Location: 2312 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Website: https://gattopizza.ca/

Gatto Wood Oven Pizza is one of those nondescript neighbourhood joints that’s quietly putting out great food while getting basically zero buzz online.  It’s tough out there for restaurants that don’t have a gimmick (or an influencer budget) to get people talking.

Gatto’s menu consists mostly of pizza and pasta; I stuck to the pizza side of things, and based on the two that I tried, I think they deserve to be more than just a neighbourhood place.  It’s worth going out of your way for.

The place has “wood oven” right in the name of their restaurant, and yeah, they clearly know their way around that oven.  Both pizzas were perfectly cooked, with a lightly crispy exterior, a chewy interior, and just enough char to give the crust flavour without overwhelming.

I know a lot of people feel like the crust on a pizza is just a vehicle for cheese, sauce, and toppings, but for me, the crust is the pizza.  The other stuff is just there to complement it.  So it needs to be really good, and the crust here is really good.

I tried the Regina Margherita (“San Marzano, Fior Di Latte, Parmigiano, Evoo”) and the 2312 Bloor St. West (“Italian Prosciutto, Forest Mushrooms, Fior Di Latte, Basil, Truffle Ricotta”).  Both were delicious, but the margherita is the clear winner, even if they kinda cheated by adding grated parmesan (it’s a tasty addition, so I’ll allow it).

The 2312 Bloor St. West was very tasty (the salty prosciutto and earthy mushrooms are a great combo), but it’s almost sunk by the truffle ricotta, which tastes very, very strongly of truffle oil.  I think truffle oil is gross and is generally unfit for human consumption (and almost never has even a hint of real truffles in it, making it disgusting and a sham), so the fact that I still managed to enjoy this pizza as much as I did shows you how tasty it was otherwise.