Pizza Quest: The Plan

For the last six years or so, I have been living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada while pursuing my PhD at the University of Toronto.  In that time, I ate a lot of pizza.  I became familiar with many of the different pizza places in downtown Toronto, and most importantly, found a pizza place—and a particular pizza—that has become my favourite: Panzerotto Pizza’s Canadian Eh!.

According to their menu, it consists of mozzarella, Parmesan, and Romano cheese, double pepperoni, bacon, and oregano.  Close to what I consider the “classic” pizza—pepperoni and cheese—but tweaked slightly to add in some interesting and delicious flavours.

Now, however, I have moved back to St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada while I try to finish up my thesis and get on with my life.  This has left me sadly parted from my nigh-weekly Panzerotto pizzas, and back home where I don’t really know where the best pizza places are any more.  This sad state of affairs has prompted my quest.

The Quest

My plan over the coming months is to try out as many of the different pizza places in the St. John’s area so that I can narrow down the field to the ones I think are best.  Once I have found a local favourite (or, God willing, a new overall favourite), I will use them to try and recreate my favoured combination of toppings from the Canadian.

The Rules

  1. I am disallowing national/international chains like Domino’s or Pizza Hut.  While they are tasty and consistent, I’ve had enough of them over the years so that I know they aren’t quite what I’m looking for.  I reserve the right to ignore this rule if I’m hungry and they are convenient.
  2. I will get a whole pizza, not just a slice, to ensure optimal pizza quality.
  3. I will try to get the same set of toppings at each place, to ensure fair comparison.
  4. If I eat pizza from the same place twice during the Quest, I will do an update to comment on whether the quality has remained consistent.  (Some places can be hit or miss.)
  5. I will try to offer thoughts on general quality of the pizza versus my own particular preferences.  For example, I prefer thick-crust to thin-crust pizzas, so while it is unlikely that a thin-crust will “win” overall, if it is a good thin-crust it will receive favourable comment.

The Caveat

Since this is pizza we’re dealing with, I’m pretty sure my default rating is going to be “pretty damn good.”  For me, pizza tends to run the gamut from “pretty damn good” to “transcendent”, and so my reviews and comments are likely to reflect that—like Homer Simpson as a food critic.

Stay tuned for the first post!

P.S. Screw Flanders!