Papa Murphy's

Although I’m known amongst my friends for hanging on slightly too dearly to the nostalgic taste of pizzas from my childhood (although note that this is actually predicted by the so called Pizza Cognition Theory developed by Sam Sifton which as I'm sure you all know states that the first slice of pizza a child sees and tastes...becomes, for him, pizza), I will defend my love of Papa Murphy’s until I die.  If you’re not familiar with Papa (we are on a first name basis), his pizzas are prepared while you wait in an oven-safe tray for baking at home.  Delight crust is Papa Murphy’s lower-calorie crust but it is definitely my favorite because of its crunchtasticness.  The beauty of Papa Murphy’s is that it has the convenience of a frozen pizza in that you can eat it whenever you want, is a deal at US$7 for a large, and the toppings are 9,000% fresher.  In this case I enjoyed my Papa Murphy’s Rancher deLITE pizza on a beautiful Minnesota day at my parents’ house overlooking Lake Sylvan while loons called in the distance.  Perfection.

Papa Murphy's

Crust: 9

Sauce: 5

Toppings: 9

VFM: 10

Ambiance/Delivery: 8

Overall: 8

208 Duecento Otto

I'm sure you're already you're feasting your eyes on this miraculous looking, fantasmagorically charred pizza and wondering gee, what country do I have to travel to to get that?  

Well guess what, kiddos, this pizza was served in your very own backyard at the new restaurant 208 Duecento Otto on Hollywood Road. According to their website, they serve rustic Italian cuisine from a New York perspective. Since I have no idea what that means I am not sure if they achieved it but I do think they have potential in the pizza department.  

I'm not cool enough to have reservations at hip new places like this one so we ate in the outdoor patio area outside of the bar.  Rumor has it that 208 has an "authentic Napolitana" oven imported from Italy.  I could barely get them to serve me a pizza (waited probably an hour) so I figured that getting a tour of the kitchen or speaking with someone about the pizza oven was probably low on the priority list.  Nonetheless, you can tell that whoever made this pizza had some idea what he or she was doing.  It wasn't perfect, but I am tempted to go back and try again in about a month once they have their bad-yet-typical-of-new-restaurants service issues ironed out and everything up and running full time to give them another chance.  The crust is very thin yet filled with delicious chewy bubbles and charred to perfection.  However, it came out slightly soggy which makes me think either they haven't quit figured out how the humidity affects their dough or their oven wasn't hot enough. Or maybe they just rushed it since they forgot about our pizza and when we asked after everyone who was seated after us was finished eating they had to rush it in and out of the oven.

The quality of the toppings was exceptional.  I could have used more cheese, but the tomato sauce was very tasty and the cheese probably would not have been missed by someone who was less obsessed with cheese.

To sum it up, this place is a hip, fun alternative to the delicious-food vortex that is Soho/Wyndham St. and I hope more restaurants like this, the Press Room, etc. spring up in this area.  If you like pizza this is a must-stop on your list of restaurants to try.  Thanks to Erica for the tip on this new place!

Crust: 8

Toppings: 9

Sauce: 9

Ambiance: 9

VFM: 7

Overall: 9

208 Duecento Otto

G/F, 208 Hollywood Road

Sheung Wan

2549 0208