Pizzeria Motola

Pizzeria Motola does not sell pizza by the slice. The pies come out of an imported stone oven whole and Neapolitan — San Marzano tomatoes, fior di latte, fresh basil, a hand-stretched crust — and they are built for a table working through a full meal, not a quick stop at a counter. The menu around them keeps drifting south toward Puglia, where chef Giuliano Motola grew up: antipasti first, a run of lunch pucce, Italian drinks, house desserts. Set on Grand Avenue South in Galt's Gaslight District, it is a chef's pizzeria that carries his own surname over the door.

The Margherita is the tell. With only San Marzano, fior di latte, basil, and olive oil on top, it leaves the crust and the oven nowhere to hide, which is the point. From there the pizze widen out: a Diavola of hot soppressata finished with a drizzle of honey; a Prosciutto, Rucola e Grana under shaved Grana Padano and aged balsamic; a Rapini e Salsiccia carrying rapini pesto, mild Italian sausage, and chilli. Lunch brings the pucce, baked half-moon pizza-bread sandwiches — Puccia Pistacchio with mortadella, burrata, and crushed pistachios; a Classico with prosciutto di Parma and burrata — served only until four. The antipasti are where the Ontario-Italy overlap shows most plainly: Burrata e Pesca pairs weekly-imported Puglian burrata with wood-fired caramelized local peaches, basil, and a Modena balsamic glaze, while Polpette della Nonna sends out three house-made meatballs in San Marzano sauce with focaccia to finish it. Even the salads come off the same oven — the Funghi tosses wood-fired oyster mushrooms with crisp breadcrumbs, Parmigiano, and garlic over arugula.