Pizz@ïoli?

 Un court billet en forme de questionnaire et d'appel à tous: je bloguais le mois dernier sur la fin de Pizza Royale à Chicoutimi. Depuis 2013, il semblerait qu'une autre pizzeria ait pignon sur rue à la même adresse: Pizzaïoli. Ou Pizz@ïoli, avec un a commercial, à en croire leur logo. Quelqu'un y a déjà été? Si oui, c'est comment?

Pizza Royale (correction)

 J'ai blogué vendredi dernier sur Pizza Royale, la pizzeria préférée de mon enfance à Chicoutimi. Mon frère PJ a fait des recherches et m'a confirmé qu'elle n'existe plus à Chicoutimi, bien qu'il y a encore des franchises à Québec. Oups. Et sa fermeture date d'au moins une quinzaine d'années. Re-oups. Elle a été remplacée par une autre pizzeria, sur laquelle je bloguerai peut-être. Dans tous les cas, si vous connaissez Pizza Royale et avez une idée de ce qui a pu la faire fermer à Chicoutimi, faites-le moi savoir dans les commentaires.

Pizza Royale

 Quelqu'un ici connaît-il ou se souvient-il de Pizza Royale? C'était une pizzeria de Chicoutimi qui a aussi des succursales dans la ville de Québec. Enfant, c'était peut-être ma pizzeria préférée, du moins à Chicoutimi. Ils faisaient une pizza bien riche, bien lourde, bien calorique et elle a eu un temps la réputation d'être la meilleure de Chicoutimi. Maintenant, la pizza s'est gentrifiée, mais pas celle de Pizza Royale: j'ai visité leur site web et le menu du restaurant semble figé dans le temps. Je suis étonné que ça ait survécu aux époques et aux modes. Mais ce n'est pasune mauvaise nouvelle.

La pizza de l'Halloween

 Ma femme a fait une pizza pour petit loup,tirée d'une recette d'Hello Fresh. C'est une pizza de l'Halloween, avec des olives pour faire des araignées. Elles ont l'air vraies en plus. Petit détour nostalgique: la pizza était ce qu'on mangeait, mes frères et moi, avant de passer l'Halloween. Et c'est sans doute de la pizza que l'on mangera ce soir.

Pizzédélic

Lors de notre dernier séjour à Montréal, nous avons fait un petit détour nostalgique chez Pizzédélic sur l'Avenue Mont-Royal. Je suis étonné que ça existe encore, tellement les choses ont changé sur le Plateau, surtout côté bouffe. Une pizzéria sans prétention, ça m'étonne qu'elle ait survécu (touchons du bois). Les pizzas carrées ont fasciné petit loup, justement parce qu'elles sont carrées. C'est un design d'une époque révolue. D'ailleurs, je me trompe ou il n'y a plus guère Pizzédélic qui fasse encore des pizzas carrées? Enfin, j'avais l'impression d'être le temps d'un repas dans les années 90, lorsque je commençais à apprivoiser Montréal.

Burger Pizza?

Friday last week, Wolfie and I had a boy's night in, his mummy having decided to go on a meal out with friends. When it happens, we make it a special night: I order pizza and we stuff ourselves watching telly. It's a sort of family tradition we started last year. Well, a tradition, I say this and it only happened twice so far, but we might do it more often. So Wolfie always goes for pepperoni, it's his go-to pizza, but I try to be adventurous for mine. So last week, I ordered from Domino's and got myself a Cheeseburger Pizza. It has mince meat, pickles and burger sauce. Does it taste weird? Yes it does. Is it wrong, maybe even blasphemous and philistine, to mix two fast food classics into one? Probably. All the same, I really enjoyed it.

Whatever happened to the Veneziana?

Tonight, we went to Pizza Express for dinner, to meet my wife's friend who wanted to introduce her new fiancé to us. I always loved Pizza Express: the food may not be fancy, but the quality is always reliable. But recently, there is something that has been bothering me: the Veneziana, my go-to pizza when i go there, is no longer on the menu. The Veneziana has everything I love in a pizza: capers, olives, and well, that's it. They also give a discretionary 25p to the Venice in Peril fund for every Veneziana sold. Well, they still do, except for every mushroom pizza sold, because they don't sell Veneziana anymore.  My question is why? Why is it no longer on the menu? Because I don't care about mushroom pizza. I mean I really don't. And I am all for saving Venice, mind you, but I will donate to the charity directly rather than eat a mushroom pizza. In the end, the Veneziana allowed me to make a good deed while enjoying a dinner out. Since it is gone, I don't find the menu of Pizza Express so appealing anymore.

