This week Famoso Neopolitan Pizzeria opened it’s doors to there 1st West Coast location. I was lucky enough to be invited to the grand opening dinner and got to dine with and meet a few of my fellow bloggers including-Foodology, Gastrofork, Meplusfood, The Foodqueen, Sherman’s Food Adventures and The Food Punk. I’ll just say this now-I had a blast getting to dine with awesome people who I enjoy reading myself and the food was great!
We were seated quickly by really friendly staff. I took a minute to admire what they’ve done to the space-I grew up 2 blocks away from the location and it used to be a wide open, plane jane video store and they’ve done an amazing job with transforming the space-my eye’s were drawn immediately to the beautiful gas-fired pizza oven in the corner.
We were given a tour of the packed restaurant by the owner Justin and he explained how Famoso came to be:
In the summer of 2005, Justin traveled throughout Italy and Naples and fell in love with the mouth-watering fire-roasted pizzas served throughout the country. After eating at Pizzeria Sorbillo, one of Naples’ best pizzerias, Justin found a payphone and immediately called his friends and future partners, Jason Allard and Christian Bullock. They soon decided that they needed to bring real Neapolitan pizza to Canada.
Authenticity was a must and led the guys to train at the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN), an organization dedicated to preserving the standards of true Neapolitan pizza. There the Famoso boys learned how to take the freshest Neapolitan ingredients and bake them in a true bell-shaped oven to create fire-roasted pizza that would be as at home on the streets of Naples, Italy as it has become in its first Canadian location in Edmonton. Now, the Famoso boys have teamed up with East Vancouverite, Brian Goheen, to bring real Neapolitan pizza to Vancouver’s own “little Italy”, Commercial Drive.
Famoso uses only highly refined ‘00’ Caputo flour to make its dough. It is hand-stretched and tossed to create a soft and crispy thin crust that is naturally low in gluten and easy to digest. The sauce is made from imported tomatoes from Southern Italy’s Campania region. Their low acidity and natural sweetness make for a rich, caramelized sauce. The fresh fior-di-late whole-milk mozzarella used as a topping on all their pizzas is known for its creamy texture. Famoso pizzas are then baked for 90 seconds at 900 degrees Fahrenheit in a traditional, fire-roasting Italian pizza oven. Guests can choose from traditional toppings or “New World” flavours.
When guests come in they find menus at their table but order at the counter and then sit back to relax until their food and beverages are brought to their table. They can either pay immediately when they order at the counter or start a tab and pay at their table. You also have the option to have certain things come out before others or if you want all your items at once you can let them know to bring it all on out.
When we arrived and were seated we all were given an Italian Spritzer, it’s a mix Prosecco, Aperol with a splash of soda water. Aperol is a bright orange Italian aperitif with flavours of bitter and sweet oranges. This bad boy was potent and wold be great on a hot day.
We started with some drinks, starting from 11o’clock and going clockwise we have a traditional Bellini, next is the Lemoncello Lemonade-that’s what I drank for the night, Sangria is the red bevie and lastly we have a basil Mojito.
We ordered a couple appies and had them come out first. One of the most popular appetizers on the menu on this night and I think something that lots of people will order are the Prosciutto Wrapped Mozzarella Balls. There a great combo of fresh mozzarella wrapped with prosciutto, baked in Campania tomato sauce, fresh basil, pecorino romano and served with flatbread. We got a order of 6 of these that would go for $18. They were salty and creamy with the tomato sauce adding a beautiful tang. It was a great way to get a taste of the sauce by itself and we sopped up the remaining sauce with the chewy flat bread. One thing that could have been better with these is the sauce being warmer
The Famoso Salad is a mix of romaine lettuce, prosciutto crisps, carrots, cherry tomatoes, spicy sopressata, fire-roasted chicken, feta and dressed dijon-balsamic vinaigrette. This big, ingredient filled salad goes for $13.50 and you certainly get you money’s worth. I personally found the vinaigrette to be to sweet for my taste but it was a hit with others at the table.
The 1st pizza that we ordered was the Funghi Tartufo-$14.50. It’s a new pizza on the menu for Spring and Summer. A combo of roasted white mushrooms, oyster mushrooms soaked in truffle oil and topped with Reggiano Parmesan. This was one of my favorites of the night. The mushrooms were heavy on the truffle and the tangy tomato sauce helped round out the pie. The salty note from the cheese was icing on the cake and I’d definitely order this again
We had to order the classic Margherita pizza-$11. it’s a simple mix of fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, pecorino romano drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Again, simple and awesome ingredients really shine through. It’s on my eat again list for sure.
The 3rd pizza of the night is a Prosciutto Arugula-$14.50. It’s made a bit different from the other pizza’s because it’s baked, then topped with arugula, prosciutto, and pecorino romano. This is light without the tomato sauce but big in flavor form the prosciutto and arugula, the squeeze of lemon brightened up the pizza and is something that I haven’t had at other places with similar pizza’s. the prosciutto was buttery and melt in your mouth and well marbled. I could have ate this whole pizza alone!
