Danforth Pizza House - 3rd Hall of Fame Entry

You may have noticed that two of the Hall o' Fame certified restaurants on this blog are on the Danforth. In fact, these two restaurants, the one I'm discussing today and the beloved Square Boy are literally across the street from each other (and pretty much in the same block as the world's most awesome Starbucks - but that's another entry). I'm glad you brought this up because it gives me an opportunity to discuss the roots of Monday club which spawned the mind-blowing blog you are reading this very minute.

Location! Location! Location! Well, sort of. Let me take you back to the spring of 2005. I had just moved into a bachelorette apartment. A really, really tiny apartment. The good thing about it was that it was cheap and not a basement. Also bug-free. That's the extent of positive things I can say about it. It was on the wrong side of the Danforth - east of Pape and most people believe there is no point in making the culinary journey over to this dark side. They would be wrong! A less in-demand area makes for a different kind of entrepreneur. Less baggage, more adventurous. Sometimes simply crap. Sometimes genius. This part of the Danforth use to be an Italian enclave and a few businesses and some really awesome signs give evidence to this (the smattering of social clubs and gelaterias extends to Woodbine). I think it's gone but at one time a fabulous old sign was up east of Greenwood which was layers of hand-painted goodness and read Bari-Puglia. It was incredible, like a lost Rauchenberg!

Anyway, back to the postage stamp apartment. It was depressing. I had just finished a ridiculous non-relationship and here I was lonely, newly single and dying to entertain friends but with a completely unsuitable space. Mind you a bottle of red wine made people think it was fun to loll around on my bed or the floor, instead of you know, a couch. To ease the special despair that can only be found in a bedsit, my kind friends came round for dinner every Monday and hence Monday club was born.

Jesus! Get to the food already. It wasn't like I was going to do any cooking on that doll's stove which meant we had to find cheap local grub. We were in luck. Four dollars for a pizza at Maverick's. One dollar naan at Makkah's. This was ridiculous. And Danforth Pizza House. Good old Danforth Pizza House. With it's name hand-painted on the glass and a menu of well, pizza. This is back to basics, a real mom and pop gem. Or in this case, an older gentleman and occassionally his son. The pizza comes in 3 sizes (no party size madness) and has a standard ingredient list (goodbye argula!). There is pop in the fridge if you want to help yourself and it is all wrung up on a fabulously antiquated cash register.

The food is good. The mozzarella is nice and salty, the tomato sauce has depth of flavour. Don't ask for thin crust here or your mother is a whore! The atmosphere is like someone's rec room. It's almost like Sal's in Do The Right Thing minus the bigotry. A relic worth saving - the perfect antidote to Double-Double a few doors away.

YYYY.5
Danforth Pizza House 920 Danforth, at Jones, 416-463-4927