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Delivery Pizza in Vancouver


PaoPao

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I hear you Lee - this part of the City is sorely lacking in any sort of decent pizza, delivery or otherwise. Where on Cambie did you see this potential little gem?

Anybody who believes that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach flunked geography.

~ Robert Byrne

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If fans of the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox can have their dreams realized after decades of failure, perhaps there is hope for my dream of decent home-delivered pizza in Vancouver. Just not yet. As a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, you'd think I'd have learned not to get my hopes up.

When an hour had passed after ordering, my confidence started to waver. The pizza arrived 65 minutes after ordering and was somewhere between warm and very warm. A quick look in the box confirmed my worst fears: The legions of purveyors of Mediocre Vancouver Pizza had yet another member.

The pie is exactly the same as at least 10 other Mediocre Vanouver Pizza joints. A cakey crust without the slightest hint of a resistance when you bite into it. Sauce that is red, but is far to sweet to be truly be called tomato. Cheese that is applied so sparingly that my double cheese order merely kept bare crust from being visible in the middle of the pie (as it was on the 2nd regular cheese-only pizza I ordered to use as a reference point).

I can point out two positives: the toppings were good (fresh Kalamata olives, and pepperoni that tasted similar to Da Francesco's) and Cokes were cold.

So once again my dreams are dashed and I'm left to making my own pizza when I get the craving for a quality slice.

Da Francesco's, I beg you, please come back!!!!

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

www.leecarney.com

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Poor Lee... :sad:

Do you make pizza at home? I know there's no substitute for a wood-burning oven, but a pizza stone might help. (I've only made my own pizza a few times with homemade dough, but without a pizza stone. It's not spectacular, but at least the toppings are good. :smile: )

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i have that dream too Vancouver lee.. so hence i made my own pizza with home made dough tonight and it was good, with all the indgredients i like and very thin crust.. just need a wood burning over...sigh...

DANIELLE

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well."

-Virginia Woolf

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I've recently discover Ali Babas Pizza in Victoria. There are a handfull of the restaurants here but as far as I know there aren't any off the Island (except the Tawassen Ferry Trerminal, and thats only by the slice-haven't tried it). They have some great flavor combinations. A 'brocolli, spinach and feta' combination blew my mind the other night. It's not rocket science and I'm pretty sure they just used frozen brocolli, but it was delicious. I mean, I don't expect much from delivery and this was something I would have left the house for. Also, the '911' Its a blend of capicolla, chorizo, and banana peppers. I think they mix chilis with the pizza sauce as well. Just right spicy. And the icing on the cake, you can substitute soy cheese at no extra charge. Gastronomically... well this might be blasphemy. But the boy has a bad dairy allergy and this is better than requesting no cheese at all. It has really opened up a whole new world of junk food to him. Taste wise, I don't notice a huge difference. But the texture certainly lacks that stringy chew quality, and I find the pizza overall to be soggier. But these are all thing I can live with. The sauce and crust are both good. The sauce just has a depth of flavor compared to most, and the crust is chewy and satisifying, yet not yoo heavy. Not to dis the Island, but it is the only thing I have found here that I like better than the Vancouver version/alternatives. I guess I just miss home

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Yes, I do make pizza at home. I have a well-used pizza stone that helps a great deal. Crank the oven to 550 at least an hour before baking the pie, then let 'er rip.

I've been experimenting for years (literally), trying to perfect crust, sauce and cheese. Cheese was easy, that's in the bag. Sauce I haven't tackled yet, and I used canned for the time being. I've found a recipe I like for the crust (along with a pretty complex methodology), but similar to you DameD, it turns out a little too thin to be called perfect. Sigh - such is life.

BTW, Salumi Salami makes an awesome pizza topping...

