my coworker said Son of a Peach is usually packed during lunch and dinner.

Son of a Peach Pizzeria

Son of a Peach Pizzeria, the name (without pizzeria) wouldn’t make you think of a pizza place would it?  They do their pizzas in a giant pizza oven that you can see from their dining space.  Great visually, and probably great in the winter too, but in the summer, made the dining area a bit hot.  They also offer things like burgers and wings on their menu.  I ordered the tomato & mozzarella pizza, and the hubby got the burger.  The burger came first and it looked great.  The burger patty was made in house using locally raised top sirloin and brisket blend (which gives it the fatty juiciness), topped with house candied maple bacon.  The bun I thought was a bit too soft for all the meaty goodness, was a house made sourdough brioche bun.  I think in general brioche buns are too soft for burgers.  I loved the salt & vinegar taro chips that were served on the side.  The hubby found them too vinegary for him. 

Burger

The pizza, was a good size, had minimal toppings on it since I ordered tomato & mozzarella.  The crust was good, thin, and had a good amount of chew and char.  I loved the amount of fresh basil sprinkled on top.  I just wish that they used fresh mozzarella instead of their house-smoked mozzarella.  That’s just a personal preference though.

Tomato & Mozzarella Pizza

Son of A Peach Pizzeria

2049 Pine St., Unit 62-63

Burlington, ON

L7R 1E9

Phone:  (905) 632-4040

Hours:  Monday - Thursday 11:30a - 9:00p

             Friday - Saturday 11:30a - 10:00p

             Sunday 11:30a - 8:00p

http://www.heypeachy.com

Tamp Coffee Co.

Tamp Coffee Co., located literally 2 stores down from Son of a Peach, small coffee shop.  Felt a little intimidating in there, their counters and stuff were so high, for a short person like me, it just felt a bit awkward.  Ordered a latte and a macchiato.  My latte was good and smooth.  Originally I thought the coffee was too weak, but after a few sips, it was great, left my mouth with a pleasant coffee aftertaste as well.  The hubby’s macchiato was too strong for me, even though he said he found it a bit weak.

Latte & Macchiato

 

Tamp Coffee Co.

2049 Pine St. Unit 65

Burlington, ON

L7R 1E9

Phone:  (416) 917-5745

Hours:  Monday - Friday 7:00a - 7:00p

             Saturday 7:30a - 7:00p

             Sunday 8:00a - 5:00p

http://tampcoffee.com

Pie Wood Fired Pizza Joint

Late night stop on the way up to our annual cottage outing.  It turned out to be later than originally planned, so we were starving!  Pie was on an episode of You Gotta Eat Here, so our friend suggested we stop by for dinner to try it.  By the time we made it up to Barrie, I think it was almost 9:30pm.  We had some friends that already arrived a bit earlier so they had ordered this pizza poutine appetizer.  I can’t find it on the menu online.  It’s essentially sausage, pepperoni, cheese and tomato sauce on fries.  I ate a small amount of it because I was super hungry.  But it was so salty that I couldn’t really eat much more.

Pizza Poutine

We ordered a pizza each, not realizing that they’re larger than personal sized pizzas.  So obviously we had a bunch of left overs in the end.  I can’t remember what my friends ordered, but I ordered a margherita (for some reason they call it KOBI 40), and the hubby ordered a cow pie.  The margherita wasn’t the bad but it wasn’t great.  Simple toppings of tomato sauce, mozzarella, and fresh basil, can’t get easier than that right?  But it just wasn’t memorable. 

Margherita Pizza

The hubby’s cow pie had braised beef shank, roasted potato, spinach, mushrooms, onion, cheese sauce, and parmesan.  I wouldn’t have thought about putting these toppings together, let alone on a pizza.  But it seemed to work.  What I didn’t like was the raw onion.  I hate raw onion, and there was so much of it too.

