Crazy for Stratford's Pazzo

As featured in the December 15, 2011 edition of Dining Out, Waterloo Region Record.

Stratford transforms into a charming Victorian Christmas card this time of year. Downtown gleams with wreath-encircled lampposts, white lights, garland and red velvet bows. Add gently falling snow, and your heart can’t help but ignite with the magic of the season.

Holiday shopping Stratford’s unique storefronts provides a refreshing alternative to the mall, and a great excuse to eat in a city known for award-winning cuisine. Having lived there several years, I had the privilege of enjoying numerous fine meals prepared by meticulous Stratford chefs, many of whom unite with local farmers to bring fresh, honest, intrinsically good food to your table.

I feel like a kid in a candy store when deciding where to eat in Stratford. But after a recent downtown shopping excursion on a blustery December afternoon, one comfort food came to mind: pizza. Specifically, the best pizza I’ve ever had, found at Pazzo Pizzeria.

Articulating its splendor should come easy to a writer. However, I’m not sure there’s an English word to do it justice. Let’s just say that ‘pazzo’ is Italian for ‘crazy’ and you’d be crazy not to go.

My recent Pazzo reunion started with an old-time favourite: Caesar salad ($9), which is nothing shy of extraordinary. Its tangy, from-scratch dressing has the perfect combination of garlic, anchovy, lemon and Worcestershire. Fresh bite-sized romaine hearts layered amidst crispy pancetta, quality parmigiano-reggiano and airy herbed croutons. You haven’t truly appreciated a caesar salad until you’ve tried this version.

My husband’s antipasti plate ($12) was an assortment of marinated olives, artichoke hearts, pickled cauliflower and beets, roasted shallots, goat cheese, mozzarella, prosciutto, spicy salami, capocollo and arugula. Its fresh, local, quality ingredients bellowed, “Welcome to la dolce vita!” on a plate.

I forgot to mention the bread. Spongy focaccia with a delicately salted crust (prepared at Pazzo’s Bakery next door) accompanies every meal along with a shallow dunking dish of fruity olive oil and syrupy balsamic, demonstrating again that ‘quality’ and ‘simplicity’ forge a powerful union.

Onto the main event: the thin-crust pizza, available in plain or whole wheat. A variety of cleverly named renditions – the don corleone, soprano, Vatican and marco polo, to name a few – are all virtuoso in their own rights. My favourite, the medici ($10), is a spicy little number with hot peppers, kalamata olives, diced tomato, pesto and buffalo mozzarella. The smell alone has imprinted my memory for dentist chair visits when I need to go to my “happy place.” What’s more, it sings ‘O Sole Mio’ when dipped in Pazzo’s signature chili oil.

My husband ordered the ricotta gnocchi ($13) after our server said she could eat it all day and all night. Now we get it. Tender pillows of potato perfection, drenched in a rich Gorgonzola cream sauce balanced with colourful grilled radicchio: delightful.

There was no turning back now so tiramisu with espresso cream ($7.50) and a flourless chocolate square with double-chocolate sauce ($7.50) followed. The quality of the chocolate and coffee percolated through each bite.

The pizzeria’s ambiance– Stratford’s oldest cellar transformed into a sleek but warm urban resto-lounge – is molto cool; yet not so cool that you couldn’t bring your kids. Our two-year-old always enjoys dining at Pazzo.

While we’re visiting family in Stratford this Christmas, I think we might grab a meal from the new ‘Pazzo to go’ take-out menu. Perfect for those frosty late-December days when you feel like eating like kings in the comfort of your own pajamas.

Pazzo Ristorante, Bar and Pizzeria
70 Ontario St., Stratford
519-273-6666
www.pazzo.ca

Pizzeria Hours
Sunday to Thursday: 11:30 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Friday and Saturday: 11:30 a.m. – 11 p.m.
Closed Mondays

Wheelchair Accessibility
Through the back door off Erie Street. Ristorante accessible through Ontario Street.

Cuisine
Simple, fresh, quality Italian food made spectacularly. Locavores live here.

Reservations
Recommended, especially during the theatre season.

Atmosphere
Pazzo is divided into two restaurants: the downstairs pizzeria is a swanked-up cellar that’s hip, casual and warm. Pazzo’s street-level ristorante (only open during the theatre season, although occasionally for New Year’s Eve) provides a stunning and formal atmosphere with a more adventurous menu. Take-out meals can be picked up at the Pazzo Bakery next door.

Menu
Amazing salads, appetizers, pizza, pasta, gnocchi and a few gluten-free dinner mains such as risotto, beef short ribs and olive brine braised chicken.

Drinks
An extensive drink list dominates the menu. A variety of martinis, manhattans, sparkling wines and cocktails, local and imported beers on tap and in bottles, premium and bar-brand liquors, selection of whiskeys. Wines are available by the glass ($6-$10), by 500 ml-, 750 ml- or 1,000 ml-carafes or bottles ($38-$75). Dessert menu features Italian liqueurs, grappa, sherry, port and specialty coffees. A few fancy non-alcoholic options as well.

