#FoodPornFriday Dolcetto - a new favourite in London ON

Today's #FoodPornFriday takes us out of town, up the 401 and to London Ontario. 

I love London. My wife and I basically discovered London on our 1 year anniversary of dating. Back in the high school days. On the day of our anniversary on a whim, I bought up a Greyhound Bus ticket to London. We didn't prepare, we didn't pack, we just went. 

That was an awesome trip. The two of us wandered around downtown and found some amazing places like City Lights, L.A. Mood, Heroes and (the sadly closed) Commander Salamander. We had a 'fancy' dinner at the Marienbad Restaraunt (which I chose because Marienbad is the name of a city in Warhammer). Then we really pissed off our parents by finding a hotel and staying overnight. I'm pretty sure they are probably still mad about that one but it was worth it. 

Over the years we have been back many times.  We still love London. It's the perfect city for us to spend a few days away. It's not Windsor. It's not home. It's bigger than Windsor but not overwhelming like, say, Toronto. 

One of the best things about these trips is when we find something new. Over the years we've developed a list of favourite places to visit and eat. The Marienbad is still on that list. I don't remember the last time we were in London we didn't have at least one meal there. I'm always looking for somewhere new to try. A new favourite for us to frequent in future trips. Our last trip up there (in mid-December) I found Dolcetto.

Dolcetto doesn't look like much. It's in a big box plaza out on the outskirts of town. It's far enough out of town that we actually had a hard time finding it. It looks like just another "mall parking lot restaurant" and when we first pulled up I was worried we were going to be stuck with overpriced, overhyped, chain food. This fear was completely unfounded.

The restaurant is very nice inside. High end casual is probably the best to describe it. I felt comfortable in black jeans and a golf shirt but would have felt out of place is I was any more dressed down. I also wouldn't have felt at all out of place in a suit and tie. The place is huge, which is probably the main reason it's in a big box parking lot. Despite this reservations are strongly recommended. The menu, as expected, is a variety of Italian fare. Pizza, pasta, chicken, and fish. Prices range from $18 to $24 for most entres. 

My wife and I started our meal off with the Roasted Prosciutto appetizer. That's what you are probably drooling over up there at the top of this blog post. That appetizer is enough to make the drive to London worth it. If it was earlier in the day, I would be tempted to drive up there right now just for more roasted prosciutto. I honestly suggested to my wife we order a second plate after finishing the first. She talked me out of it.  

For my main, I ordered the chicken parm. Sorry, I should say the Pollo Parmigiana. D ordered the daily special which was a hunk of salmon that was like 2.5 inches thick on pasta that looked rather good even to me, who's not a fan of fish. We finished off the meal with some amazing Tiramisu. Usually, I'm not a big fan of Tiramisu but the waitress strongly suggested we try it and I'm glad we did.

It's also worth noting that we did not have the kids with us, but the restaraunt did have a kids menu. Actually it seems like the place was pretty popular with families as we saw a lot of big groups and tables with kids on our vist. I wouldn't think twice about brining our kids. 

Open Table has voted Dolcetto onto the list of the 100 Best Italian Restaurants in Canada (They aren't ranked, it's just a list of 100). An honour that we both felt was very well deserved. This was amazing Italian food. Some of the best I've ever had. Except for almost getting lost trying to find the place the first time our trip to Dolcetto was a fantastic experience. It's now on the list of must visit places for our future trips to London.

A monstrous helping of breakfast from The Early Bird

Had some amazing food this weekend in London, Ontario. A big thanks goes out to all the people who gave me some great suggestions on places to eat with a family of four with young kids. This is the first of a few #FoodPorn pics I'll be sharing from the trip.

This was our Saturday morning breakfast from a great small place downtown called The Early Bird.

This monstrosity is the Pancake Stacker. A half stack order. Yes I said the "half stack"! I can't even imagine how much food would be in a full stack. This could have fed out entire family of four. It consists of pancakes stacked and layered with smoked bacon, peameal bacon, potato hash and topped with a fried egg. All smothered in maple syrup.

We stopped at P-Za-Pie Neapolitan Pizza on the way home from #FBC2013

Okay I know what all you locals are thinking. Where the heck is that? Piccadilly and Richmond, I don't recognize that corner. Well good eye. This isn't a shot from Windsor. P-Za-Pie is located in London Ontario and it's my favourite pizza outside of Windsor. While this blog has a focus on Windsor, now and then I'm going to talk about the fuzzy stuff in the back of the picture.

My wife and I love London. I don't know exactly what it is. Perhaps because it's got a bit of that big town feel without it being too much, like say: Toronto. Perhaps it's the fact that it still feels like home and close to home but isn't actually home. I do know a lot of it has to do with great experiences we've had pretty much every time we go. As I mentioned when I was talking about our Birthday Weekend in Windsor, we usually spend my Wife's birthday up in London but we broke that tradition this year, and I think that was one of the main driving forces for wanting to stop in on the way home from the Food Bloggers of Canada Conference.

A shot of the kitchen
 right out there in the open

We first found P-Za-Pie last year and though we were only in London two days we ate there twice. We thought it was that good. This pizzeria just feels right. It somehow looks like a pizza place. No, not the pizza places of the 70s and 80s with the red checkered table cloth and picture of a vineyard on the wall. A modern pizza place. With the wood fired stone oven right out there in the open. With the cooks assembling the pizzas right in front of you. Lots of space, lots of tables, lots of seating and the ability to move all those around to fit either a couple or a group of 12 people at one table.


The menu, I would call gourmet casual. It's mixed with things like Wood Oven Buffalo Chicken Wings and a Roasted Pear & Goat Cheese Salad. Beside the Italian Sausage Pizza is a Fingerling Potato White Sauce Pizza. Actually the white sauce thing is one of the things we love at P-Za-Pie. I first tried pizza with white sauce at Festival Epicure (I so miss that fest), and loved it. Not many places offer it though. P-Za-Pie actually offers just as many white sauce pizza as red sauce pizzas. The set pizzas are a mix of traditional and gourmet toppings. They also have their own house beer which I personally think is rather cool. It's a light beer, but very easy to drink and goes well with the Pizza.

My Carne Pizza

No matter what else is on the menu we came for the pizza. They come in two sizes 8" and 12" and range in price from $8.50 to $9.50 for the small ones and $15 to $17 for the larges. An 8" is more than enough for even me so we each got one of those. I got a Carne which is a red sauce pizza with double smoked bacon, pepperoni, Italian sausage, mushroom, tomato sauce and mozzarella. I personally had them skip the mushrooms, as they aren't something I enjoy,  which they were perfectly willing to do. My wife tried the Tuscan which had pancetta, grilled wild mushrooms, roasted red peppers, spinach, feta and a basil infused olive oil.  They were both fantastic. Sure mine is a little dark around the edges, but so what, that's what you expect from a true wood fired pizza.

My Wife's Tuscan Pizza

So yes, I generally will be talking about Windsor here, but just in case you find yourself out of town and happen to be stopping in or passing by London Ontario and have a Pizza craving. I can't suggest a better place to try out than P-Za-Pie. Great pizza at a reasonable price in a very welcoming atmosphere that's great for a couple or a large group. Hey they even have their own beer. I can't think of anything else I would want from a Pizza place.

So now you know my favourite out of town Pizza place. Do you have a favourite out of town spot that you try to hit every trip?