Ever since the September 2009 issue of the Ottawa Magazine published "101 Tastes to Try Before You Die", an edible guide to Ottawa's best dishes, I have been almost driven to enumerate the tastes I have already had, catalog them on foodiePrints, and pursue the ones outstanding.

Case in point, gravy pizza. I have long heard that one of Ottawa's better pizzerias originated the gravy pizza when a slightly intoxicated Montrealer, homesick for poutine, wandered through its doors after a night's indulgence. He perused the menu for fries, gravy, and cheese curds. Finding no fries, he asked for a slice of pizza and a portion of gravy. The pizzeria was House of Georgie's (Sorento's) on 211 Gilmour (at Elgin). The rest is history.

According to the September 2009 issue of the Ottawa Magazine, "fans drive into Ottawa from Toronto and Montreal for the delicacy." Me, I have already had many opportunities to try House of Georgie's pizza, enjoying some great delivery pizza, but I kept forgetting to order the side portion of gravy. Here is my first:

Delivery Menu Cover

Medium 13" Canadian: pepperoni, mushroom & Bacon
It had all the characteristics of a great pizza:

An abundance of real mozzarella, gently crusted during baking.

Expertly worked dough to provide just enough chew.

In-house made tomato sauce with quality toppings.
The tomato sauce tasted as if it were carefully simmered. It was much more than just crushed tomatoes, including spices and herbs. The toppings included some fresh mushrooms, spiced pepperoni, and crumbled bacon.

Cost: $19.20 ($17(medium 13" Canadian), taxes, and including a free 1 L bottle of Coke).

Two weekends ago, I ordered an Extra Large 17" Combination from House of Georgie's to take with me to a pot luck dinner party at a neighbour's. This time, I made sure to include a side of gravy, opting for beef instead of chicken.

Extra Large 17" Combination: Mushrooms, green peppers, and pepperoni

To demonstrate how consistently House of Georgie's makes great pizza, the pictures of the Medium Canadian Pizza were taken a year ago.

Again, an abundance of real mozzarella, gently crusted during baking.

The same expertly worked dough.

This time, though, with gravy:

Completing the experience!

Gravied!

My thoughts: The gravy added a savoury flavour to an already great pizza. It was somewhat odd to my palate with the bright tomato sauce. The gravy was also very floury. The experience, though, was definitely poutine-esque, the crust substituting for fries. And the melted mozzarella, traditional cheddar cheese curds. I can understand how gravy pizza quenched a poutine craving.

Total: $28.60 ($24(extra large 17" combination pizza), $0.75(gravy), taxes, and including a free 1 L bottle of Coke)

Would I order it again? The pizza, definitely. The gravy pizza, only after a couple hours' skating on the Rideau Canal during Winterlude. It rivals Dunn's smoked meat poutine and beaver tails as signature winter foods in Ottawa.

Particulars:
House of Georgie
211 Gilmour Street
(613)283-3333

More after the jump...

At the end of July, the organizers of WestFest held a thank-you dinner at Westboro's Newport Restaurant for the event's volunteers.

Newport Restaurant

Dining Room

There, we were presented with thank-you notes and some fine pizza.

Thank-you's

Slices of Combination and Deluxe
I can think of few better thank-you's than slices of gourmet pizza like those served at Newport. On the menu, the combination is called "Moe's Rock 'n Combo" and includes tomato sauce, peperoni, mushrooms, and green peppers. The deluxe adds bacon and olives.

Legend has it that the restaurant's owner, Moe, learned the art of pizza-making while working in the kitchens of Colonnade Pizza's original location on Metcalfe. Colonnade is one of Ottawa's famed pizzerias. Newport's pizzas sports an almost identical hand-worked crust that is also made to order. They are topped with quality fresh ingredients and real mozzarella cheese. They are baked in hot pizza ovens where both the cheese and crust develops great colour and texture.

