Pizza Libretto: Pizza By The Book

I'm old enough to admit I was there when pizza was first introduced in Manila.

They called it a pie but it wasn't a dessert.

They said it was a meal, but it had no rice, so people didn't think it was filling enough.

It was made out of flour and had cheese and salami but it was not a sandwich.

People thought it was fast food. But it wasn't fast enough.

Since then, I've had the pleasure of enjoying pizza in different incarnations beyond the Shakey's and Pizza Hut experience. And rather than focusing on what pizza is not, I've come face to face with what pizza should be.

In Naples, the reputed birthplace of pizza, purists consider only two kinds of pizza to be authentic: Pizza Margherita and Pizza Marinara. There are very specific rules that dictate what should go into a Pizza Margherita: virgin olive oil, tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and fresh basil. It should be kneaded by hand and baked in a wood-fired oven. And the crust is saggy, not firm nor crisp like the popular thin crust that I've come to like.

Needless to say, I enjoyed Neapolitan pizza immensely, but that's not really conclusive. Like the lady told me at the wine store in Toronto, when I asked for a particular cabernet that we enjoyed on the cruise, "Honey, everything tastes good on a cruise."

So when my buddy told me about a pizza place with a wood-fired oven that was just opened by a Neapolitan family here in Toronto, I expected only the best. It's called Pizzeria Libretto and it's on the west end of Toronto, on the fringes of Little Italy and Little Portugal.

I went there with my cousin and her family and Pizzeria Libretto was exactly the way my buddy described: a little neighborhood restaurant that was packed with customers. Fortunately, we only waited 20 minutes and were seated near the open kitchen where we could see everything prepared.

We chose a wine from the list that was described as 'pizza friendly' and proved later on to be so. It was a merlot from the Primitivo winery that was medium-bodied with a light bouquet and a hint of blueberries.

For appetizers, we ordered calamari, an arugula and formaggi salad, plus a small order of meatballs for my godson. There were three large meatballs and my godson got to enjoy only one of them. The rest were gobbled up by us grown-ups because they turned out to be incredibly good.

Finally, when the pizzas arrived, I have to say they were no foodstylist's dream. They were asymmetric, charred at the edges, and true to Neapolitan tradition, had a saggy crust. But after one bite, I felt transported back to Naples. All that was missing was a view of the sea and the topless sunbathers on the beach.

(Was pizza really invented in Naples, or does it have a 3,000 year old background from the Middle East? On my next blog: East meets West in the Great White North)

8 New Things I Discovered in Toronto

After 8 years of living here, I thought that I'd pretty much 'been there and done that' as far as Toronto is concerned. When two of my closest friends said they were coming over, I felt challenged to present them a view of Toronto that would rival the other cities they'd already seen: Paris, Prague, Shanghai, Hong Kong, etc. But anything that invites comparison was doomed to fail. Our CN Tower versus the Eiffel Tower? Whoever heard of "CN" outside Canada?

The trick, I discovered, was to let them be my guide. Who was I to decide what would be interesting to them? I figured out that my role was to facilitate their own process of discovery. And here are eight things we discovered together.

1. One can get Filipino-style doughnuts in Toronto. My friend inspected 3 bakeries in Montreal and 3 bakeries in Toronto, hoping to find a 'pianono'. Instead, he found Filipino-style doughnuts at Hongkong Island Bakery on Spadina. It was a new bakery I hadn't been to myself and it was amazing to find how much they had available, even European style pastries and cakes, all at reasonable prices.
   
