Chicago: Giodarno's Deep Dish Pizza

Location:

730 North Rush Street

Chicago, IL 60611

Pizza is definitely a weakness for me...I could eat it all day, son. All. day.

A deep dish pizza, I've never had though, and it's obviously the thing to do in Chicago.

While asking around for the BEST deep dish pizza joint, we were referred to Giordarno's FAMOUS deep dish.

Kate of

Union Jack Creative

said that a deep dish 'za is like eating a lasagna...and she was correct.

This was LIGHT cheese, you guys.

LIGHT cheese.

Deep dish pizza is not for me, but I'm glad I tried it....see the left over cheese?

Boston: Salvatore's

Location:

545 Washington Street
Boston, MA

I didn't know Salvatore's was all over this city, but I'm excited about this prospect, as I've found some mighty tasty Neapolitan style 'za in Beantown, so that means I can find a it whenever I want.

Lovely and attentive service, and the best eggplant parmesan the three of us have ever had (and that's coming from two parmesan conoisseurs!)

 Photo via my Instagram feed.

Greece: Mykonos, Catari

Location:

Aghia Anna | Old Port, Mykonos Town 84600, Greece

www.catari.gr

What a delightful and delicious find! After our sunset meal, and some window shopping and exploring of the island, we searched for dinner. Coming upon Catari and it's adorable outdoor seating and pretty lights made it an easy choice for a pizza dinner. Enough of gyros and fries, I say. As everything else in Greece, it was pricey, but the service, atmosphere and chilli flakes from home-grown chillis on a delicious pizza pie made for a wonderful evening.

New York City: Love from NYC

Heart shaped pizza? How about some breaded love?

This is how NYC does Valentine's Day.

TRAVEL: Quebec City, Carlo's Pizza

Location:

117, Rte Principale E RR 2, Sainte-Cécile-de-Masham, QC J0X 2W0, 819-456-4545

Not only does Carlo do pizza, and amazingly well (the veggie one we got was chock-full of tasty veggies and not very greasy), he does the best poutine I've ever tasted in Quebec!  Mighty squishy curds and a not-too-salty gravy that's just the right consistency.  The pan fried tilapia was amazing with the poutine!  They don't skimp out on quantity either, check out the amount of cheese on this caesar salad!  Now, if only Carlo's was closer....



 

The Magic Oven

Location:

6 Wellesley

When green chillies underly an innocent tandoori chicken pizza, you KNOW the chef knows his biniss.

As he should at THESE pizza prices!!

Smelt flour or no smelt flour...I hope these pizzas have some magic in 'em 'cause they're expensive!

Not a fan of the Liberty Village location as I got sick twice as a result of their lunch time slices, but the Wellesley location made for a wonderful dinner with friends. Very cosy atmosphere, we had almost the whole (tiny) restaurant to ourselves. And those hidden green chillies? We were in tears 'cause the menu made no mention of them. Don't get me wrong, I'm always happy to see green chillies in anything, so they were tears of joy.

We've also had MO pizzas ordered into work, and as delish as they are, the four pizzas we ordered came to something outrageous as $100 and there still wasn't enough to go around. Sometimes, you just need a bunch o' $9.99 pepperoni pizzas.

Cafe Cinquecento

Location:

791 King St W., Toronto

www.cafecinquecento.com

Went here for a friend's birthday, one who is a trusted foodie with great taste, and she was right.

I loved the atmosphere and the service and the story behind Cafe Cinquecento.

The Fiat 500

Cafe Cinquecento

The menu left me absolutely TORN...there were many routes I wanted to go: there was pizza, pasta, the specials...and then....I saw BRICK PRESSED CORNISH HEN.

Our server explained it to me as follows: they cook the hen with a brick placed on top (exactly how you imagine) so that it cooks both sides crisply and keeps all the moistness within (like so).

I was convinced.

And pleasantly surprised.

Gallo al Mattone: Brick-pressed Cornish hen [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="576" caption="Gallo al Mattone: Brick-pressed Cornish hen $19"][/caption]9

Everyone else's meals looked wonderfully put together as well, and although it all took a while to arrive, to be fair there were 20 orders made!  In the meantime we enjoyed rounds of bread, bowls of mussels and anitpasto plates.  Yum.  There was a spicy salami on there that was very memorable.

Antipasto Grande: Cured Italian meats, grilled vegetables, grilled seafood and spiced olives [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="576" caption="Antipasto Grande: Cured Italian meats, grilled vegetables, grilled seafood and spiced olives $18"][/caption]8

Calamari con Salsa di pepperoni: Grilled calamari with roasted red pepper sauce on a bed of arugula [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="576" caption="Calamari con Salsa di pepperoni: Grilled calamari with roasted red pepper sauce on a bed of arugula $13"][/caption]3

Salmone al Ferri: Grilled salmon fillet with a side of orzo [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="576" caption="Salmone al Ferri: Grilled salmon fillet with a side of orzo $17"][/caption]7

Costoletta de Vitello: Veal chop grilled with fresh herbs [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="576" caption="Costoletta de Vitello: Veal chop grilled with fresh herbs $18"][/caption]8

The only dish that didn't stand out was one of the specials: The tilapia on a bed of risotto with sausage.  Which, at least, four of us agreed, was bland and the sausage tasted like Oscar Myer weiners. 

