a toronto food blog
Well, what can I say. Libretto is still my go-to spot for a little dinner splurge here and there. One pizza and two sides (or one side and a dessert) is a pretty aggressive meal for us. Aside from the delicious pizzas, my favourites have been their Rocco’s Salad (arugula, ricotta, beets, butternut squash, prosciutto, fried poached egg) and a glass of white wine (I recommend Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico).
Perhaps it is the dearth of truly good “by-the-slice” pizza in Toronto that leads to such pining for something so simple, but Bitondo’s makes me want to eat like a loner. I’m positive that they serve entire pies and I’m fairly certain they serve pizza with toppings other than pepperoni, but I’ve never once had the urge to order anything other than a pepperoni slice and a can of Brio from Bitondo’s. The combination being one of the few food pairings that fit into my small list of acceptable “eating alone” meals (wouldn’t I have ordered a whole pizza if I could find even one other hungry person??).
Their slices are loaded with mozzarella, with just the right amount of grease to require a fold hold to eat it and cut at a generous near-ninety degree angle – all indicators that Bitondo’s is serving some of the best pizza to ever hit white paper plate. And really, where else can you lounge on signal orange lawn chairs and eat pizza off a table top Pac-Man?
And recently, a top 10 finisher in NOW’s T.O.’s top 20 pizza places!
Bitondo’s Pizzeria
11 Clinton St. | Yelp
NO-KNEAD PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE via Jim Lahey
for Serious Eats
yield: 4 pizzas around 10-12 inches in diameter
Jim Lahey’s thin crust pizza dough is impossible to mess up. Once all the ingredients have been mixed, you let the dough rise for 18 hours and cooks in 10 minutes. I got this recipe from Serious Eats, the endless possibilities of topping combinations have haunted my dreams ever since.
Spicy Eggplant Pizza, you will need: eggplants thinly sliced and seasoned with salt, pepper and chili flakes, grated havarti cheese, tomato sauce.
Soppressata Pizza, you will need: Soppressata, red peppers, mushrooms, tomato sauce and mozzarella.
Drizzle with olive oil and enjoy!
A little Italian birdie once told us that Pizzeria Libretto couldn’t compare to the pizzas they make back in Italy. He said there was something off with the crust. After finally trying Libretto on Wednesday night I suspect that’s probably true. Pizzeria Libretto isn’t by any means bad. It’s a lovely busy place and the food is pretty good, but I feel inclined to say that I’ve had better, more satisfying pizzas at Gerrard’s for about the same price. As much as I really wanted to love it, I couldn’t get pass the soggy crust. But to be fair, the only exposure that I’ve ever had with pizza napoletana was through a tiny screen embedded at the back of the an airplane seat that was playing Eat, Pray and Love. Other than that, I’ve never had wood oven fired pizza – so, I’m not an expert on anything, but maybe it’s meant to be soggy? I guess we’ll have to try Queen Margherita Pizza to find out!
We started with the Buttermilk Calamari and a side of meatballs. Both appetizers were pretty standard, but came with some really delicious tomato and red pepper sauces that I’d like to recreate at home. The calamari were tender and perfect. The meatballs were crumbly, but good.
For the pizzas, we got their Housemade Sausage, Ontario Prosciutto & Arugula and a Margherita (I wish I got more basil…). We ended dinner with a really divine Lemon Panna Cotta with toasted hazel nuts, the difinite highlight of my night, and an affogato. Leo was eyeing their Gingerino cocktail, but since he now has campari at home….we didn’t get any drinks.
All in all, it was a pleasant dinner. Oh, while waiting to get seated we saw the guitarist from Metric! We took a stealth picture of him, but I feel awkward posting it.
Pizzeria Libretto
221 Ossington Avenue
Sunday was a busy day! The day was spent making bread, about which 80% was just waiting for the dough to rise, and then ran downtown for a short meet up with a friend who came back from Nigeria. I wanted to take her to OB Canteen, but it was surprisingly busy on a Sunday night. We just crossed to street and ate at Hey Lucy Cafe instead.
We got the sweet potato french fries, chicken calzone (?) and the wood fired margherita pizza. I didn’t taste the calzone, but the pizza was marginally better than the frozen thin crust pizzas they sell at grocery stores. (With the exception of fresh basil!) That’s not to say it was bad, but it wasn’t exactly exceptional. For dessert, we ordered the warm chocolate cookie sundae with vanilla bean ice-cream. I was hoping it would come resembling a sundae, but was disappointed to see they just laid the barely heated cookie and the ice-cream next to each other. How is that even remotely resembling a sundae?
Somehow – of course – the weather managed to stay nice throughout our entire dinner right until when we had to pay our bill and make a 15 minute trek to the station. It started pouring a combination of rain and snow. We couldn’t see anything and kept walking into puddles….but we made it, we survived. Can’t wait for summer so I can start complaining about being too hot.
