Tasty Slices at Di’s Pizza Pies

Di's Pizza Pies
Location
: 115 St. Paul Street, St. Catherines
Website: https://www.dispizzapies.com/

Yeah, Di’s Pizza Pies is in St. Catharines and is a bit of a trek from the GTA, but if you’re in the area or passing by, it’s worth stopping in.

Di's Pizza Pies

They had a few slices on offer; I went with the pepperoni (“Red Sauce, Mozzarella, Battistoni Cup and Char Pepperoni, Pecorino”).

Di's Pizza Pies

The pizza is interesting.  I sort of assumed this was going to be the usual thin crust, NYC-style pizza that you can find at so many pizza joints in the GTA.  But the focaccia-like crust is actually quite different from that style of crispiness and chewiness, with a crunchy exterior and a fluffy, bready interior.

Di's Pizza Pies

It definitely works, with the more substantial crust doing a great job of holding up to the flavourful sauce, salty peperoni, and generous amount of cheese.  It’s a great slice.

A Great Slice at Maker Pizza

Maker Pizza
Location
: 59 Cameron Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.makerpizza.com/

I was surprised to see I haven’t written about Maker Pizza on this blog since trying their Reuben pizza several years ago (which I didn’t particularly care for, and which is no longer on the menu).

Maker Pizza

I’ve been back several times since then, and the pizza is always stellar.

Maker Pizza

On this visit, I got a slice of the pepperoni with spicy vodka sauce, and yeah, they continue to serve very good pizza.  The slice had a decent amount of good quality pepperoni (the type that curls up and becomes a grease goblet — the best kind), a nice ratio of cheese and sauce, and a good amount of flavour and a mild spicy kick from the spicy vodka sauce.

Maker Pizza

Of course, a pizza lives and dies by its crust, and the crust here is stellar — great blistered edges, crispy enough to hold up to the toppings and the sauce (but not overly crunchy), and a good amount of chew.  It’s a top-notch slice.

Stellar Pizza at Cowabunga+ in Hamilton

Cowabunga+
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.

Cowabunga+

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

Cowabunga+

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.

Cowabunga+

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

Cowabunga+

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.

Cowabunga+

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.

Cowabunga+

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

Gram's Pizza
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

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).

Gram's Pizza

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.

Gram's Pizza

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

One Night Only
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.

One Night Only

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.

One Night Only

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.

One Night Only

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.