Giulia

I can’t remember the last time I had a good Neapolitan pizza in Ottawa. I haven’t tried all of them so I won’t say it doesn’t exist, but it is hard to find. It is hands down my favourite style of pizza when done right. It’s light, fresh, and minimalist. You won’t find half-inch globs of cheese with a sugary sweet sauce and a crust that makes your jaw ache. Nah. Neapolitan is delicate. Less is more. A dozen dabs of cheese, minimal toppings, but maximum flavour. I just love it.

Recently I came across Giulia Pizza on Instagram. It seems they popped up sometime early this summer and I totally missed it. This is a sister restaurant to El Camino, Datsun, Shelby Burger, and Riviera so I figured they know how to make pizza. I was enticed on a warm day by their happy hour special: two pizzas and a pitcher of sangria for $40. I summoned some friends to soak up the last of the summer sun on their patio just off Elgin.

For this happy hour special, you had the choice of two pizzas, so naturally we got one of each. The first was a classic Margherita with tomato sauce, basil, fior di latte, and mozzarella. The other was the Half Nelson, a sauce-less white pizza with fontina, fior di latte, pecorino, and rosemary. I made sure to order Calabrian chilis and a dill dipping sauce to go along.

I started with the Margherita and it was love at first bite. There was plenty of simple tomato sauce with some lightly browned blobs of cheese floating throughout. The flavour was everything I wanted it to be - salty, creamy, tangy, and delicious. There was the perfect amount of basil too, sometimes I find places skimp on it. The best part of this pie was the spot-on crust. It was beautifully soft, with a bit of chew and no crunch. The crust on the marg had more leoparding than the white pie, which meant some light crisp here and there. 

The white pie was also tasty: cheesy but not in an excessive way. While I did enjoy it and would definitely eat it again, I found out that rosemary on pizza is not my favourite. But it worked out fine as my husband preferred this one. Although neither pizza needs it, I highly recommend adding the calabrian chilis and dunking your crusts in dill ranch. 

This happy hour special was a great deal at $40 for two pizzas and a pitcher. These pizzas were both $20, the least expensive on the menu, the others ranging up to $26. It’s pricier compared to some other places in town. The marg at Anthony’s is $14, Heartbreakers’ is $15, Farinella’s is $15.50, and Roberto’s is $17. When you want to treat yourself, drop the $20 for this pizza and you won’t be disappointed. It’s not the best deal in town but it is one of the best pizzas in town.

                                       I’ve rated Giulia seven out of eight slices. 

What do you think? Leave a comment with your thoughts or ideas for my next spot.