Pie-o-metrics

Saturday night, I decided to try one of the "neighbourhood" pizza joints given recent experiences with fancier places. They don't get more old-school than Bitondo's Pizza, at Clinton and College but off the main Little Italy strip. The walls had that slightly faded yellow shade of age, the soft drinks came in a giant, old, top-lidded Coke freezer, and two old men made pizzas in a tiny space by the oven. The cashier knew almost everyone by name and most were obviously regulars. So many people came in and out for a slice or a take-out of sandwiches and pizzas that there was a 35 min wait on my order.

Per basic geometry, the area of your pizza grows hugely with each additional inch of diameter. But I didn't want to get greedy and got a medium (12") anchovies for $11.55. First, a mea culpa. I thought I was ordering the 4-topping option with anchovies on the menu. The cashier thought I wanted a 1-topping deal. I do enjoy this fish, but an anchovies-only pizza wouldn't top anybody's list. So this wasn't going to be a great pizza. Nevertheless, the cheese, tomato, and dough should be able to stand on their own. But sadly, this wasn't any better than your typical pizza franchise. I think people come here for the friendly familiarity. On the other hand, at $1/topping, I could get a 7-8 topping version for the same price as one of the chi-chi variety. For the record, eating the cold leftover slices was pretty good.