I like pizza!
I mean…most people like pizza, it’s one of north america’s most popular foods for a reason.
But I like pizza to the point where it’s about to be difficult to rate them in this post.
The worst pizza I have ever had – overdone cardboard crust, bland everything else – I’d still rate as 4/10 meaning I wouldn’t buy it but would still probably eat it if it was in the fridge. Every other pizza has been at least ‘would eat again’ 5/10 or higher, from corner store takeout to gourmet I’ve enjoyed or at least appreciated it all.
And it’s been an especially good time to appreciate it since YYC Pizza Fest is happening now. Similar to hot chocolate month every February (and similar presented by Meals On Wheels), during this period a bunch of restaurants feature a pizza of theirs, often but not always new and just for this festival, and give part of the proceeds from sales for this pizza to the Meals On Wheels charity. We get to try as many pizzas as we want and rate them on the website. It’s been a busy week for me trying pizzas, so I’ll jump right into it.
Note: Many pizza pictures were taken half-eaten. This is the way it tends to go.
Una Pizza 17th Ave – Carbs on Carbs Pizza
As common with carbonara flavors, the pillar of flavor here was the bacon. That said, all the other ingredients were also very high quality and the addition of truffles worked really well. I’m fairly neutral towards bacon overall, so I personally rate it as 8/10, but if you really like bacon it could easily be higher.
Note: This pizza was by far the most expensive of all of them at $36.00, where most of the others are $20-$25. Despite ignoring that during the rating itself, I can’t outright recommend this. I also ordered it without green onions which would definitely effect the flavor.
Cravings – Walk in the Woods Pizza
In addition to pizza, I also really like mushrooms, and this had them in spades. The cream sauce, cheese, and regular and green onions all worked together to uplift the mushroom flavor. The truffle chips were interesting from a texture standpoint but not that flavorful. Very well cooked and with a good crust as well. 9/10.
Actually Pretty Good – Butter Chicken Pizza
The mint chutney on top was a noticeable great addition to this already good pizza. I don’t have a lot to say about it in specifics, butter chicken is great and this pizza tasted just like one, and the crust as also nice. 8/10
TJ’s Pizza – Chicken Tikka
I’ve rarely had corn on pizza before and it is always a treat, especially when grouped with other appropriate toppings, which this was. The overall pizza style was standard deep dish, but the toppings were good and plentiful. They asked me what spice level I wanted when I ordered, and when I asked for Medium I definitely got it. It was an enjoyable spice level, but just strong enough to need a bit of milk afterwards.
7/10
Pizzaface – Uncle Jesse
Firstly, props for the pizza I got being practically identical to the official image. Even the other really good ones were slightly off one way or another.
Secondly, this pizza was fantastic. Who knew tzatziki and dill on a pizza would be such a hit. The cherry tomatoes and lamb sausage worked really well with it. I might order it again soon. 10/10
Royal Exchange – Royal BBQ Chicken Pizza
It looks like they added parsley to my pizza for some reason, which is strange but parsely is nearly tasteless for me it just added a nice bit of texture.
Other than that, this was a standard good bbq chicken pizza. BBQ sauce, chicken, onions, the works. The pizza fest page says it has bacon, but I couldn’t taste it myself. 7/10
Conclusions and What I Learned
And that’s it for (nearly) the first week of pizza fest 2022. I’m glad it’s longer than just a week like it was in previous years – I would often only hear about it after it was finished.
I sometimes had frustrations when trying to order, and so wanted to share what I learned that might help:
- Several of them only do delivery through Skip the Dishes or another online service, and many haven’t added their Pizza Fest pizza to their online menu.
- Quite a few places in or near downtown are outright closed on Mondays, so maybe check before trying to order.
- The city map down on the Pizza Fest home page is a great tool to find places near you. I only wish it was higher on the home page, since I didn’t discover it until yesterday.