Pizzeria Gusto

Pizzeria Gusto
404 Academy Rd
204-944-8786
http://www.pizzeriagusto.com/

April, 2009

Gone are the days when you walk into a pizza joint and your only options are pepperoni with mushroom or ham and pineapple, with a sprinkling of salami with green peppers (although there’s nothing wrong with the classics). Today, all sorts of restaurants claim to offer non traditional and “gourmet” pizzas. Pizzeria Gusto is Winnipeg’s latest incarnation that features specialty pizzas.

Gusto sits on Academy Road, nestled among a proliferation of sprouting restaurants in the area. Walk inside and you see a bi-polar battle over how Gusto wants to present itself. On one side wall, Gusto sports a number of life-sized portraits—presumably boasting old-country Italian folks (read: mafia). Facing towards the wine bar, a monstrous flat-screen television continuously runs The Godfather. Gusto’s other personality wants to be chic and modern. The cool colours complement the urban furniture and the sleek bars. The loud electronic music typifies the crowd you expect to see in here. The young and attractive crowd shows off their designer clothing, each trying to look better than the last. Gusto’s serving staff follows the trend where young and pretty girls wear all black and act ever-so slightly flirtatiously.

Moving onto more important matters, Gusto boasts an impressive offering of wines, sure to satisfy all tastes. Normally, I oppose restaurants that rigidly eschew variety to maintain a theme (French restaurants that only serve French wines, etc.); however, Gusto offers a sufficient variety to satisfy many palettes. Some of Gusto’s Italian features offer New World backbones—you just have to be wine-savvy enough to know how to find what you want. The serving staff can help you but remember, their job is to be attentive and look attractive—I don’t expect any of them to have sommelier accreditation. Although you won’t find the straw-covered bottle of Chianti here, you need some wine basics to find the bottle you like. As a bonus, Gusto offers several delightful wines by the glass, if you don’t want to commit to a bottle.

While the wine menu is extensive, the food menu is very limited if you don’t like pizza. Then again, why would you come to a place called Pizzeria Gusto if you don’t like pizza? If you must pass on the pizza, Gusto offers a couple of alternatives, including braised lamb shank and chicken cacciatore. The stewed quarter-chicken comes smothered in a hunter sauce of onions, mushrooms and wine, loaded with olives. If you love olives, you’re in glory but if you have any distaste at all for olives, avoid this dish. I’m a big fan of olives but even I find them overwhelming in this otherwise delicious item.

Gusto also offers a generous selection of non-pizza appetisers. We choose the meatballs, which come in a delicious tomato sauce. The rich and complex sauce perfectly augments the even-more complex, herbed meatballs. Quite simply, this is one of the finest meatball creations I ever encountered.

Unfortunately, most people will likely skip the intro courses as the pizzas here come large and thick. Some of Gusto’s pizzas are a simple variation on the classic combos, with tweaked (and premium) ingredients (substitute wine-sautéed wild mushrooms for button mushrooms and prosciutto for pepperoni and you have the idea). As well, Gusto offers some novel and some innovative ingredients. I change my mind five times before settling on the 887, which is an Italian sausage and prosciutto pizza with roasted peppers. Essentially, it’s just a pepperoni and sausage pizza with a twist, but what a twist it is! Just when you think that the fabulous flavours can’t get any better, you try one of the dollops of fresh buffalo mozzarella and you realise how exceptional this pizza really is. The 10-inch pizza with the ¾-inch crust offers an impressive amount of food but I highly recommend that you stuff yourself and eat it all. It will never taste the same again if you reheat it. My only complaint centers on the overcooked and dried sausage, made slightly tough by the roaring wood-fired oven. Otherwise, this comes very close to being the perfect pizza.

All things considered, this isn’t your typical pizza joint; this is a place to go for a spectacular pizza pie. Then again, it’s not every day two of you pay $100 for a pizza meal. It’s a pizza splurge but it’s well worth the treat.

****½ /5


This is a free product that I'm happy to bring to you.  If you enjoyed reading this, please consider clicking on the accompanying ads.  This is the only payment I receive for offering this public service.  Thank you as always for reading.