I open the bedroom door with trepidation.
My heart pounds so heavily that my eardrums vibrate. I am home alone, so this persistent sound coming from the closet does not make sense. I peer around the door to find an enormous sow with its head buried in my sock drawer.
“Hey,” I shout, “get out of there!”
The pig turns its head and reveals a snout covered in dangling strings of colourful cotton and elastane, the remnants of my socks.
“Don’t worry,” it says cheerfully, between bites. “I’m almost finished.”
That this great creature has spoken doesn’t phase me. I am, however, genuinely irritated by the prospect of replacing my socks, especially the loud, garish ones I have sourced from unique shops.
I awaken from a fitful sleep with a deep thirst, clenched fists and soaked pillow. I am covered in too many blankets for the warm night. More than the heat it’s the pizza that did this to me. Almost every time I eat it, my brain goes deep into left field overnight, egged on by cured meats, tomato sauce, garlic and an unreasonable amount of cheese consumed in a single sitting. I exhibit discipline in much of my life, but it tends to go out the window whenever I eat pizza.
My motivation for this column is not to invite Freudian analysis, however, but to shed light on a few North Shore pizza joints that are off the beaten path, ones about which I have heard discreet comments during my time with The Dish, but had not yet investigated.
The first of these fringe spots took me furthest afield, to Premier Street just off Mount Seymour Parkway behind the Holiday Inn. There one finds Westview Pizza, a no-nonsense, thick-crust, I-dare-you-to-finish-this-whole-pie establishment that has been around since 1997. Westview does mostly two-for-one pizza: under this two-fer model you select any two pizzas from the same category of the menu and get them both for the cost of the higher-priced pie.
I took full advantage of this deal to facilitate a broad sampling of Westview’s pizzas, ordering a medium Super Special and medium Manager’s Special ($25.95 for both), as well as a medium plain cheese and medium pepperoni ($21.95 for both). As you might surmise, this turned out to be an outrageous amount of pizza, feeding the family for two straight days. Westview’s crust is thick and bread-like and the toppings, particularly on the former two pizzas, were piled high. The aptly named Super Special boasted pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, salami, ham, beef, green peppers, tomato, black olives, pineapple, feta, mozzarella and tomato sauce. I feel full all over again just typing this list, but the combination made for a complex and charmingly indulgent pizza.
The Manager’s Special, ordered without the standard chicken, included spinach, garlic, feta cheese, onion, artichoke, mozzarella and tomato sauce. Of the three pizzerias considered in today’s column, I’d suggest Westview is where you head when you experience a deep hunger or need to feed a number of people with no-frills pizza that doesn’t break the bank. I will keep this place in mind for children’s birthday parties. westviewpizza.com 604-980-0888
The next spot I visited is hidden in plain sight on Capilano Road at Marine Drive, in the venue once occupied by Inn Cogneato, next to the Grouse Inn. I had driven past this restaurant countless times yet had not taken notice of it; following my experience there, I will most certainly be back.
The place is called Saporita Pizzeria and specializes in crispy, thin-crust, stone oven-baked pies available in 10-inch and 14-inch sizes, ranging in price from $11 to $21. I selected a couple of 10-inch pizzas, one of which was a Margherita, usually a good test of a pizzeria’s mettle due to its simplicity (there is nothing for a poor crust, for instance, to hide behind in this classic dish). Ingredients were limited to tomato sauce, mild, fresh mozzarella, and a drizzle of olive oil and basil, and were carried beautifully by a slightly crispy, slightly chewy, bubbly, rustic crust.
The other pizza was the Funghi, a delicious blend of mushrooms, ample garlic, Parmesan, mozzarella, house-made white sauce and, in an inspired move, a handful of fresh and peppery raw arugula added after baking. It was simply delicious. In my estimation, Saporita’s 10-inch pizzas are a perfect size for a single meal. Saporita Pizzeria is located at 1633 Capilano Rd. saporita.ca 604-770-0766
My final pizza-bound visit was to Rebellious Tomato up on Lonsdale Avenue and 29th Street. This business used to be located at 15th Street and Lonsdale Avenue in the spot now occupied by the always enjoyable Alberello Pizzeria. I often forget that Rebellious moved to their vertiginous locale near the apex of the North Shore’s most famous avenue, in a diminutive, purely take-out space.
I appreciate the Rebellious approach to ingredients; they use organic produce wherever possible and offer whole wheat (by default), whole grain or gluten free crust options, giving the pizza experience a slightly less guilty character. That said, I would suggest that Rebellious Tomato also operates wholly under its own interpretation of what pizza means.
Their crusts are very thin (almost like roti or pita), their sauce application sparing, and toppings reserved. I ordered a small Arti Zucci, topped with tomato sauce, sun dried tomato, artichoke hearts, zucchini, pine nuts, mozzarella and a small Shrimp Pesto with tomato sauce, mushrooms, bell peppers and mozzarella, in addition to the eponymous ingredients. Both were tasty, well-made and didn’t leave me with that feeling of salt and fat-induced pizza shame. Rebellious supplies what I’d describe as a pizza-alternative pizza. rebellioustomato.com 604-985-2244
Chris Dagenais served as a manager for several restaurants downtown and on the North Shore. He can be reached via email at [email protected]. North Shore News dining reviews are conducted anonymously and all meals are paid for by the newspaper.