Service
Down-to-earth, knowledgeable, easy-going and attentive.

The bill
$82.49 (including tax, before tip) for two glasses of wine, and two orders of appetizers, entrees and desserts.

In a nutshell
Three and a half forks.

Soup-to-nuts dining at The Cellar in Elora

As featured in the December 1, 2011 edition of Dining Out, Waterloo Region Record.(photo credit: The Record)

A cellar conjures all sorts of images: a fruit cellar sparkling with homemade preserves, a root cellar amassing harvested vegetables, a storm cellar providing shelter during inclement weather, and my personal favourite, a wine cellar, aging row upon row of Domaine Romanée-Conti pinot noir. A girl can dream, can’t she?

And then there’s the cellar (read: basement) you’d find in an old fieldstone farmhouse: home to a mishmash of soup-to-nuts sundries and wares with the odd hidden gem. This is what you can expect to find at The Cellar Pub and Grill in Elora.

Tucked behind a Mill Street jeweller, The Cellar’s entrance is authenticated by rickety stairs descending to what appears to be a pub, with exposed beams, wine barrels, a flatscreen and bar. But round the corner, and you’ve entered a dining space adorned with espresso tables, oversized chairs and contemporary art amidst gilt-framed landscapes, silk flowers and cascading ivy. Step onto the deck and you’re transported again, this time to a stonewall patio framing Grand River views.

The eclecticism continues on the menu: Smoked pork Kesseler, pad thai, salmon Wellington, chicken curry, jumbo chicken wings, Cajun calamari and Italian sausage penne to name a few.

While part of me wanted to embrace this eclecticism that’s quintessentially Elora, the Type A in me wanted to focus! What was this place all about – what was it known for? And who better to ask than our server, whose friendliness and wit made us feel like regulars.

Trusting her suggestions, we started with steamed mussels ($11), which were fresh, tender and soaked in a spicy white-wine garlic sauce. We also shared the baked goats cheese ($10), pursed in flakey phyllo pastry and floating in a delicate raspberry ginger sauce. I’m sure it comes as no surprise that this app was heady goodness, I mean let’s face it: when sweet seduces tangy and then rolls around in a blanket of phyllo, nothing short of magic happens on the palate.

Next came the suggested mains, along with my unfortunate desire to stuff them back into the cellar.

My salmon Wellington ($19) was a disappointment, especially since I was on such a roll with phyllo. Unlike the appetizer, this pastry wasn’t cooked evenly, causing the outside to appear very brown while the inside felt like raw dough. The salmon itself tasted burnt to me, and the criss-cross grill marks were quite black in parts. The saving graces for this dish were the chunky, steamed vegetables, fluffy basmati and scrumptious dill sauce that I could’ve quite easily bathed in.

My husband’s AAA NY striploin ($24) was a mixed bag. While he appreciated its simple seasoning and size (no man-versus-beast Medieval Times portions here), he was visibly bummed when it arrived medium, not his requested medium-rare. My husband will eat anything (except creamed corn), but couldn’t understand why this was considered a house specialty.

Then came the desserts: chocolate brownie torte ($6.25) and sticky toffee pudding ($6), both hidden gems, although I say this in trust because I didn’t actually taste the sticky toffee pudding (my husband devoured it quicker than I could say ‘Werthers’). However, he did offer this review: “It had raisins. And cinnamon?” Proof of its delectability was clearly in the pudding.

Now I’m a girl who’s sweet on the underdog, so while I long to write about a rare and magnificent find you must check out immediately, I would be remiss if I didn’t warn you of the unpredictability that lies within The Cellar. Treasures – such as those mouthwatering appetizers – are there, you just need to know which shelf of the menu to search.


The Cellar Pub and Grill
13 Mill St. E., Elora
(519) 846-1333

Hours
Monday: 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Tuesday: closed
Wednesday and Thursday: 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.
Friday and Saturday: 11 a.m. – midnight
Sunday: 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.

Wheelchair Accessibility
Through the back patio doors.

Menu
Pub grub, barbecue, seafood, pasta, elegant-sounding entrees – a true mixed bag. Ignore the website’s drool-inducing gourmet pizza pics: pizza isn’t on the menu (at least not while I was there).

Reservations
The website recommends it. We made reservations but only two other parties dined while we were there one early Thursday evening in November, along with a few bar patrons.

Atmosphere
An exercise in juxtapositions. Go ahead and wear your jeans.

Drinks
Draft and bottled beers, selection of wines, cocktails, frozen drinks and teetotaler options.

Service
Friendly, attentive, anticipating your next need.

The bill
No pub change. $105.37 (including tax, before tip) for two glasses of wine, two appetizers, two entrees and two desserts.

In a nutshell
Two forks.