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

www.leecarney.com

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I've recently discover Ali Babas Pizza in Victoria. There are a handfull of the restaurants here but as far as I know there aren't any off the Island (except the Tawassen Ferry Trerminal, and thats only by the slice-haven't tried it). They have some great flavor combinations. A 'brocolli, spinach and feta' combination blew my mind the other night. It's not rocket science and I'm pretty sure they just used frozen brocolli, but it was delicious. I mean, I don't expect much from delivery and this was something I would have left the house for. Also, the '911' Its a blend of capicolla, chorizo, and banana peppers. I think they mix chilis with the pizza sauce as well. Just right spicy. And the icing on the cake, you can substitute soy cheese at no extra charge. Gastronomically... well this might be blasphemy. But the boy has a bad dairy allergy and this is better than requesting no cheese at all. It has really opened up a whole new world of junk food to him. Taste wise, I don't notice a huge difference. But the texture certainly lacks that stringy chew quality, and I find the pizza overall to be soggier. But these are all thing I can live with. The sauce and crust are both good. The sauce just has a depth of flavor compared to most, and the crust is chewy and satisifying, yet not yoo heavy. Not to dis the Island, but it is the only thing I have found here that I like better than the Vancouver version/alternatives. I guess I just miss home

I tried the Twassen Ferry Terminal pizza slices this summer.......so-so. A little too greasy for my liking. It's not unlike Mamma Vanelli's.

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

www.leecarney.com

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Too bad to hear that yet another mediocre joint has popped up in the neighbourhood. Homemade pizza is great, assuming you have the time and want to put in the effort - when I order pizza, it's mostly because I don't want to exert ANY effort! (other than uncorking the wine) I guess I'm still gonna drag my ass over to Commercial Drive for Lombardo's.

Thanks for doing your eGullet duty Lee. You took another one for the troops!

Neil - Ever considered putting in a wood-burning oven?? The Canucks, a 42 inch Plasma and really good pizza? Now THAT'S Love. :wink:

Anybody who believes that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach flunked geography.

~ Robert Byrne

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The best palces i've ever had pizza were, paesano's in toronto, papa ceo's in toronto and the pizza place i used to go to when i was a kid in hempstead new york ( the name i don't remember). One of the big issues we have here is the water. Because we deal with soft water (the type of water that makes you feel as if you never really get the soap off of you in the shower) its hard to get that pure crust, it tend to come out chewy, so the result is that most pizza places use a greased pan to crisp it up. Its the same issue for bread.

lets compare

toronto Vancouver

hard water soft water

sleat

whipping winds

snow

brutal cold

flat lands

ass stinking hot summers

maple leafs

oh well guess i'll have to stay in the shower a little longer and live with a 90% perfect pizza crust :raz:

Gerald Tritt,

Co-Owner

Vera's Burger Shack

My Webpage

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I went to uni in Lennoxville Quebec for one year where the pizza joint would put a little bun of dough in the centre of the pizza to keep the cheese from sticking to the box. The dough was incredibly tasty and the cheese and back bacon were top quality.

Once in a while I stop at our local deli, Tognina's and she makes pizza for the noon hour crowd out of deli ends some days it's good, and some days it's incredible. She sells her pizza dough and we use it all the time.

Zuke

"I used to be Snow White, but I drifted."

--Mae West

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The best palces i've ever had pizza were, paesano's in toronto....

Ahhhhh, another fan of the Il Paesano's pie! They were my favourite pizza in Gotham for many years running until Lenny's dethroned it. Next time you get to Toronto, you MUST try Lenny's. It's in a little strip mall on Bloor just East of Islington.

One of the big issues we have here is the water.  Because we deal with soft water (the type of water that makes you feel as if you never really get the soap off of you in the shower)  its hard to get that pure crust, it tend to come out chewy, so the result is that most pizza places use a greased pan to crisp it up. 

I hadn't thought about that, but you're absolutely right - hard water would make a difference. I oil the pan with EVOO to get it crispy, but I wonder what using bottled Spring water, or even distilled water would do...?

