Piola

Hey Toronto!  It’s been a while.  As I’m sure it is for most of you - the holiday season was insane.  Family event after family event, plenty of stress and a bank account full of nothing.  Happy New Year!  I know you were all super worried; my weekly posts are really important to you and without me you feel lost.  I understand.  But I’m back with a write up on Piola - a new pizzeria in Queen West!  It was Carrie’s mom and aunt's birthday so we were there to celebrate.  Good service, cool location, funky oven and pretty good pie.

As you walk into the space you pass their oven; an electric, brick oven with a rotating stone floor.  Seemed kinda gimmicky but I thought I’d wait to judge until I saw the pies that came out of it.  Ended up being pretty interesting.  We had some Mill St. Tankhouse which they have on tap along side Mill St. Organic.  I also saw both Steamwhistle and Perroni in bottles as well as what looked like a nice wine collection (though, don’t take my word for it - I know almost nothing about wine).  While we waited for some stragglers we ordered bruschetta and ceaser salads.  Both are your standard, almost boringly obligatory appetizers but always a relatively safe bet.  Both were exactly that, not standout, but did the trick.  One thing I did notice when the ceaser salads arrived was they came with cherry tomatoes.  Please, correct me if I’m wrong but I thought that was a no-no?  It certainly didn’t do anything for me.  The table seemed to agree. We did however have some nice salami and pecorino which I really liked. A thick sliced, slightly spicy salami and creamy, salty pecorino.  

The menu was full of cool sounding pies.  Authentic ingredients and some funky additions in interesting combinations. We were there in a group of ten so I got to see and try a few of them.  They have two types of pie - thin crust and Neapolitan style.  The Neapolitan having a fluffier, less crispy crust.  I got to try the Frutti di mare (mozzarella, mixed seafood, light garlic oil and chives), Lisbona (no sauce, mozzarella, gorgonzola, spicy salami and arugala) and the Neapolitan style Mozzarella di buffala (no sauce, cherry tomatoes, oregano and basil).  Right off the bat I prefered the Neapolitan crust.  The thin crust was nice but a little too crispy for my taste.  That being said if you’re into thin crispy crust I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.  The Frutti di mare was my favourite of the night.  Perfectly cooked seafood with a garlicky bite.  The Lisbona was also a great pie.  The Gorgonzola fit perfectly in with the spicy salami and mozzarella.  It wasn’t overpowering at all which is honestly what I was expecting.  However, I felt the di bufala pie missed the mark.  I love ordering white pies (no sauce) with cherry tomatoes.  The heat of the oven bursts open the cherry tomatoes sort of making it’s own, bright sauce.  However, the cherry tomatoes were added after the pie came out of the oven giving it an odd, hot and cold mouth feel.  In addition, only cherry tomatoes were listed on the menu but diced tomatoes were also added.  It made me think they had left over diced tomatoes from the bruschetta they didn’t want to go to waste and decided to add it.  Honestly it just looked a bit cheap.  Again, I preferred the Neapolitan style crust it came on to the thin crust.  Unlike the thin crust it was easily foldable and had more wood fired oven inspired char markings.

Frutti di mare

Lisbona

Mozzarella di buffala

Thin crust undercarriage

Neapolitan undercarriage

Neapolitan folded

Neapolitan folded

All in all it was a good experience.  I don’t know if it’s somewhere I’d go too far out of my way to get to but certainly worth a go if you live in the city.  Major points go to Piola for making great, electric oven pies.  There are plenty of wood fired joints in the city as well as plenty of electric oven pizzerias making more New York style pies.  Piola on the other hand is making authentic Italian pizzas, the kind usually found coming out of a wood fired oven, with an electric stone oven.  It’s a more difficult task than it seems.  Getting a proper rise and char in an oven at a much lower temperature than a wood fired one can be tough.  In short, go check out Piola.

PS
Some exciting stuff happening in the way of video content for Sauced TO.  I’ve been in contact with the owner of Piola and it looks like we might be getting a sneak peak into the kitchen and their pizza making process.  Stay tuned!