Dragon Dojo and City Pizza

Last Christmas, Wolfie got quite a few presents, including lots and lots of Legos. His favourite might be a Lego City Town Center set, which was huge. I'm of two minds about Lego: I had lots of fond memories playing with them and building things, but now that I am an adult, I often find them messy. And painful, as the pieces seem attracted to the floor beneath my feet. But there is one part of Lego City which I love: it's a dojo set above a pizza place. The dojo is called Dragon Dojo and, accoring to the box, is owned by a sensei named Madison. The pizza place is called City Pizza and I have no idea who the owner is. But anyway, we spent ages building this particular set, Wolfie and I, which proved quite challenging. There were so many small pieces and so many details to get right, including plants on the roof (Madison has a garden I believe). But the result is, well, pretty impressive. Of course, the set didn't held for very long and it is now shattered. But Wolfie has decided that he wants to rebuild it this weekend. I'm not sure why I love Dragon Dojo and City Pizza so much. Maybe because it channels old memories, watching cheap martial art action movies and eating cheap greasy pizza back in the 80s. This looks like a childhood's dream building.

La bière de la maison

Des fois, dans les restaurants, on offre le vin de la maison. À Pizza Express, on offre la bière de la maison, brassée exclusivement par Meantime Brewery. Bière un peu blonde à mon goût, mais qui se prend fort bien avec une pizza (ben, comme de raison). Je n'ai pas vu ça souvent ailleurs, des bières de la maison. Selon mes souvenirs, Pizzédélic à Montréal en avait une, mais ça date des années 90, je ne sais pas s'ils en ont encore une. Dans tous les cas, j'aime bien l'idée d'une bière de la maison.

Veneziana Pizza

Last week for my wife's birthday, we went to Pizza Express. It is a sort of almost acidental tradition for her birthday: we often end up there, even when we don't plan it. But Pizza Express is always reliable: it serves good food at decent price, Wolfie is sure to enjoy it and we are never disappointed in the meal. It is especially true for me, as I always go for the Veneziana, so I know exactly what I am going to have. It has black olives, capers, red onions and 25p is given to the Venice In Peril fund. So I feel like I do my good deed of the day every time I go there and order it. And my wife is happy because it means that I eat vegetarian.

Pizza maison

Non, non, je n'ai pas fait cette pizza. Ni ma femme, même si ces temps-ci, elle cuisine beaucoup et qu'elle a elle même fait de la pizza il y a une semaine environ. La pizza que vous voyez sur cette photo a été faite par mes parents et ma mère m'a envoyé la photo. Je devrais parfois leur rendre la pareille, pour qu'ils sachent qu'on fait la cuisine ici aussi et qu'on ne mange pas que des affaires surgelées et des trucs tout faits. Mais enfin bref, rien que pour le plaisir d'avoir un nouveau billet de food porn, j'ai décidé de partager la photo ici.

La pizza de la momie

Que serait l'Halloween sans de la bouffe pour se mettre dans l'esprit de la fête? Outre les desserts de toutes sortes, on peut faire un repas du soir ou un lunch pour l'Halloween. La pizza a été durant des années le met du 31 pour mes frères et moi, avant d'aller passer l'Halloween. J'ai trouvé dans un magazine acheté il y a cinq ans cette recette de pizza à l'apparence de momie: on utilise des tranches de pain pour la base, des olives pour les yeux et des tranches de fromage pour les bandages. Je ne sais pas si c'est ce qu'on mangera le 31, mais j'en fais une fois durant le mois d'octobre afin de célébrer.

Pizza maison

Non, non, ce n'est pas moi qui ai fait ça. C'est mon père, pour mon frère Andrew et sa blonde. Ou alors c'est Andrew lui même, je ne suis pas certain. Toujours est-il que je regarde ça et je me dis que ma famille n'a pas grand-chose à envier aux Italiens, en ce qui concerne la pizza faite maison.

Pizza Express, troubles and tribulations

I haven't been to Pizza Express since the birthday of my son. This is where we went for his birthday meal. We don't go there, yet we all love it. It's nothing outstanding, but it is a reliable chain and we always eat well. Recently, Pizza Express has been on the news and on my mind for all the wrong reasons. Firstly, it got into financial trouble. When a pizza chain is in trouble, it is never a good sign. Then, I learned that Venice is literally drowning. That looks like it is unrelated, but you see, when I go to Pizza Express, I almost always have a Veneziana. Because it is delicious and has everything I love in a pizza (see the picture) and because it gives 25p of  its price to Venice in Peril. And now I feel guilty that I have not eaten there more often, or visited Venice, for that matter. All these 25p they gave to a worthy cause, maybe for nothing. And then, the worst happened: Prince Andrew said that he was in the Pizza Express in Woking when he allegedly sexually assaulted a teenager. I know this stupid, arrogant, sinister aristocrat has a lot more grievous things to answer for, but tarnishing an honourable restaurant chain by using it as an alibi (and a stupid one at that) was downright crass. So I feel very bad for Pizza Express. I don't think they deserve all this.

