Pizzeria Stella- Old City/Society Hill (Philadelphia, USA)

Pizzeria Stella is another Stephen Starr restaurant and like most Starr establishments it does not disappoint. The restaurant is large and spacious and located in one of my favorite areas of town. Directly behind the hostess stand lies the open concept pizza station where the chefs are busy rolling the dough, adding the toppings and placing in the brick oven pizza all in front of a crowd of hungry diners.

If you enjoy watching your food be made then ask for a seat facing the kitchen... you may learn a thing or two about making pizza from scratch.

We ordered three pizzas to share amongst a group of four. The Tartufo- a black truffle, egg and fontina pizza; the Spinach- oven-roasted tomatoes, pine nuts, mozzarella and baby spinach; and the Sausage- wood-roasted sausage, hot pesto, mozzarella and tomato sauce (see menu).

The sausage pizza and the tartufo were my two favorites of the night. Ground pieces of sausage sprinkled generously over a perfectly baked dough with fresh mozzarella, tomato sauce and pesto. 

The Spinach pizza was covered in boiled spinach sprinkled with pine nuts, oven-roasted tomatoes and mozzarella. Very tasty and a healthier choice for those aspiring vegetarians. 

The Tartufo pizza was covered with cheese, egg and truffle oil. For those who love truffle oil this one is for you. It is a delicious creamy blend that when mixed with the chewy dough lead to a perfect pizza.

Of course, dough is one of the most important aspects of the perfect brick oven pizza and this dough hit all the requirements. The crust was golden yet not burnt, it was chewy yet not too crispy and hard.

Lombardi's- Nolita (New York City, USA)

In law school a close friend of mine who spent a lot of time in New York would tell me about the wonders of the food scene in the City. I heard about the likes of Lombardi's and Grimaldi's way before I got to try it. Four years later, the same friend would fly down from Toronto to New York and I would meet her at Lombardi's to experience my first bite of true New York style thin crust pizza with her. So many sleepless exam nights I spent daydreaming of this pizza and it was finally becoming a reality. 

We went for lunch on a Sunday and only waited minutes before we were taken out of the main restaurant, passed another restaurant tucked in between and entered in to another room which was an extension of Lombardi's. My friend had to catch a flight back to Toronto and was rushed to order, eat, experience and leave. There were 6 of us so we ordered two large pizzas. One plain margherita and another with the addition of sausage and olives. 

The menu offers a small and large pizza. You can start with the margherita and make additions as you please. 

First we ordered a basket of bread sticks with marinara sauce which came out in minutes. It certainly hit the spot. 

Not too long after our pizzas arrived. I finally understood why Lombardi's is so famous- because the pizza was truly amazing. Whoever says otherwise is just plain old hating. Not only is Lombardi's the oldest pizza shop in the country but it has the best thin crust pizza I have tasted to date in America. All the ingredients were fresh and bursting with flavor. 

The cheese. Oh the cheese. The cheese stretched for days. There was enough cheese to cover most of the pizza and marinara sauce oozed through each bite. 

Next was the margherita. What could be more simple than a margherita pizza? Yet simplicity is sometimes a good thing. This pizza was simple yet mouthwatering delicious. Generous amounts of mozzarella cheese, marinara sauce and fresh basil. Delicioso!

The two pizzas were more than enough to feed us six. Although, of course there was a subtle fight over the last piece. 

While taking one of many bites of pizza, I turned to my friend with a big smile remembering how we bonded over food in law school and would remain close friends ever since.  Discussing food was so much more pleasurable than learning the intricate 'bundle of rights' in property law. She did not disappoint. The day dreaming sessions in the law school library finally became a reality and lived up to my expectation. 

Birra- Italian Market (Philadelphia, USA)

Our first weekend in Philadelphia and we were already in search of pizza. We headed to the Italian Market to yelp our way to a pizza shop. At that point, I had not done any research on popular/best restaurants in Philadelphia so I really knew nothing about where to go and what to eat. But when you crave pizza, you find pizza, and you eat pizza. 

We parked on Passyunk street and found Birra through yelp. Birra is a modern Italian restaurant serving mostly pizza and anti pastis. (See menu)

We started with the Salumi dish with three different types of cured meats served with pickles, red peppers and a special sweet sauce. 

The portions were very generous. It was the first time ever that we did not finish our Salumi dish. 

The Salumi was served with a bowl of different fresh breads. The focaccia style bread was very oily but nevertheless tasty. 

For our main dish we created our own pizza. You can choose between red or white sauce and choose the number of toppings. We chose red sauce with mozzarella cheese, fresh tomatoes and arugula. 

It was a very flavorful pizza. Generous amounts of cheese and all other toppings. It is not a brick oven pizza and made like your average pizza: in an oven. But the end result is good enough. 