2. Horse racing here is a far cry from what I remember back home. I used to go to San Lazaro racetrack in Manila with my dad when I was a kid and all I could remember was the awful smells and guys who were looking for the 'next big win'. There was a lot of greed and desperation in the air. Here in Toronto, the crowd consists of retirees and well-dressed young couples. Woodbine Race Track has indoor seating for spectators surrounded by tv monitors, some of which show other races going on in North America. They serve pizza and fried chicken at the food court and one can even go down to trackside and talk to the trainers while they groom the horses. You don't need to bet to enjoy the atmosphere, but if you want to get in the game, $12 can last all racing day.
3. Our churches are architectural treasures. None of them have suffered from 'revisions' inflicted by parish priests with architectural pretensions. A lot of them feature English-style stonework. Aside from praying and hearing mass, my friends took lots of pictures at the Notre Dame de Montreal, Notre Dame of Otttawa, St. Joseph's Basilica as well as our very own Our Lady of Fatima church in East York. We even found a quaint German church tucked away downtown. And those are only the Catholic churches.
4. It's possible to take a 3-hour nature walk minutes from downtown toronto. Always a popular summer destination for Torontonians, Toronto Islands are calmer in the Fall with fewer picnic crowds. Gibraltar Point was recently given a natural-looking 'facelift and it's nice to sit there on a couple of boulders and watch the geese and squirrels go about their business.
5. 5. One can get front row at a free concert. Claimed to be Toronto's favorite musical, The Sound of Music cast performed highlights from the show at Nathan Phillips square. Elicia Mac Kenzie who plays Maria was the people's choice in the reality show "How do you solve a problem like Maria?". Her beautiful soprano voice complements her wholesome good looks and makes comparisons to Julie Andrews totally unnecessary. Elicia is a star in her own right.
6. Toronto is not Florence, but there is a strong desire to bring art closer to the people. Conceived as a copycat of Paris' own Nuit Blanche, Toronto's Nuit Blanche is so popular that the streetcars remained crammed late into the evening. This year's exhibits consisted of 135 art installations all over the city, including a giant 4-letter word generator at City Hall. Too bad it took almost an hour to form one word, but it could have been worse.
   
7. Cold, freshly brewed beer actually tastes the best. I learned this after we toured the Steamwhistle Brewery and got free samplings. That's the only time I found out that Steamwhistle was established only a year before I arrived in Toronto. I always thought it was older because they use a vintage-looking bottle.
8. On a warm sunny day, the Toronto Harbour Front actually feels like a slice of Italy.There are boats on the dock, music, cafes and a view of the water. And yes, crowds of people speaking different European languages.

Suki

On my first year of living in Toronto, I was exploring my new neighborhood when I came across Banahaw Food Mart. Before I had even bought anything, the owner started to make a connection. “Are you a new arrival? Have you found a job yet?”, asked Mrs. Palma. She then scribbled a phone number on a slip of paper and told me to call a person who was looking for people to hire.

I learned then that a Filipino store here is not just a place to buy merchandise. It's a social hub where Filipinos connect and help each other. Since then, Banahaw has been my 'suki'.

For Filipinos, the 'suki' is a very important relationship. It applies both to the regular customer and the regular vendor. To be a 'suki' is to be in a position of trust. It means that the customer expects that he or she will get the best quality at a fair price. And the 'suki' vendor knows that he or she can count on the customer for regular patronage.

Just today, I went to see the new owner, Leila, to buy some food. There was a Filipino lady there looking for a babysitter. Leila thinks she can help.

Through Banahaw, one can send door to door remittances to the Philippines, buy airline and concert tickets, order party trays of pansit and lumpiang shanghai, as well as get your daily dose of Filpino favorites like puto, bibingka, chicharon and sapin-sapin. There's always adobo, bistek, tilapia, pinakbet and menudo on the menu. You can even order a subscription to TFC and get Filipino TV programs or read fresh chismis in the complimentary tabloid.

I know I don't give Leila that much business. But the importance we give to each other is huge. They celebrated their third year of business recently and had a 'customer appreciation day.' I arrived after a long day at work just to get some dinner. But I didn't have to spend a cent. Leila had lechon, pansit, a cake and a drink just waiting for me.

Only a 'suki' can give you that kind of treatment. And it's priceless.

The Sultan of Samosas

It's amazing how food can transport you to a specific time and place in your life.

When I bit into a samosa from the Sultan of Samosas on O'Connor drive in Toronto, my mind instantly travelled to Manama, Bahrain in 1986. Our office was staffed mostly by British and Indians and was located near a soukh.

After lunch, we had a “teaboy” serve us coffee and tea. Our “teaboy” (most recently referred to in Slumdog Millionaire as a chaiwallah) was actually a man named Harry Das whose only job was to bring us coffee. Occasionally, Paul Ross the art director would come around to collect change and put it into a collective pot. Harry Das would then run to the soukh and buy a bagful of samosas.

At first, I didn't know what to make of samosas . Its skin texture reminded me of chinese spring rolls and its triangular shape brought to mind a Philippine firecracker called “trianggulo”. Inside that little treat was an explosion of flavors only possible with South Asian cooking. Wrapped inside a samosa could be a variety of fillings: curried vegetables, spicy beef, spinach and cheese, lentils, etc. And like peanuts, there's no such thing as eating just one samosa. You'll be tempted to eat until your mouth can't stand the heat anymore.