Cow Pie

Overall, I’m not sure Pie would be a pizza joint that I would necessarily frequent again.  I think it has to do with their pizza crust.  It’s a bit denser than I would prefer.  I’m not sure which region of Italy’s pizza crusts I like, but it’s usually lighter, fluffier, with bigger air pockets.

Pie Wood Fired Pizza Joint

31 Commerce Park Dr.,

Barrie, ON

L4N 1X8

Phone:  (705) 725-WOOD (9663)

Hours:  Monday - Thursday 11:30a - 10:00p

             Friday - Saturday 11:30a - 11:00p

             Sunday 11:30a - 10:00p

http://www.eatmypie.ca/#about

Ciao Roma Pizza

Originally seen from an episode on You Gotta Eat Here, and it has been on my places to visit since.  But because of location, and my lack of free time, the visit has been postponed till recently.  The main reason why I wanted to try Ciao Roma is their pizza purchasing concept.  I don’t think there’s anything like that in the GTA as of yet.  You pay for your pizza by weight.  I think its pretty cool.  You specify how big of a slice you want (from their available pizza options, they cut you your slice weigh it, warm it up for you and then tell you how much you owe them.  You get to have more than one flavour of pizza!  Awesome for greedy food me.

The afternoon we went (for a late afternoon lunch around 2pm), they had a continuous stream of people coming in and either sitting down and eating or grabbing some slices to go.  The slices that we picked up were bacon & potato, tuna artichoke & tomato, rapini & sausage, sausage bacon & mushroom, mixed mushroom & truffle oil, tomato & mozzarella.  All of the combinations are not readily available from your normal neighborhood pizza places, so it’s quite unique in that sense.  The combinations were all delicious.  My favorite was the tomato and mozzarella.  The most surprising flavour combination was the bacon potato.  Every that ordered it loved it.  But it’s the combination of carb on carb that kinda makes me not want to order it again.  If you aren’t worried about your carb consumption, definitely order it.  You will love it.  Another thing that makes Ciao Roma different is the crust.  The crust isn’t like your normal bready crust.  This is more focaccia like.  So its more light and airy. 

Definitely worth a visit if you are anywhere near the area.  I know I will be going again.

Pizzas

Ciao Roma Pizza

28 Roytec Rd. #12a,

Vaughan, ON

L4L 2V5

Phone:  905-264-2121

Hours:  Monday 12pm - 7pm

             Tuesday - Saturday 11am - 8pm

             Sunday 12pm - 7pm

http://www.crpizza.ca

Calabria Bakery

This bakery is located in a plaza that I didn't even know existed.  Ok, thats an exaggeration, but there's nothing really in the plaza that necessary will draw people in, so I never went to the plaza.  So thats why I never noticed the bakery there before.  The reason why I even heard of this bakery was actually through a 'best donuts' thread on Chowhound.  Within that thread, it mentioned that not only does Calabria Bakery make awesome donuts, but they also do great pizza.  Since I had a craving for pizza, off we went.

We ordered a margherita, and the other one I kinda forgot.  The oven was not a stone oven.  But from what I read, their Scarborough location does use a stone oven.  Sounds like the pizza there may potentially have a better crust.  Overall, the pizza here was passable.  I was disappointed their their margarita pizza didn't have fresh basil on it, and the cheese just looked like shredded mozzarella, not fresh mozzarella.  Thats what makes a margherita pizza does it not?  The other pizza was just overly salty in my opinion.

Margherita Pizza

Other Pizza

Donuts for dessert!  I have a bad memory, so I can't remember the flavour of one of the donuts.  The other one was strawberry filled.  The donuts themselves, minus the toppings/fillings were so good!  I love yeast donuts, so light and fluffy.  The icing on one of the donuts were too sweet though.  And the jam filling was a bit artificial, tasting.  If they improve the quality of the fillings/toppings, they would make an amazing donut for sure!