Pizza Oven Crisped Crust

Best yet, the volunteer co-ordinator came across foodiePrints' piece on this year's WestFest. He sent printed copies of our blog entry around. In fact, our coverage seems to have urged WestFest organizers to look into having more local performers on stage and more uniform food concessions from local producers.

I should note that as we enjoyed our pizza, a caricature artist wandered the tables, drawing pictures of volunteers. Here is ours:

Me and Jenn

Both Jenn and I are looking forward to volunteering again next year when this field

Field
is again transformed into a festival ground.

WestFest

Particulars:
Newport Restaurant
334 Richmond Road
(613)722-9322

Colonnade Pizza
280 Metcalfe Street near MacLeod
(613)237-3179

More after the jump...

In preparation for writing this entry, I googled the word pizza. When the web page rendered, Google's coveted first entry leads to the Pizza Pizza website. The third, forth and fifth entries belong to Pizza Hut, Domino's Pizza, and Boston Pizza respectively. I find this somewhat appalling. Though I like Pizza Pizza pizza and frequent an establishment in my neighborhood, I must say that the best slices that I've had were at small mom and pop restaurants. The reasons that my better half and I order Pizza Pizza pizza are because their pies aren't greasy and they use processed cheese. Processed cheese agrees with my better half's stomach better. Pizza Pizza thus bakes up good everyday fair. However, when I crave real pizza, I prefer the single establishment or very small chain pizzerias that specialize in making pizza. That is, they don't advertise poutine with shoe string fries. They don't have onion rings on the menu and if you order fried chicken, you will be politely referred to another restaurant.

For me, good pizza must be made to order. It has to have a crisp crust, not thick, but not paper thin. It must be made with real cheese that is shredded not sliced. The cheese should be gently browned and stringy when you are served you your first slice. The sauce must smack of dark fruity flavors from cooked tomatoes. At the same time, the sauce must also include some spice and feature oregano above any other herb. The toppings should be conservative. If I order a combination pizza, and I usually do, I don't want to be served slices that are literally teaming with 14 meats and 25 vegetables. Perhaps most important, the pizza should be served steaming hot from the oven. As such, the best way to eat pizza is sitting in a pizzeria.

I have to admit that I have been known to visit specialty restaurants for gourmet thin crust pizza that is baked in wood ovens, but I consider this type of pizza more polite date food than the soul food. For soul food, I like to visit establishments like Naples Pizza in Gatineau. Located approximately a block or two from Les Terrasses de la Chaudière (70 Rue Montcalm), Naples Pizza comes highly recommended by my colleagues.

Naples Pizza is well loved for good reason. Firstly, the restaurant itself specializes in making pizza. Secondly, just look at the pictures of the pizza that is served. All of the requirements for good pizza are met; near pizza perfection.

When I visited, two people ordered personal pizzas; one was pepperoni; the other was a thin crust vegetarian. I split a medium sized combination pizza with someone else.

The crust on my combination pizza was distinctly crunchy but did not weigh heavily on the tongue. The cheese was evenly distributed and gently browned at the high points. The sauce was flavorful; subtly spicy and rich in tomato. The pizza was conservatively topped with fresh green peppers, thinly sliced mushrooms, and sliced pepperoni. Every bite provided a balanced medley of flavors and a variety of texture contrasts. The pepperoni provided a salty bite. The mushrooms provided earthy undertones. The green peppers were gently roasted, providing a nice crunch. Best of all, when the waitress served the pizza, it was steaming hot and and the cheese pulled apart in strings. This, my friends, is what a soul-satisfying pizza looks like and tastes like.

BTW, what I really appreciated about this pizzeria itself is the cups they use. They are short enough that they fit under the pizza stand. This saves valuable real estate on the tables. Table real estate is a detail that a lot of restaurants overlook.

The vegetarian pizza looked and smelled outstanding. I will have to try that next.

Here's a picture of the menu for future visitors.

Menu

Particulars:
Naples Pizza
70 Rue Montcalm
Gatineau, Quebec
(819) 777-8457