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

www.leecarney.com

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[host]

I've just merged Vancouver Lee's "Hope Springs Eternal" thread into a pre-exisiting thread on local pizza joints, as the former was become too much like the latter.

I also need to remind everyone that the subject at hand is pizza in the Vancouver area. Discussion of pizza outside this area needs to take place in other fora.

Thanks

[/host]

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personally, i like fresh from the oven nats. Amadeus (although the crust is superthin it still holds up) and mokis on dunbar.

Crust has to be crispy with that slightly dusty feel to it, yet chewy when connected to the sauce. Cheese has to be slightly salty but not so much that you feel parched afterwards. sauce has to have a flavour tang to it, not an unripe tomato acid tang, a pepper, seeds removed, oregano and sweet basil tang. Toppings have tobe proportioned right and cut to bite size, if i have one more piece of pizza that has salami the size of elephant ears on it, i'll snap. Its never fun to take a bite have the salami come off and slap your chin with a moulton combo of cheese and sauce.

Gerald Tritt,

Co-Owner

Vera's Burger Shack

My Webpage

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personally, i like fresh from the oven nats. Amadeus (although the crust is superthin it still holds up) and mokis on dunbar.

Crust has to be crispy with that slightly dusty feel to it, yet chewy when connected to the sauce.  Cheese has to be slightly salty but not so much that you feel parched afterwards. sauce has to have a flavour tang to it, not an unripe tomato acid tang, a pepper, seeds removed, oregano and sweet basil tang.  Toppings have tobe proportioned right and cut to bite size, if i have one more piece of pizza that has salami the size of elephant ears on it, i'll snap.  Its never fun to take a bite have the salami come off and slap your chin with a moulton combo of cheese and sauce.

My issue with Amadeus is that, as you pointed out, the crust is too thin. I've also found that they bury the pie in toppings. A pepperoni pizza from them is like biting into a very thin open-faced steak sandwich. They also suffer from stingyus cheesius.

Perhaps we should start our own gourmet deliver pizza place......any room in the kitchen at one of the Vera's to add a wood-buring oven? :biggrin:

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

www.leecarney.com

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Maybe I'm a freak, but after losing da francesco's, having had nat's, all the fast food type joints... my current favourite is pizza garden on commercial drive.

I drop in, pay $2.50 for two slices of pizza and it's great. The crust is crispy at the edges, but chewy. toppings don't overwhelm the pizza itself.

really simple, super cheap, and suprisingly good.

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Maybe I'm a freak, but after losing da francesco's, having had nat's, all the fast food type joints... my current favourite is pizza garden on commercial drive.

I drop in, pay $2.50 for two slices of pizza and it's great. The crust is crispy at the edges, but chewy. toppings don't overwhelm the pizza itself.

really simple, super cheap, and suprisingly good.

Garden, you say? I must check them out this week. That's just down the street from Stormin Norman's, right? Hmmmmm, potential double-bill shaping up here. :laugh:

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

www.leecarney.com

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Have any of you tried either Athene's on West Broadway (they're actually a Greek Resto who deliver pizza on the side... or perhaps vice versa :biggrin: ) OR Napoletana Pizza on Arbutus at about 10th Avenue?

I've ordered Athene's for a while now as it's relatively cheap and decent enough. Then I read about Napoletana on a foodblog (the exact one, I can't quite recall) where they raved about it so much, I thought I'd give it a try. After a couple of orders in the past few months, I'd have to say that it seems to be nothing out of the ordinary, though it does arrive hot. Definitely a positive check mark for that point :biggrin:

Used to love a delivery pizza joint around 7th and Hemlock where they had a veggie option called "Everything but the kitchen sink" it was fantastic. Where oh where did the go?

sarah

Always take a good look at what you're about to eat. It's not so important to know what it is, but it's critical to know what it was. --Unknown

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I am no longer a Zacchary's Pizza fan (Oak and 16th). It usually is a good pizza, but having to wait 1 hour and a 1/2 is too long. They said Fridays are usually very busy so am wondering why they don't hire some extra help. Lee, have you tried their pizzas?

