Pizza Palooza (presented by Vanfoodster)

I have to say I like pizza, but don't necessarily love it.  For me, after the first few slices, I tend to lose interest since the carbs start filling me up.  However, that is not a problem for Inner Fat Girl as she LOVES pizza.  Hence, I knew if I went without her, she would've punctured my tires.  So off we went to Pizza Palooza with 5 stops of 2 slices each on a rainy Vancouver evening (no wonder David Duchovny complained...).  Our registration point was at Hot Art Wet City where we found some very interesting pizza art.  Let's just say it's at the very least PG...

Our strategy for the night was to hit up the "predicted" best pizza first so we could enjoy it rather than attempting to do it with our 10th slice.  So off we went to Straight Outta Brooklyn across from the VPL.  We ended up with one each of their available pizzas including Pepperoni, Spice, Margherita and White.  We loved the crust here as it was thin, crispy throughout and slightly chewy everywhere else.  There was a decent char that led to some aromatics to go with the impactful toppings.  I personally loved the spice and white as they were the ying and the yang.  The spice lived up to its name with a salty heat while the white was more subtle with a smoky garlickiness.

Moving onto the closest spot from Straight Outta Brooklyn, we headed to the DTES and got rock star parking across the street from ZeroZero Pizzeria.  We were served 2 slices including the Vegetable Pizza and the Contadina Pizza.  Being a Roman-style of pizza, these slices were thicker and crunchier.  Being meatatarians, we were indifferent with the vegetable pizza, but the Contadina with mozza, tomato sauce, smoked chicken, sundried tomato, red onions and oregano had much more flavour and body (naturally of course).  Still, we would've liked to see chunks of chicken rather than thinly sliced deli-style.

Heading out further East, we visited Nonna's Table located in the Waldorf Hotel.  Still sporting remnants of the former Shameful Tiki Room, it didn't really have a feel of a pizzeria.  However, the slices we had were decent.  They consisted of Funghi Misti, Nonna's Pizza and a Stromboli.  I found the crust to be thin and relatively crispy with a soft centre especially with the funghi.  I would've liked to see more seasoning in the dough though as the funghi was pretty bland.  That wasn't a problem with the other 2 as there was salty meats to make up for the lack of seasoning.

We finally decided to return to near the start at Pizza Garden, but gosh the place was packed!  There was simple explanation though, as they decided to do Pizza Palooza on the same day as their grand opening celebrations.  I guess kill 2 birds with one stone?  Anyways, for a chain slice pizza spot, they produce a very serviceable product.  The thin crust was well charred and crispy, albeit a bit dry.  Toppings were fairly plentiful which meant there was enough flavours, yet I found the tomato sauce (or sauce in general), lacking.

Off to the furthest restaurant of the bunch, we ended up at Ragazzi Pizza.  It was somewhat ironic that I had just visited the place 4 days ago.  Therefore, I went for 2 slices that I didn't have the last time - Prosciutto e Ruccola and Quattro Stagioni. I liked both equally where they sported a thin and chewy crust.  It wasn't as crispy as Straight Outta Brooklyn as it was fairly soft.  It didn't matter as it was still good especially with the right amount of toppings adding enough flavour to each bite.  By now, we had eaten the equivalent of a whole pizza.  Maybe if there was something less carb heavy next time...  like a Rib Palooza?

*All food was complimentary*

The Good:
- If you like pizza...
- Due to the carbs, you will be very full

The Bad:
- More variety of pizzas (types) would've been better
- Not particularly close together