cheese – Page 2 – Around the World in 196 Plates

Location: 1168 Queen Street East, Toronto
Website: https://www.facebook.com/descendantpizza

Of all the regional American styles of pizza — New York, Chicago, California, etc. — Detroit is probably the least known. You’d be forgiven for not even realizing that they have their own style of pizza. But thanks to Descendant, the pizza-curious can sample it without having to actually go to Detroit (because let’s face it, no one wants to go to Detroit).

For the unaware, a Detroit style pizza is essentially a deep dish pizza cooked in a square pan, with a post-bake application of tomato sauce on top of the cheese.

Descendant keeps things simple, with a menu devoted to pizza and nothing but pizza. The tiny, open kitchen might have something to do with this — in fact, the whole restaurant is much smaller than you’d think, so expect to wait if you come during peak hours.

I tried a couple of pizzas: the Double Pep, which comes with two types of pepperoni above and beneath the cheese, and the Homenaje, which comes with “fresh chorizo, roasted jalepenos, lime pickled onions, sauce, cilantro sour cream, fresh cilantro.”

I’m not gonna lie: it tastes a lot like Pizza Hut.

The crust — grease-slicked and lightly crunchy on the outside, with a soft, bready interior — is Pizza Hut through and through. There is, however, a ring of crunchy cheese around the edges (a Detroit hallmark) that’s just as amazing as you’d hope it would be.

The Double Pep is especially Pizza Hut-esque — the quality of the sauce and pepperoni are obviously much higher, but if I tried it blind I’d probably just think that Pizza Hut was having a particularly good day.

The Homnaje was the better of the two pies; with its unique and distinctive flavours, it stands apart from its fast food brethren. The zippier flavours here help to cut the richness of the heavy pizza, and make this a more balanced pie. Pickled onions and sour cream seem like odd toppings, but they work surprisingly well.

Location: 933 St. Clair Avenue West, Toronto
Website: http://tenochrestaurant.com/

I seem to be focusing disproportionately on Spanish-speaking countries so far. This is completely unintentional; I’ll have to try to mix it up for the next few countries. But first: Mexico.

I mostly wanted to try Tenoch to sample one of their tortas, a popular Mexican street food that basically entails cramming as much food as possible into a crusty roll.

We started, however, with the chorinachos, which finds delicious house-made tortilla chips layered with a crumbled, mild sausage (chorizo, I think), refried beans, sour cream, and enough melty cheese to feed a small family. Though it was immediately apparent that we had over-ordered (this imposing pile of food is more than enough to feed two very hungry people on its own), these nachos were so good that we were happy to overindulge.

Two sauces were provided: the first was a bright green mix of seriously spicy hot peppers and avocado, and the second a creamy brown hot sauce that was one of the tastiest sauces I’ve had in quite a while. It had a rich, smoky flavour and an addictively fiery spice-level. It was amazing.

I asked the waitress what it was, because seriously: I want to eat this all the time on everything. Sadly, the answer (the name of the pepper the sauce is made from) pretty much went in one ear and out the other. It was a lot of words, and it was Spanish, and I should have written it down but I didn’t, like an idiot. Anyway, they make the sauce in the restaurant, so it’s not like I could have gone to the supermarket and picked up a bottle.

Whatever that stuff was, it was profoundly delicious, and if you come here and they don’t give it to you, you need to ask for it. That might be tough without knowing what it’s called, but trust me, make it happen. You won’t regret it.

Next up was the main course: the Tenoch Torta, described on the menu as coming with “tomato, onion, beans, avocado, mayo, cheese, shredded roast chipotle pork, ham, milanesa, egg, pastrami, and wiener sausage.”

Yep, it’s all in there. Everything. Don’t even think about ordering this sandwich on your own. My dining companion and I split one, and each half on its own was the size of one enormous sandwich. When you first pick it up, the weight of it shocks you. It’s gigantic.

It’s also delicious, if a bit overstuffed (shocking, right?). There’s just so much food in there, and though it’s all tasty (the chipotle pulled pork stands out as a highlight), I think there’s probably a little bit too much stuff going on.

Just eating it was a challenge. There’s only so wide that you can open your mouth, and even taking your biggest, most exaggerated Guy-Fieri-style bite, you’re not going to be able to cram it all in there.

Like the nachos, this would have been more than enough to feed two hungry people, and like with the nachos, I was very happy to overindulge. This is top-shelf Mexican food. I can’t wait to go back.

Tag: cheese

Country 018 – United States of America (Descendant Detroit Style Pizza)

Country 007 – Mexico (Tenoch)