slice – Michael Eats

Stellar Pizza at Cowabunga+ in Hamilton

Published on January 30, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 30 Vine Street, Hamilton
Website: https://www.cowabungapizzeria.ca/

Apparently, Cowabunga+ serves the best slice of cheese pizza in the world. Well, okay, I’m listening.

When I found myself in Hamilton recently, a stop was a must.

They have a few different pizzas available by the slice, but obviously, I had to go with the award winning, best-in-the-world cheese.

The cheese pizza, per their menu: “marinara, mozzarella blend, fior di latte, oregano.”

It’s a very tasty slice of pizza. Is it the best in the world? No, but I’d be shocked if it weren’t the best in Hamilton, and it’s up there with the better slices in the GTA.

The crust has a bit more heft than the norm, with a good level of exterior crispiness, a satisfying dense chewiness, and a very pronounced sourdough flavour that’s actually quite delightful.

It’s very, very cheesy, but that substantial crust mostly holds up to it (though it was buckling and tearing a bit under the weight of the deluge of cheese). It might have been too much cheese on a different slice of pizza, but here, there was a good balance between the crust and cheese.

Tasty Slices at Gram’s Pizza

Published on December 21, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1640 Dupont Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/grams.pizza/

Pizza! It’s good!

(Why yes, writing the opening paragraph of these blog posts is always the hardest part, why do you ask?)

Gram’s Pizza is a new pizza joint near the Junction that serves a variety of slices, along with whole pies. I went with the cheese (“tomato sauce + mozz + grana padano”), because a plain cheese pizza is the best way to suss out the quality of a pizza joint (also cheese pizza is delicious).

It’s a solid slice of pizza. The crust has a nice crispy exterior and is slightly thicker than the norm for this style of pizza, but it works. And they’re clearly not shy with the grana padano, with its nice salty sharpness really shining through.

It didn’t exactly rock my world, but it’s a very good slice of pizza. I’d come back.

Stellar Pizza at One Night Only

Published on October 27, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 581 Pape Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://ono.pizza/

I’ve been hearing basically nothing but great things about One Night Only since it opened — it started out as a home-based pandemic-era lark, but quickly became popular enough to justify their own storefront.

They’re way out on the east end and have somewhat unusual hours (they’re closed on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays), so it took me a while to check the place out, but man I’m glad that I did. The pizza here is phenomenal.

I tried the pepperoni, bacon and jalapeno; I typically like a more sparsely-topped pie, particularly when I’m first trying a place, but that was all they had left when I showed up at around 1:30 on a Saturday.

It’s an amazing slice of pizza. The crust has a great balance between exterior crispiness and interior chewiness/fluffiness, with just the right amount of heft and flavour.

The slice is generously topped but still nicely balanced, with a good ratio between the sauce, cheese, and toppings. And while it’s not the pizza I would have picked if I had the choice, it features great quality pepperoni and bacon, and the pops of heat from the jalapeno slices works well.

The buzz about this place meant my expectations were quite high, but this still managed to exceed them. It’s easily on par with top-tier places like Badiali, North of Brooklyn, and Superpoint. It’s so good.

Delicious Slices at Mac’s Pizza

Published on August 10, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 759 Dovercourt Road, Toronto
Website: https://www.macspizza.ca/

It’s getting easier and easier to find great slices of pizza in the city — in and around the core, at least. Once you get further into the outskirts and the suburbs, good slice shops get few and far between (at least in the west end — does great pizza exist in Etobicoke or Mississauga? If it does, I haven’t found it!).

I’ve tried a couple of slices at Mac’s. The first was the Lemonhead: “lemon pepper cream, black peper, zest, wedge.”

Who knew that lemon could be so delicious on a pizza? I certainly wouldn’t have guessed, but the zippy lemon does a great job of balancing out the rich slice.

I also sampled the angry pep, which is more traditional: “pep, jalapeno, hot honey, basil.” It’s quite tasty. The pepperoni / hot honey combo seems to be getting more and more ubiquitous, and justifiably so; it’s a tasty combo. And the mild kick you get from the jalapenos complements the slice quite well.

The pizza itself is definitely above average, with a nice balance between the lightly crispy exterior and the chewy interior. It’s quite good.

Tasty Slices at Slowsouth Pizza

Published on December 14, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1588 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.slowsouthpizza.com/

Slowsouth is a delightfully unfussy pizza place that sells slices to go and whole pies, along with arancini, salads, and dessert. It serves the classic style of pizza you’ll find at chains like Pizza Pizza or Dominos, only much, much, much (much much much) better.

When I visited, they had four varieties of pizza on offer: standards like plain cheese, pepperoni, and vegetarian (topped with peppers, mushroom, tomato, etc.). I ordered the plain cheese, which they top with a couple of basil leaves post-heat.

It’s a solid slice of pizza: it’s got tasty sauce, quality cheese, a good proportion of ingredients, and the crust is fantastic. Their website says that they proof it for 72 hours, and yeah, it tastes like they’ve put a good amount of care into it.

I know a lot of people are all about the toppings, but for me, if you start with good dough and bake it well (which they definitely do here), then you don’t need a whole lot of ornamentation to make it sing. The crust here has a nice contrast of crispiness and chewiness, and the simple toppings complement it perfectly. It’s quite good.