Peds birthday dinner - Pizzeria Gusto

The funny thing about life is that it will always continue and despite all the problems and concerns currently facing you, there always will be a silver lining and light at the end of the tunnel. Dining out is always a special event for me, and I love my co-workers for actively trying to arrange for more blogg-able experiences.

We celebrated the belated birthdays of a couple of the pediatric residents at Pizzeria Gusto. Touted as one of the best Italian Pizza parlours in town, they pride themselves on hand-made Italian style fire-oven pizza.

The menu is not extensive but contains everything one could possibly want to munch one. A word to the excellent service: we were seated late for our reservation as a few of the tables had not finished dining as of yet. To compensate, service staff gave us each a glass of champagne! Started our night off on an excellent note.

The wine and spirtis menu was just as extensive as the dinner menu. I had to try the Campari Orange. A combination of Orange Pellegrino and Campari, this was a delicious concoction of sweet, dry and bitter. As a personal preference, I tend to go with sweeter drinks but this was a nice palate cleanser between the different courses.

One of our dining companions brought up the idea of sharing food. In my view, more variety is always a good thing. We had the Polpetinni della Nodda (meatballs in a tomato sauce). Executed perfectly with tender meatballs and rich tomato sauce. The basil added a deep licorous-like flavour to the deep.

I had a bite of the Cesare salad. Described on the menu as grilled romaine heart with pancetta and anchovy dressing, this was a twist on the classic caesar salad. The grilling process adds a TON of flavour to the salad. This was indeed one of the best versions of caesar I have had the pleasure of tasting.

The first pizza we ordered was the Medico. Pancetta, cacciatorre on a tomato sauce finished with fontina; this was as close to the classic pepperoni one could get. All the ingredients worked well together but the overall dish seemed a bit one-dimensional.

This was the star of the show: the Lucia. Cambozola and Salami on a bed of carmeralized onions and fig jam finished with arugula and (for $1 extra) a cracked egg. The depthness and cohesiveness of the flavours worked so well in this pizza. The standout was the fig jam, giving a sweet accent to the fatty meat, salty cheese and bitter greens.

Its a tad embarrassing blogging and showing a half-eaten pizza. Special mention needs to go to the Waterloo that a few of the group had. Proscuitto, roasted potatoes on a bed of pesto finished with mozerella and ricotta. The pesto added a unique flavour to the dish and worked well with the ricotta.