"One chocolate truffle is more satisfying than a dozen artificially flavored dessert cakes." Darra Goldstein, Gastronomica Journal, Spring 2005 Edition

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I am no longer a Zacchary's Pizza fan (Oak and 16th). It usually is a good pizza, but having to wait 1 hour and a 1/2 is too long. They said Fridays are usually very busy so am wondering why they don't hire some extra help. Lee, have you tried their pizzas?

Yes I have. Yet another Mediocre Vancouver Pizzatm, IMHO.

I haven't tried either of Sarah's suggestions, though it will be a week or two before I give them a whirl. I need to heal a little first before I'm ready to get involved with another pizza place again. :laugh:

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

www.leecarney.com

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I hadn't thought about that, but you're absolutely right - hard water would make a difference.  I oil the pan with EVOO to get it crispy, but I wonder what using bottled Spring water, or even distilled water would do...?

Saw something on television recently about a Richmond pizza shop owner doing just that...

THE ONLY PIZZERIA USING SPRING WATER FOR THE DOUGH!

:smile:

"If cookin' with tabasco makes me white trash, I don't wanna be recycled."

courtesy of jsolomon

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I hadn't thought about that, but you're absolutely right - hard water would make a difference.  I oil the pan with EVOO to get it crispy, but I wonder what using bottled Spring water, or even distilled water would do...?

Saw something on television recently about a Richmond pizza shop owner doing just that...

THE ONLY PIZZERIA USING SPRING WATER FOR THE DOUGH!

:smile:

Thanks for the link, Cayenne. Perhaps they are the only Vancouver place using Spring water, because Pizza Pizza back East has been using it for many years.

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

www.leecarney.com

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Maybe I'm a freak, but after losing da francesco's, having had nat's, all the fast food type joints... my current favourite is pizza garden on commercial drive.

I drop in, pay $2.50 for two slices of pizza and it's great. The crust is crispy at the edges, but chewy. toppings don't overwhelm the pizza itself.

really simple, super cheap, and suprisingly good.

Garden, you say? I must check them out this week. That's just down the street from Stormin Norman's, right? Hmmmmm, potential double-bill shaping up here. :laugh:

another vote for pizza garden. it's cheap pizza by the slice, but the cheese and garlic one has got my pizza heart. it's between venables and napier, so yes, just down the street from stormin norman's!

Quentina

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^ Hey is Brick Oven still around? I used to get my fix from their when I was a wee lad.

"There are two things every chef needs in the kitchen: fish sauce and duck fat" - Tony Minichiello

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  • 4 weeks later...
^ Hey is Brick Oven still around?  I used to get my fix from their when I was a wee lad.

....whimper.....sniff.......sniff....

:sad::sad:

The one on cambie just burned down about 6 weeks ago or something. That was always my favourite delivery place for pizza (non-delivery being Lombardo's, which, if you haven't checked out, you simply MUST).

Anyway, that fire that damaged the Park Theatre and decimated the rest of that half-block did them in. The really crappy part is that supposedly they didn't have insurance, so it seems they are gone for good. I've been meaning to bring it up on the openings/closings thread, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Just too painful. The whole thing is still too fresh.

...uncontrollable sob... :sad:

There is another brick oven location on Dunbar. Both were started by Gino (the place is properly called, or at least used to be, "Gino's Brick Oven Pizzeria") and James Barber in the early 80s, but they were seperately sold off. I haven't tried the Dunbar location since.... well.... probably since the time fud was last there. But I do know 2 things about it:

- They don't deliver to downtown. What's up with that?

- They are not as friendly as the Cambie folks always were

All that being said, I've never found delivery pizza in Vancouver that could touch the Brick Oven. So if I lived somewhere in the 4 block radius that the guy serves, I'd be all over it.

~11

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