A Knife, A Fork, A Bottle and a Cork

Pizza. It's a lovely enough thing. One of my favourite foods, as a matter of fact. Just the name alone conjures up that golden crust, topped with vibrantly red and fragrant tomato sauce, melty cheese, and if you're like me, enough veggies to make yo' mamma proud.

But sometimes- sometimes that pizza urge strikes, and you find yourself going down another path.

*cue erie music*

"Man opens the pizza oven door, and pulls out what he believes to be pizza.
But- there is, unseen by most, another way, a slice that is just as real and fresh, but not as brightly lit... a slice from.... the flipside."

That's right- not all pizza is brazenly naked. Sometimes, pizza comes with a bit more class, and with that, a demure top-crust. Please welcome the hearty stuffed-crust pizza.

DucCat came home from Florimonte's one blustery day, toting a large and extremely heavy pizza box. The smell emanating from within was intriguing, and he was all smiles as I pulled back the lid.

There was pizza in there, but one quite foreign, with nothing but crust in sight.

"It's a stuffed-crust pizza!" DucCat exclaimed. "Meatballs, roma tomatoes, onions, fresh mozzarella and basil..." he added upon seeing my derisively-raised eyebrow.

The words "stuffed crust" instantly conjured up terrible images of Domino's and Pizza Hut's greasy-creations. Not to mention that the all important crust-to-topping ratio was bound to be off. No matter, though- if DucCat said it was good, then it must be so.

The peek inside wasn't promising... the ratio looked off in a bad way. But the scent, ah yes, that glorious scent held all sorts of promise.

I laid into it with a knife and fork, as this definately wasn't finger food. DucCat was, of course, absolutely dead-on about this being good. Just the right amount of roma tomatoes had thickened a bit during cooking, snuggling into every crevice. The tender meatballs burst with flavour, not to mention whole cloves of garlic.

In fact, the whole thing reminded me a bit of a sub, but a really well-crafted one. Pizza shaped. And with an ultra-thin shell in place of the bread.

We tried out our second Smoking Loon wine, a 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. I liked this one much more that their chardonnay, but can't say it won me over completely. It was toasty and tannic, and went well enough with the pizza, which is all I was really asking of it.

Even so, I probably won't be buying this again, as we've plenty of other inexpensive wines that go well with food.

Stuffed crust pizza. Blustery, blissful manna.

Pick up yours at Florimonte's Fine Italian Deli, up in Williamsburg. Be warned that it is a special-request item, and one that will be made with loving pride.