Donuts

Calabria Bakery

5694 Highway 7 E

Markham, ON

L3P 0E3

905-471-1033

Hours:  Monday - Friday 8am - 8pm

             Saturday 8am - 7pm

http://www.calabriabakery.ca

Cucina Locale

One of my favourite places for pizza is way up in Richmond Hill.  Come to think of it, i've never blogged about Nonna's Oven.  Next time I go, i'll take some pictures.  Cucina Locale opened recently in the Markham area, a little bit closer to home.  If it's anywhere as good as Nonna's, then I would come here instead.

We ordered a meat pizza, 2 veal sandwiches and an arugula salad to share.  I can't remember the name of the pizza, but looking at pictures, there was sausage, ham, and peppers on the pizza.  The crust was done well, but didn't have that crisp edge while maintaining chewiness.  Veal sandwiches were just ok.  The veal was a little drier than I prefer, and the tomato sauce was a bit bland.  The arugula salad was the best in the bunch.  Very simple with arugula, cherry tomatoes, roasted pepper and a balsamic vinaigrette.

Meat Pizza

Veal with Rapini Sandwich

Arugula Salad

Even though this is much closer, I think I will be continuing to feed my pizza cravings at Nonna's.

Cucina Locale
4471 Hwy 7 E.,
Markham, ON
L3R 1M1

905-479-2054

Hours:  Monday - Saturday 11am - 10pm

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cucina-Locale/533600090057705

Lisa Marie

This was supposed to be dessert after dinner.  My friend suggested Lisa Marie because of her fascination with Fidel Gastro and because they make desserts in little jars.  Apparently food tastes better coming from jars.

Walking in, it had a very industrial feel to it, the tables were all made with reclaimed wood and the legs of the chairs were made from plumbing.  The lighting inside drove me nuts though.  It was way too dark for my liking.  It would be nice to see what you're eating.  So please excuse the dark and fuzzy pictures.

We ended up ordering duck confit pizza, Elvis in a jar and marrow donuts.  Duck confit pizza essentially tasted like Peking duck on a pizza crust.  Instead of tomato sauce, it was hoisin sauce.  So for someone Chinese, it really wasn't that special.

Duck Confit Pizza

Elvis in a jar was pretty darned tasty.  It was french toast, peanut butter, banana, and bacon, recreated in a trifle type format and put into a mason jar.  Needed more bacon flavour.

Elvis in a Jar

Lastly, the marrow donuts.  We originally wasn't sure if we should order this.  None of us particularly like marrow.  And the combination of the marrow and being deep fried seemed a little too heavy.  But our server said that it was her favourite.  So thats why we ordered it.  The donuts were not heavy at all, super light, and there was no funny taste (animal/meat) taste to it either.  If someone gave me a donut to try, there would be no way that I would suspect that there would be marrow in it.  The donuts came with a side of cherry sauce which complimented each other quite well.
 

Marrow Donuts

Great environment and good food, just wished that it was brighter so my eyes didn't feel so strained after.

Lisa Marie
638 Queen St. W
Toronto, ON
M6J 1E3
647-748-6822
http://fidelgastro.ca

North of Brooklyn Pizzeria

One slice of pizza shared amongst three hungry people.  No we we didn't leave our wallets at home by mistake.  This was just a snack before dinner.  Literally 10 mins before our dinner reservation.  But we were hungry and couldn't wait.  I'm not sure how authentic it is compared to New York style pizza since I've never had pizza while I've been in NYC.  But this was pretty good.  Thin crust, nice flavour tasting sauce, although it could have used a bit of salt.  I'd go back if it wasn't so out of the way for me.  I'm never in the area!

Pizza Margherita

North of Brooklyn Pizzeria
605.5 Queen St W.
Toronto, ON,
M6J 1E4
657-352-5700
Hours: Monday - Saturday 12pm - 10pm
            Sunday 12pm - 9pm
http://northofbrooklyn.com