For sure, samosas are available everywhere in Toronto, even at coffee chains. But only the Sultan of Samosas makes them the way I remember and love: compactly wrapped, freshly cooked, crunchy, packed with flavor. They even give you free dips with a choice of tamarind or yogurt flavor.

The Sultan of Samosas has been recognized as Toronto's Best in samosas, a reputation so richly deserved.

Things I love about Toronto: #1

You could encounter a celebrity. The peak season for celeb hunting is September, during the Toronto International Film Festival. However, since Hollywood films are shot here often, movie stars could be in town anytime of year.

Favorite story: a homeless man approached Colin Farell hoping for a handout of maybe ten bucks. Instead, Colin brought him to a clothing store and got him proper clothes.. And then he went to the bank machine and gave the man enough money to rent a room. Not quite Cinderella, the man named “Stress” is trying to turn his life around.

Another story: a co-worker was late because she went to a Goodwill near her house where Natalie Portman was shooting a scene. “Tiny little thing”, she said.

One more: a friend of mine was playing pool one night. A man came up and offered to join the game. After a while, he looked at the guy and said, “hey, aren't you James Woods?

The Carlton: So many good movies, so little time!

Toronto's International Film Festival is always in September and is a favorite summer event. It's a little less glitzy than Cannes, a little more business-oriented, but ever so popular with the film-loving crowd.

Perhaps one reason the TIFF is successful is because the film audience in Toronto does not come and go with the festival. There is a discerning audience here, big enough to support a few cinema houses that feature award-winning, non-mainstream films year-round. One of them is The Carlton cinemas.

The Carlton is where I caught a showing of Magnifico, in Tagalog with English subtitles.

It's small, but big enough to have a cozy cafe aside from the standard popcorn concession. The screening rooms have fewer than 50 seats each, and if you go on a weekday, you might be the only person in the audience.

This January, many months after the TIFF, the following await our viewing at The Carlton:

A Christmas Tale (Un Conte de Noel); Australia; Happy-go-Lucky; I've Loved You So Long (Il y'a longtemps qui je 'taime); Rachel Getting Married; Religulous; Synecdoche, New York; The Boy In Striped Pajamas; Vicky Cristina Barcelona;

4 of these films have Golden Globe nominations: Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Rebecca Hall for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Ann Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married; Kristin Scott Thomas in I've Loved You So Long; Sally Hawkins in Happy Go Lucky.

The other movies are no lightweights either. Some critics say that Un Conte de Noel and Synecdoche, New York ought to have nominations as well. And thankfully, we can judge them for ourselves because they are showing at The Carlton.

A new, painless way to fly to Chicago and New York

If you live in Toronto and need to visit the US every now and then, there are three options open to you: train, plane or road travel. Train and road travel are usually much cheaper than flying, specially if you can share a car and split the expenses. But it does eat up a lot of time. Plane travel will get you there faster, but it's a little expensive. Plus, if you add up all the hours you spend waiting in line, going through security, waiting for connections, you don't really save that much time.

But what if a flight to New York or Chicago only cost as much as a train trip? And what if you can take your flight from downtown Toronto instead of going all the way to Pearson? And what if, on top of all of that, you can sit in a first-class lounge with free refreshments, newspapers and internet while waiting to board? And what if the plane had Swiss leather seats with only aisle or window options, and they served a full breakfast or lunch early in the day, and served wine in the afternoon?

That's Porter Airlines. It's the new little airline that's been pleasantly surprising Toronto residents for a few months now. And the reviews have been good.

On the downside? If you're six feet tall and above, you might have trouble walking down the aisle without scraping the ceiling. Yes, it is a small plane, a 60-seat Bombardier Q400 to be exact. And it's a turbo-prop, not a jet, so it flies at a lower altitude which is not a bad thing. But if you're afraid of flying through turbulent weather in a small aircraft, you might prefer to head for the jets at Pearson, Hamilton or Buffalo airport. The children who were flying with us didn't seem so scared, in fact, they were cheering every air pocket we hit. And the business travelers weren't too frazzled. They were too focused on their upcoming agendas and were more concerned about having to stash their blackberries away.

My tip: when the flight attendants offer you wine, take it.