At the tail end of 2017, Il Castello Pizzeria, the bustling, high energy and higher decibel wood-fired pizza joint down on East Second just off Lonsdale Ave., celebrated its third anniversary.
The pizzeria’s success does not surprise me. By my count, Il Castello is one of only three restaurants on the entire North Shore that offers Napoli-style wood-fired pizza, a number that is dwarfed across the bridges, where competition in this niche category is fierce.
More importantly, Il Castello has evolved as a restaurant over those 36 months, frequently introducing new pies to their repertoire of Neapolitan classics, as well as daily pasta features, good starters, and an intelligent, pizza-friendly wine and beer list featuring some local favourites, like the recently added Go Easy Pale Ale from North Shore craft brewery newcomer Beere Brewing Co.
This commitment to innovation and keeping things fresh is especially important, in my estimation, as the North Shore is on the brink of seeing a new location of the formidable, revered, and consistently excellent Nicli Antica, a Gastown treasure and the first pizzeria in Vancouver to be certified by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN), the governing body that ensures the Neapolitan name is respectfully upheld internationally, setting out stringent rules for pizzas produced with this designation. Nicli’s new location is to be in Edgemont Village.
I am not concerned for Il Castello’s future in the wake of this news, and I doubt they are either. Il Castello holds its own when it comes to great flavour and the surrounding, bustling neighbourhood that has undergone a radical revival in the past decade keeps this little room packed most nights of the week. If anything, I would say the arrival of the competing juggernaut will keep everyone on their toes and will likely spawn new levels of sophistication and creativity across the board.
My kids, who still appreciate mainstream takeout pizza as a result of almost weekly birthday parties in which four large cheese and four large pepperoni pizzas are de rigueur, have begun to understand the subtleties that differentiate passable and excellent pizza. Their enlightenment has been aided by places like Il Castello, where there is a fundamental principle at play, namely, that you cannot make a great pizza on mediocre crust. Add all the truffles, burrata, prosciutto, bresaola, or San Marzano tomatoes you want, if your crust is lame, so is your pie. Il Castello’s crust is springy to the bite, with crispy, fire-blistered pockets. It does not get soggy under the weight of the ingredients, in part because these latter are not piled on so heavily as to overwhelm the pizza. Contrary to what the chain franchise marketing machine will tell you, more is not always better; it is indeed possible to have too much stuff atop a pizza, yielding an unfocussed and incoherent dish that is ultimately just filling, rather than delicious.
I visited Il Castello one grim, rainy evening with my family to tuck into some comfort fare. The restaurant offers a great deal for kids, featuring a cheese pizza priced at a buck an inch. The $10 pie has a simple tomato sauce and gooey medallions of mild fior di latte mozzarella cheese, to which salami or cooked ham (prosciutto cotto) can be added for $2. It’s a generous pizza for a child’s appetite and my two daughters were able to split one comfortably between them. The Boy, now 10, had one to himself and enjoyed the sweet, slightly smoky salami addition.
My wife DJ went for a classic Margherita, topped with tomato sauce, basil, fior di latte, and olive oil. The Margherita is a building block pizza, the starter to which guests may add optional proteins of their choosing, including Italian ham, salami, spicy salami, capicola, Italian fennel sausage, or Prosciutto di Parma. On its own, as DJ had it, the pizza is $15.
I went for my favourite pizza on Il Castello’s menu, the La Regina, made with tomato sauce, fresh, creamy burrata, fragrant basil, Prosciutto di Parma, and a drizzle of peppery, polyphenol-rich olive oil. It is an exquisitely balanced pizza with just the right ratio of toppings to thin crust. The succulent, indulgent burrata is also available as an appetizer, served with a generous portion of thinly shaved Prosciutto di Parma, olive oil, smoked salt, and fresh bread.
For those who wish to take Il Castello pizza home to enjoy, I urge you to bear in mind that the pizza tastes best straight out of the oven, piping hot, and cools quickly due to its thinness. Also, because it is baked in a ferociously hot wood burning oven, it is typically ready quickly after ordering. My advice is to place your takeout order when you are almost ready to pick it up, and then bring something in which to wrap the box (or boxes) in your car, like a thick beach towel. It may sound a bit fussy for takeout, but in my experience the effort contributes dramatically to the preservation of the quality of the pizza during transport.
Our selection of pizzas was $55 before gratuity.
Il Castello Pizzeria, 119 Second Street East, North Vancouver. Ilcastellopizzeria.com 604-987-4992.
