Lorenzo's Pizzeria

40 Adeline St. between Rochester and Preston - 657-2269
Date of order: June 16th, 2004 at 8:10 PM
Arrived: 8:45 PM
Cost: $26.40 + tip

   Many years ago, I learned of Lorenzo’s Pizza from a friend of mine who used to live down my street. My friend moved and Lorenzo’s opened a second store, rendering their easy-to-memorize number of 737-3737 obsolete in my ordering region, but the spirit of those pizzas remains, thanks in part to the fact that the second store still makes the same pizza.

   Fast-forward a few years to a Wednesday night. One of our friends had his biweekly summer bike race and, as per usual, we went with him to cheer him on. This time, we found out that the course was to go to the top of the hill. We decided that it would be fun to cheer him on at the peak. This discussion eventually led to me being dared to, and being offered a reward of $2 for, running up about a third of the mountain. Never one to turn down a doable challenge, I accepted. The sprint up the mountain was essentially two stages. The first part was a sprint through waist-high grass and plants that happened to be concealing a swampy muddy bog. I powered through it, getting wet and dirty in the process. Once through that muck, the real climb began. Again it was a sprint through waist-high grass and plants, only this time, they were rooted in loose rocks and dirt. Stumbling, fighting, all-out running to the best of my abilities, I made it up to the orange marker that we had designated as the finish line. Exhausted and asthmatic, I was in a state of weakness for the rest of the night. Similarly exhausted was my friend who actually had to race that night. At the end of it all, a pizza would be the reward.

   We ordered a large plain and a large pepperoni/green pepper/onion because there were four of us. The total came to $26.40 + tip, a fair price. We (your faithful Pizza Ottawa reviewers) ate the plain pie, while the other pizza was eaten by everyone else. After getting the other number from 737-3737, the order was made and 40 minutes later, we had our two pizzas. With ample amounts of cheese, slightly burnt crusts (my favourite), and the glisten of grease, the pizza looked tantalizing. They say never to judge a book by its cover, but this pizza lived up to its looks and surpassed those of its plain white box. The cheese was thick yet not stringy and surprisingly, the slices came apart without the need of a utensil, despite the appearance that it would. The book outdid its cover there. The cheese was very good and the crust was also up to par. It was crunchier than most we had sampled thus far, and it was a little too crunchy for one of our reviewer’s tastes. All (slightly) negative feelings towards the crust that the reviewer had were erased when he ate the slightly burnt air bubble crust. He said that it was probably the single best tasting thing he had eaten up to this point since starting the reviews. With something as good as that, it’s hard to have everything live up to it, and not surprisingly, the sauce fell short. The sauce was kind of thin (runny) and we, as well as our friends, agreed that it was a little too strong spice-wise. It was well distributed over the whole pizza, though. There was not a lot of grease but it was still greasy enough for our tastes.

   Lorenzo’s Pizza failed to disappoint the veteran and impressed the uninitiated. They provided a very solid pizza that was well rounded and delivered on almost every level.

Ratings:

Crust: 8.5 out of 10
Sauce: 7 out of 10
Cheese: 9 out of 10
Grease: 8 out of 10
Presentation: 8 out of 10

Overall Rating: 8.1 out of 10

Posted by Jim at July 13, 2004 12:14 PM