Tilapia risotto special

But, the wine was flowing and it was simply a lovely evening of celebration.   There also suddenly appeared a lovely vase of red roses for the centre of the table!

Roses for the birthday girl!

And, I'm still astounded that the birthday girl picked up the whole tab!!

TV, the next one's on me!

Bar Wellington

Location:

520 Wellington St W, Toronto

Oh, Bar Wellie, how you've changed.

View

Okay, not to be quite so dramatic, but we really had some good times Bar Wellie and I. Once upon a time, when the service was nice and friendly, and I had my first taste of Leffe beer. Let me tell you, it was something else.  Now it really IS something else.

The service is sloooooooooooooow and rude and the food is, well, okay, so the food was never really THAT good.  The club sandwich, really dry and the pizza bland.

Club Sandwich

Pizza



It does have a big outdoor patio though, but size isn't all that matters.

I guess we will always have Leffe Beer.

Harbour Sports Grille

Location:

10 Yonge St., Toronto

www.harboursportsgrille.com

Fish n' Chips..............check.

Fish n chips

Beer....................check.

mmmmmmmmm....beer

TVs....................check.

Over 50 TVs and 2 big screens

Random pasta dish.............check.

Pasta

Can't ask for more from Harbour Sports Grille.

TRAVEL: Palm Beach, Pizza Girls

Location:

114 S Clematis St
West Palm Beach, FL

www.pizzagirls.com

Probably the best. pizza. I've ever had.













We craved this pizza, not days later, but hours later.....honestly. Go.

Dimmi Bar & Trattori

Location:

140 Cumberland St, Toronto

Cost:
$9-15 for a pizza

www.dimmibar.com

We walked around for about an hour before deciding on a place to have dinner. Somehow the places on Yonge St. (Green Mango, Friendly Thai) didn't appeal to us and Craft Burger further North didn't entice everyone. Finally, after checking the menus at Nervosa Trattoria and Hemingways, we decided that Dimmi's had the best options (or maybe by then we were just really, really hungry).

(I didn't want to lug my giant camera along all day, so these photographs are courtesy of my friend A.R.)

We ordered a couple of pizzas to share around: The Bruschetta ($9), the Funghi ($15)...and the Margherita ($11) to go. And my friends got the calamari ($12 which came with a side salad); they claimed it was tasty and filling (I refuse to eat calamari after a horrible - mostly exaggerated- life-changing experience).

The Bruschetta pizza was quite tasty and moist which was what was lacking in the Funghi mushroom pizza. The Margherita also tasted good (flavourful with the basil, which I love) on the drive home (I had to try a slice!).

Our service was attentive in a nice, non-intrusive way...perhaps the standard for Yorkville restos? All around a quaint little restaurant in Yorkville with, I'd say, reliably good food.

Boathouse Grill

Location:

207 Queens Quay W, Toronto


Cost: $10-15 per entree

Take a look at their menu on the site, here:


www.boathousegrill.sites.toronto.com

Now...

Yes, the food tastes as bad as it looks on the menu.

Let's see, where should we start? Perhaps with the veggie burger?




Vegetarian Burger - soy based vegetarian patty made from our special recipe (which one would that be, the especially gross one?) and topped with caramelized onions, roasted red peppers and feta cheese 9.99

Pardon me, but are those slimy, slug-like onions, caramelized? AAH, I see! And the giant-ass dollop of feta cheese? Was that to mask the fact that this is ultimiately a giant, rugged piece of leather?

Wait, how about that Caesar salad...




BoatHouse Chicken Caesar - crisp Romaine lettuce and garlic seasoned croutons tossed in our house caesar dressing, topped with grilled shaved breast of chicken 11.99

The word 'seasoned' was a typo, I'm sure? Or meant to be taken very lightly? Or did you mean perhaps the winter season...very stark, bland....cold?

Let's move on to the pizza then.




Tucson Pizza - Grilled breast of chicken, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, seasoned tomatoes and goat cheese 12.99

Oh lovely, managed to get "caramelized" and "seasoned" altogether in one sentence, eh?

And that, um, bottle of seasoning...must have been all out, hmm? Or perhaps used up on the wings??




Chicken Wings - "Plump chicken wings, tossed in seasoned flour and fried to golden perfection. Served with your choice of hot, medium, mild or honey garlic sauce. 1lb - 12.99. 2lbs - 19.99

'Fraid not! Again the word "seasoned" used so carelessly to describe what is probably a mixture of flour and what, salt? Let's take another look at those carrots, too, shall we?



Please sir, may I have some more? Nay, me thinks even Oliver Twist shan't have wanted more.

Beware, Boathouse Grill is an absolute dud of a restaurant. It's good for a view of the lake, but that can just as easily be taken in with a simple sit-down on the boardwalk with a Timmy's drink & donut. THAT is much more satisfying, I assure you.