Pizza Nerds

A new spot popped up at some point this spring or summer on Uber Eats, and word has it the Pizza Nerds make some pretty good pizza. Pizza Nerds is also known as City Goose - my guess is that the latter is what their storefront is called while Pizza Nerds is what they go by on Uber, but don't quote me on that. After a way-too-long bike ride in the pouring rain I needed something to motivate me to make it home, so I committed to ordering pizza from the Nerds to keep me from passing out in a ditch. Just kidding, mostly.

After a long shower spent scrubbing the dirt and grease off my legs, we placed an order for two pizzas and a chili garlic dip. Like a toddler waiting for grandma to arrive, or an excited puppy, I eagerly watched for my Uber driver, Georges with an s to drop off my late lunch/early dinner. Georges didn't even bother ringing the doorbell so watching for his arrival saved me precious seconds!

Hawaiian pizza for the man

When it arrived the pizza was still warm, and I wasted no time digging in. First impressions: the pizza looked pretty good and smelled even better. Big, puffy, leopard-spotted crust. I got the jalapeno popper "secret pizza", which you may have to dig a little to find. Not too hard though, just check the drink section. 

Secret pizza

It had on it tomato sauce, "local cheese" (mozza or bocconcini maybe?), goats cheese, pickled jalapenos, and a sprinkle of panko bread crumbs. It also came with a little cup of tomato sauce for dipping. After hours on the bike dreaming of pizza, I shoved two slices down my gullet without even tasting them. I took a breather and ate the third one a little slower, actually thinking about how it tasted rather than just getting something in my belly. Here's what I thought:

This is some big-ass crust. Like a third of each slice is crust. That's too much crust, unless it's amazing, but I didn't find it to be. I think it's supposed to be sourdough crust but it tasted pretty standard and undersalted to me, so the tomato sauce dipper came in handy. Speaking of which, this tomato sauce tasted exactly like my nonna's recipe. Just straight tomatoes, nothing fancy. Sure, herbs are nice, but this style lets the tomatoes shine. The jalapenos seemed to be pickled in-house rather than out of a jar. At first I couldn't decide if they were pickled at all, since they had a better texture (less mush, more bite!) than the stuff from the jar. The star of this pizza was the goat cheese though. I swear, goat cheese makes everything better. I guess there's panko on this pizza? I didn't taste it nor did I find it lent texture.

The pizzas were a very reasonable $17 and $18, plus a dipping sauce for $2 extra. I will say, the chili garlic sauce was a bit strange. It seems to be chickpea-based, as we found a few whole ones within. The flavour was nice but the texture was just a little odd for me, kind of like chunky hummus. That doesn't mean I didn't eat the whole thing though...

All in all this was a solid pizza with good topping combinations, but could use a bit more topping coverage and some salt in the crust. Definitely a good foundation on which to build!

I've rated Pizza Nerds six and a half out of eight slices. 

Leave a comment with your opinion, or your thoughts on Pizza Nerds, and let me know where I should hit up next!

Ciao,
Pizza Lover