Ah-Beetz

*Under new ownership. Previous owners are opening up shop in Vancouver July 2011*

Many people assume that the best food in the GVRD resides in Vancouver itself, particularly in Downtown. It is true that most of the best places to eat are in Downtown; but honestly, with more than half of the population of the GVRD residing outside of Vancouver, chances are there are good eats elsewhere. That is why I joined Kim (I'm Only Here for the Food!) and Anita in a journey of sorts out to Abbotsford. Abbotsford??? Yes, apparently the best New York style pizza can be found at Ah-Beetz out there. I vaguely remember the NY Style pizza that I had when I was in NYC 10 years ago. But I do remember that it was thin, the bottom was crispy and the dough was slightly chewy. Well, we set out on an adventure to find out if we could get anything remotely close to that in the GVRD.

Kim was gracious enough pick us up and drive all the way there. I was doing my best to be a "good" backseat driver by using the GPS and yelling out the directions. When we arrived, I was a bit concerned because the "open" sign was not on. However, the place was indeed open. The owner, Terry, said that they almost didn't open. Imagine if that happened? When he spotted us taking photos, he inquired if we were bloggers. Playing coy, Kim and I didn't really answer that question; but I'm sure Terry knew better. He did tell us that there was this blogger who was taking photos and doing video of his visit there with his friends. Apparently his name is Kevin. Oh, I wonder who that might be??? 604Foodtography...

In terms of the pizza, we ended up getting a Margherita consisting of tomato sauce, aged mozzarella, fior di latte, extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil & Grana Padano. We also got a Di Fara consisting of pepperoni, artichoke hearts, tomato sauce, aged mozzarella, fior di latte, lots of fresh basil, lots of extra virgin olive oil & lots of Grana Padano. While we were waiting for our pizzas, we watched them being made with care and apparently with the freshest ingredients. You see, most of the toppings are made in-house, including the mozzarella cheese, bacon and capicolla. When you have quality control like this, you have a consistently good product. We first dug into the Margherita and I gotta say that it was pretty darn good pizza. It's got the qualities that you look for in a NY-style pizza. Thin crust, slightly charred on the bottom; yet still a bit chewy. Just enough sauce, toppings and cheese to provide flavour and texture without "sogging" up the crust. The addition of freshly cut basil on top was the "icing on the cake". You really can't beat fresh ingredients.

Okay, why are these places such as Ah Beetz and Estrella's far away from Vancouver? Could it be the rent? Maybe that's where everyone is moving out to. Whatever the case, I encourage you to try it out if you are in the neighbourhood. Even if you're not, just do, drive out there, try it!

The Good:
- Pretty darn close to the real thing (NY-style pizza)
- Fresh, mostly made in-house ingredients
- Pizza is made with care and it shows

The Bad:
- Since it is thin, you can eat a lot of it and thus it can get pricey
- For some, Abbotsford is too far