If you like beer, you will also enjoy their variety of craft beers on tap and in bottles. We went very early on a Saturday but the place was almost full. A range of different characters and an overall loud ambiance. We also noted that all the servers and bartenders were tattooed up. Perhaps its a criteria before getting hired? 

We both enjoyed our meal at Birra. The food was satisfactory and served in generous portions. It was not the best pizza I've ever had but it certainly did satisfy our craving.

Ancora Pizzeria & Salumeria-Uptown (New Orleans, USA)

So little time was left in New Orleans and yet so many delicious restaurants to try. It was hard to narrow down the choices to all we could possibly consume in our one week feast prior to our departure. Ancora Pizzeria was an obvious choice since it is the only place in New Orleans that offers true brick oven pizza straight from Naples. And I love a good Neopolitan pizza.

What is so special about a brick oven pizza imported from Italy? You may want to refer to my post on Nicli Antica Pizzeria in Vancouver.

The Neapolitan brick oven pizza is a new phenomenon in New Orleans although I was up to date on the trend having recently returned from Vancouver where they are popping up all over the place (Barbarella and Nicli to name only a few).

I love Freret street and how its being revitalized by local businesses. The Cure, Company Burger, High Hat, Dat Dog and Ancora Pizzeria have really made this street the place to be if you are looking for good food followed by great drinks at the Cure.

We ended up at Ancora Pizzeria on a Monday night feeling confident that the wait would not be long. And we were right. There was no wait to be seated since half the restaurant was empty- rightfully so on a Monday night. However, we were starved. And I mean S-T-A-R-V-E-D. I had not had a real meal all day looking forward to my pizza and being too busy running around with last minute errands prior to the move. Our server took our order in a timely fashion but failed to warn us that there was only one chef on staff that night given the night of the week and that there were three tables ahead of us. This resulted in us waiting over an hour for our pizza. Had I known that the wait would have been so long I would have ordered a starter to settle my stomach. Anyhow, this was only a slight hiccup as once the pizza arrived it made the wait well worth it and all else was forgotten.

Ancora's pizzas are made from flour, water and sea salt. No commercial yeast is used as they make clear on their website. In fact the dough takes three days to prepare from start to finish. Now that is dedication. The selection is limited but all the better since every single dish uses high quality products resulting in one delicious pizza. Staying true to their name they only serve pizza and a selection of house cured meats (see menu).

The pizza crust was thin, crispy and chewy. It was perfect. There were minimal toppings but all of high quality.  We ordered the Margherita and another one which is not on their online menu. Both pizzas consisted of fior di latte mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce and basil. The second pizza had fresh tomatoes and garlic added to the mix for a wonderful burst of flavors.

As the photos reveal there were several burnt bubbles which I have been taught is a big no-no when presenting a Neapolitan pizza- but it didn't take away from the flavors. All in all, Ancora Pizzeria serves one mean Pizza and the best I have had in New Orleans.

Pizzeria Barbarella (Vancouver, Canada)

In an essentially dead zone in terms of the night life/dining scene goes, Pizzeria Barbarella has opened its door bringing the neighbourhood authentic Italian Pizza. It seems these wood oven baked pizza shops are popping up all over the place and the competition is tough (competitors including Nicli Antica and Pizzeria Farina). 


We entered  at 8 pm on a Friday night to a half empty restaurant, the walls were dark with very limited decorations which I found to be a bit depressing. Lit candles at each table with light music in the background. I found it to be a really weird atmosphere. Perhaps its the fact that the restaurant has not yet received its liquor license but it was a really sombre setting.

The pizzas were good but pricey- the same as those found at downtown restaurants but assuming the rent is lower- shouldn't the food be less expensive? Pizzas ranged between 9-20 dollars. We ordered three pizzas: the Funghi, Margherita and the Amatriciana (see menu). The first two were good although I found the margherita lacked the necessary mozzarella cheese to make it really cheesy; however, it was a good solid pizza with the pizza dough perfectly chewy yet crispy. The Funghi pizza was the best of the three with a perfect amount of cheese and mushrooms.  My pizza (the Amatriciana) was awful to the point that I could only have a slice. It was covered with tomato sauce and onions which pretty much took over other flavours which were so desperately trying to reach out to my senses and also lacked in cheese. It tasted pretty much of bread and onions. I really wanted to love this restaurant as I love nothing more than pizza but I have to say I left unsatisfied. I do hope they step up their game as the area really needs more restaurants and the place has so much potential. The restaurant has received great reviews by other bloggers so perhaps its was just that particular evening and that particular pizza. However, it is worth a try for the pizza lovers amongst us.