Big slice out of a small pie

Pizza in St. John's

My first blog entry, I've decided, will be about a food staple: pizza. The simple combination of dough, sauce, meat and/or veggies is satisfying and can be as basic as you want or show up on the fanciest of restaurant menus.

Here in St. John's there are dozens of pizza joints and almost all of them are the same as the next. Typical flour dough, tomato sauce, tonnes of mozzarella cheese, peperoni and the like. And the pizza comes in this jumbo box that will never fit into your fridge. Often it's a case of quantity not quality.

A few spots in town, however, have elevated the lowly pizza joint to something worth taking a bite out of.

Pi Gourmet Eatery on King's Rd. (downtown East, off Duckworth) boats homemade, dairy-free, fairly thin crust with toppings that are anything but ordinary. Pesto, black olive, and curry-infused tomato sauces stand up to toppings such as prosciutto, roasted fennel, grapes, and about six different cheese options, including soy. You can make your own pizza concoction or choose from one of the specials on the menu. Personal favorite: Pascal's Pleasure which features saffron chicken, sweet corn, green peppers, hot peppers, and fresh tomato. All these premium ingredients will cost you, though. Pascal's is $15 for a small pie and $25 for a large. If you're into quality stuff, though, you'll quickly dole out the cash for these handmade and filling treats. Pi's cherry on an otherwise lovely cake is their colourful decor and homemade desserts. And it's they're anniversary so check out specials in the month of April.

Folly on Bate's Hill (formerly Tangled up in Blue) offers much more than pizza. But their pizza names will strike a chord with anyone who grew up in the 90s and watching Saturday morning cartoons. All their pies are named after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters. With prices from $11.50 - $14, you can get the Raphael (featuring butternut squash, pine nuts and feta) or the April O'Neil (tandoori chicken, mushroom, caramelized onion, & raita). In all there's about 10 pizzas and they will make smaller personal sized, and even gluten free dough, if you ask nicely.

Yellow Belly on Water St. is a micro brewery and their restaurant has a couple pizzas on their menu. Perhaps the most interesting tid-it about them is that the dough is made from leftovers from Yellow Belly's beer brewing process. They have a few interesting combos along with the regulars (e.g. Caesar pizza) but it is a bit privy for high-end pub food.

Of course if you're in the market for just waiting for a pizza to arrive at your door, you could go the old school pizza delivery route. And hey, maybe you like tomato sauce, peperoni and mozzarella.

If so, I have two suggestions:
Venice Pizzeria on Military Rd. is fairly standard and consistent. They are used to special requests (e.g. extra hot peppers and no cheese) and are fairly quick and well priced. My other stand-by pizza joint is Old Town Pizza on Portugal Cove Rd. Their pizza is a little greasy but still yummy when you want a hangover cure or just want to order a normal, jumbo-sized pizza.