Location: 3076 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.vengacucina.ca/
Venga Cucina is a really unique pizza place in the Junction that serves a style of pizza called pinsa, which their menu describes as a cross between focaccia and pizza.
The menu also features a variety of antipasti and pasta, but clearly the pinsa is where it’s at. I tried a couple: the margherita (“pomodoro, mozzarella, basil”) and the gino picante (“calabrian nduja, cured hot sausage, pepperonata, fior di latte, sundried tomatoes”).
Apparently the crust here is made with a combination of rice and soya flour along with regular flour, and is fermented for 96 hours. This gives it a texture that’s actually quite different from any pizza I’ve had before, with a very crispy exterior and a super light and fluffy interior.
I wouldn’t want this to replace normal pizza (I did miss the chewiness you get from a more traditional dough), but as something that’s almost in a category of its own, it’s quite tasty.
Both pinsas were very good, though as usual, the tasty simplicity of the margherita won out. Still, both featured a really satisfying contrast between the good quality toppings and the crispy/airy crust, and both were kicked up a notch by the tasty chili oil they had on the table.
Michael Eats 