I’m just a girl looking for a hot cheesy kinda love – correction a hot cheesy pizza! If you knew me during my very brief stint on Tinder, in my opinion, the reason modern romance is dead – but we can save that conversation for another time, you’ll know that this was the only line I ever had on my profile. Screw introducing myself. I simply put it all out there and let any potential suitors know that my love for cheese and warm carbs would always be priority number 1. Let me tell you, the raunchy, hilarious openers I received from it were priceless. I simply couldn’t make some of them up even if I tried. Even though I eventually deleted the app and returned to the real world to spark a storybook romance, I still have some of the best lines recorded in my little black book for those days when I could use a small ego boost and a chuckle – they all got an A+ for trying at least!
Nonetheless, dating life aside, my love for a delicious slice of za has continued on.
What is my ideal slice of pizza you ask? It’s one of two options. It’s either a thick greasy slice of Hawaiian from CPU dripping in cheese, parmesan and ranch dressing or a thin crust delicacy from one of Calgary’s many specialty pizza outlets. For the sake of my overall desire and attempts at being healthy, I try and choose the latter more often than not.
Which brings me to why I am so excited to be writing this article in the first place! One of my very favourite spots to grab a glass of wine and treat my taste buds to a new gourmet pizza flavour, Famoso on 4th just finished renovating their space, and let me tell you, it was well worth the wait!
Reopened earlier this month, I finally had the chance to sneak down to Mission and check out their upgraded digs. Since I got my love for hot cheesy pizza from my momma, I brought her along for a little mid-week mother-daughter date!
Upon entering the restaurant, we were greeted by a room filled with an abundance of natural light and a rustic wooden center bar that drew you into the space. The outskirts of the room was lined with cozy booths against the windows and the center was filled with high tops and plush seating around the bar. There are really no bad seats to be had in the restaurant, which let’s be honest, is a rarity. My favourite part of the décor was the party lights that were strung above the seats in the main restaurant area and the rustic white and black brick mural that adorned the back wall by the stairs that lead to another semi-private dinning area. Altogether the vintage, rustic elements, mixed with the industrial iron accents and homey touches gave the space an ambiance of a traditional pizzeria straight out of Italy mixed with a modern social house.
My mum and I choose to sit in one of the booths along the windows, because I have a serious attraction to natural lighting and both of us being under 5’4 never usually enjoy having to sit in a high top – we can be a tad extra, I will admit.
After perusing the menu for a while, I realized they had added quite a few items since the last time I had been in. I love trying new things so I was pretty excited by this, but when it came down to choosing it was a challenging decision, as always. With a recommendation from our lovely server, I landed on the Roasted Cauliflower, which was a seasonal za featuring roasted seasoned cauliflower, green olives, toasted almonds and gorgonzola, topped with honey and house-made chili oil – I’m literally still dreaming of this pizza.
My mum got one of their classic staples, which is her favourite, the Pepperoni and Roasted Mushrooms. Both of us made our meals into lunch combos, which just means you get a smaller 7” pizza with a side soup or salad. I tried their house Napoli salad, which was light and the perfect compliment to a heavier pizza and my mum tried the Tomato Bisque which she said was creamy and made for a delicious upper scale take on traditional comfort food.
The best part, or maybe for lack of a better word, the most astonishing part was how quickly our meals came after we ordered. One of the new additions to the restaurant is a signature tiled bell-shaped oven that they imported from Italy and can cook the pizzas in 90 seconds flat. I don’t even know how its possible but our food was at our table within a mere 10 minutes of us ordering, a blissful surprise as neither of us had really eaten much before this, so the quicker the less likely the hangry is to appear. As I said, like mother like daughter.
Filled to the brim and well caffeinated, we proceeded to catch up in the restaurant and then do a little shopping in Mission, which is one of my favourite areas to explore in the city.
From the location to the bright décor to the authentic Italian pizza, this location is by far my favourite in the city. Probably because it feels as though you have been transported into a pizza joint in the heart of Italy, which makes my adventurous soul so happy! It also reminds me that it’s been far too long since I paid that country a proper visit, so I will definitely be adding that to my long list of flight alerts.
To celebrate the reopening of their 4th street location I have partnered with Famoso to give away a $100 gift card so you can treat your partner, friend, parent or even yourself (no judgement here, I take myself for pizza all the time) to a gourmet pizza experience in their fresh new space. Head on over to my Instagram for more details and for a chance to enter!