The 4th pizza we all enjoyed one of the “New World” pizza’s they have-the San Andreas-$14.50. The topping’s on this one are extra virgin olive oil, garlic, and oregano base, fresh mozzarella and chili-lime marinated roasted chicken. Baked, then topped with fresh avocado slices, diced roma tomatoes, diced onion, cilantro, drizzled with light cream, served with a lime wedge. Foe me this was a let down. I think it’s a case of too many ingredients and thus why we don’t see pizza with tons of toppings in the Neapolitan style. The crust was too soft on this one and the toppings for me were bland-the tomatoes should have seasoned on there own with salt and pepper then added. the crust issue was actually a issue on the margheritta as well but it was a case of the kitchen and the oven being slammed all at once and some of the pizza’s being rushed so I’m going to head back for a lunch during normal business hours and conditions to see how the pie is-I think it will be fine seeing they know what there doing and the ingredients are top notch.
Justin gave a presentation talking about the story of Famoso and then turned it over to the chef who gave a couple of demos and got some of the diners involved. The Vancouver Food Tour’s contributing writer Erin Gee got into the action:
It was great to see my partner in crime over at the Vancouver Food Tour get involved and show off her hidden pizza flippin’ skillz!
Authentic artisan-style Italian ice cream. Handcrafted in small batches with the finest ingredients. Low levels of butterfat (4%-6%) and no preservatives.
After the presentation we all ordered desserts-because there were a bunch of food loving folks at our table. Affogato was on the list for a couple at our table, it’s a shot of espresso on top of a scoop of gelato of your choice. This dessert goes for $5. One of the great flavor combo’s was salted caramel gelato and espresso-pictured without the hand above. The Food Punk got a mix of chocolate and something else and was my lovely hand model!
The traditional tiramisu was up next. With a recipe imported from Milan, Italy. Mascarpone cream on a sponge cake base, drenched with espresso, topped with waves of mascarpone and dusted with cocoa. This dessert is $6. This was a standard, textbook tiramisu. Well balanced ingredients wise and it was a great sized portion.
A pineapple and coconut panna cotta is 3rd on our destruction of the dessert list. it’s a sweet Italian custard made with pineapple, served with pineapple and coconut shavings. This dessert is $4.50. For me I was a bit disappointed with this, it needed to be a bit more sweeter with the custard and I couldn’t detect any pineapple inside of it or taste it in the custard. Other than that it was creamy and the crushed pineapple and coconut was a great and different topping.
the Dolce and Banana is the 4th treat we ate with glee. A delightful combination of oven-roasted bananas coated in caramalized brown sugar and crushed pecans, caramel sauce and served with a scoop of vanilla bean gelato. This dessert is $7. What more can I say than, AWESOME!! The ingredient combination was great, the bananas were caramelized beautifully and the dessert reminded me of Banana’s Foster without the booze. I’d get this again for sure and maybe share it if I’m with someone!
Nutella Pizza was last on the list to be eaten. It’s there authentic pizza crust smothered in Nutella hazelnut/ chocolate spread, folded into a calzone, then cut into strips. Served with whipped cream. It’s also available with banana’s if you want but this version is $8. A mix of chewy and sweet is how I would describe this dessert. It was perfect for dunking in the whipped cream and I ended up taking some home with me. the banana version sounds delish.
Like I said at the beginning of this post-I had an awesome time eating good food with people I really like-I’d say that Famoso is living living up to the Italian tradition of bringing people together over solid food and your sure to leave with a smile in your face. There a great addition to the Commercial Drive area providing a fast/casual dining option that won’t break the bank. Check them out on Facebook to see there specials-the pizza and movie ticket deal is pretty amazing!
**Disclosure-I was invited to the grand opening, my food and drinks were comped by Famoso. I was not expected or asked to write a review and my opinions and experiences are completely my own.**
Another thing that caught my eye was the Cha-Shu Rice Paper Rolls for $7.20, they have roasted pork, lettuce and cucumber wrapped in rice paper with a special sweet sauce, mayo and yuzu sansho. These were pretty good but I found the rice paper wrapper to be really sticky which made it kind of hard to eat in bites neatly, the pork was flavorful and super tender and along with the lettuce and cucumber inside there was Japanese mayo which added an unexpected creaminess and tang.
My pulled pork sandwich was moist and juicy, the smoke flavor wasn’t too strong and the slaw helped cut the richness of the meat, the bread was also pretty good and did a great job of holding together while I ate my sammy-I’m used to having my pulled pork on a bun of some sort so this was a nice change.
I’ll start with dead center on the platter~the Super Nachos, with house made beef and bean salsa, cheese and veggies served on house made chips that were a bit thicker than the chips served with the duo of salsa. I liked the flavors of this item but the addition of hot sauce for me was a needed item and the cheese could have well~been melted on top, other than that I like the been and bean mixture because it wasn’t too salty or overly spicy.
Nook’s version of the prosciutto pizza has the arugula on the bottom and the freshly sliced prosciutto is placed on right before service so for $15 it’s another good value. This pizza definitely is a rich tasting pizza and will fill you up, they have some good chili oil that is great drizzle to help break the richness of the pizza. On both pizza the bottom is charred nicely but still has some bend to it.
After reading great things about it I had to get an order of Suika’s Sweet Corn Kakiage, this lightly battered sweet corn was like a corn fritter and was enjoyed by the both of us, the individual corn kernels would pop in your mouth when eating them because of the frying. I’d totally order this dish again.