Pizza sur le grill

Mon père a fait des pizzas cette semaine, sur le "big green egg". Je n'ai jamais vu de pizza faite sur le grill, mais ça a l'air réussi. Et ça me rend envieux, rien que de penser aux pizzas que l'on mange ici, toutes surgelées ou achetées dans els commerces. Ça fait un bout de temps qu'on n'en a pas faite une à partir de rien.

Indian pizza?

This week at work, the girls downstairs (the employees on ground floor are all female, so we call them "the girls downstairs") decided to have pizza. I still have no idea what was the special occasion. I generally don't have special treats unless it's Friday. I had pizza from a local cheap pizza joint. There were not many that inspired me in the menu, so I chose a "tandoori pizza". In other words, this is what pizza would be if Indians had invented the dish. Basically, pizza with chicken and Indian spices. It also had hot pepper and onions. It was spicy. I felt my belly ache all afternoon. Thankfully I only chose a medium size pizza and asked for no side dishes. I enjoy a bit of proper junk food from time to time and this certainly was the proper stuff (see picture), but this was a bit much for me. And I have never been all that keen on fusion cuisine.

Siciliana pizza

When I had my old job, in the last few months actually, my colleagues and I had a special pizza lunch once, I can't remember exactly why, someone's birthday or something. We ordered pizza from a restaurant owned by the family of a colleague of Italian origins. As a jest, I sent the menu to my wife and asked her to guess which pizza I would choose. Her answer: "You had the Siciliana. There are 24 pizzas so tell me I know you well! " she was right of course. What gave away the answer: the olives, the capers and anchovies. All things I love, especially in Italian dishes. Now they have 35 different ones on their menu, but she would have found the right one all the same. Anyway, her answer deserves to be a great unknown line. She does know me well.

Time for a Veneziana pizza

My wife had a great idea about tonight: we should go to Pizza Express for dinner. She has some vouchers that we need to redeem there and tonight is as great a time as any. As I am a man of habit, I will order a Veneziana pizza. Not only because it is delicious, with everything I love in a pizza: capers, olives, onions and some other stuff that makes this one so unique, but also because 25p is given to the Venice In Peril fund every time I have one. Or you, or anyone. So yes, I am plugging it shamelessly in this blog. I did plug it before in 2013, but it is good to remind people about this, because the city is indeed in peril and I would like to visit it before it drowns. But charity notwithstanding we have not been to Pizza Express in a long while and I am in the mood for a Veneziana.

Maybe we should...

I love many characters from Peanuts, but one I have grown a particular soft spot for since I am an adult is Peppermint Patty. And this came on my Facebook feed recently. I don't know from which strip it is from, although I think she is at school and trying to dodge exam or work or something, but I thought it reflects the state of mind of many these days, including me. Maybe we should forget IT, whatever IT is, and just send out for a pizza. Good on you Patty.

The Veneziana of Pizza Express

Remember when, a long while ago, I had decided to start a new tradition here on Vraie Fiction, of plugging a menu or a meal from a restaurant or a pub every Friday or Saturday (or even Sunday sometimes)? Last time I did it was on August 30th. So it is a long, long lost tradition, or a long interrupted one. But I am starting it again. I might not be very original, as tonight I am plugging a pizza from a British pizza chain, Pizza Express. Not exactly the Crown in Cookham from my first post. That said, I have found my pizza, in fact my favorite pizza in the UK and the one I eat pretty much every time I go to Pizza Express. And it is not only for the taste, it is for what it does. The pizza is called the Veneziana and you can see a picture of it on the left.

So why do I love it so much? Well, there is of course the taste: olives and capers are always a big winner for me, and the Veneziana has plenty of black olives and capers. it also has red onions a plenty and sultanas, which gives a bit of distinctive sweetness to the savoury whole. I'd love it no matter what would come next, but something comes next: when I order it, I also give money to charity. Because every time you do, a discretionary 25p goes to the Venice in Peril Fund. I have never seen Venice, but I do want to see it, preferably before it drowns. If we could avoid letting drown, I would be even happier. And I know it is very modest a contribution, but I love to contribute to it all the same, 25p at a time. According to Wikipedia, the Veneziana was introduced to the menu in 1977. I have only discovered Pizza Express a few years ago, but I have been eating Veneziana ever since, pretty much every time I go there. My way of connecting to Italian culture.