Pulcinella

Pullcinella’s is just off the beaten path in Kensington, located on Kensington Crescent. Beware as there is little to no parking space, so maybe take a cab. On a freezing cold Wednesday night, myself and three girlfriends met here for after work dinner and drinks.

Pullcinella’s space is lovely and warm. A large, open room, with maple hardwood and white and silver accents. We were promptly seated by our hostess, who was very accommodating when selecting a table due to our friend who had a broken foot. The restaurants main feature is their large pizza oven which is located in the back center and is open to the restaurant. This oven was imported from Italy and customers are encouraged to wander over and watch their pizzas being cooked. This is what Pullcinella’s is known for: authentic Napoli style pizza.

Pullcinella’s menu consists of soup, salad, appetizers and pizza. Although there are no other entrees except for pizza, one could easily make a meal out of the delicious appetizers and salads. My friends and I shared two appetizers to start: calamari fritti ($12.95) and arancini ($11.95).

The calamari was delicious; large rings cooked to perfection, with a very light batter, and drizzled with a lemon tomato sauce. About the calamari, it has a very strong lemon flavour due to the gremolatta that is in the batter. I thought it tasted great but one of my friends was put off by the strong citrus flavour. I would also recommend asking for more tomato sauce as it is so good you will want to dip every bite.

The arancini was saffron infused (read: light flavour) arbio rice, stuffed with mozzarella, cooked till crisp and topped with tomato sauce. Wow were these ever good. There were three rice balls which were cooked to perfection, light and crisp on the outside with melted cheese on the inside. The tomato sauce served with these delights was rich and flavourful, and there was plenty of it. One thing I could tell was that the tomato sauce was made with very fresh, high end ingredients. Fantastic.

For our entrees we each ordered a pizza. However, as the pizza’s were quite large and none of us could finish more then half, if you were having appetizers I would recommend sharing one. Our waitress did a great job of describing how the pizzas are cooked to the newbies at the table: in a wood burning oven, these thin crust pizzas are charred on the outside and a little moist in the center. All of the pizzas have classic Italian toppings so don’t expect to find Hawaiian or buffalo chicken here. I had the Cotto E Funghi ($16.95), which is prosciutto ham and mushrooms. The hand tossed pizzas are not cut for you, so you just kind of dig in. The toppings were generous with a perfectly melted blend of mozzarella and parmigiano cheese. Although the pizza was good, it just felt like it was missing something; a little more garlic or zip would have livened it up. Again you may wish to ask for more tomato sauce as the same delicious sauce was used, but spread rather thinly.

As a nod to Pullcinella’s wine list, all the wines were Italian and there is a good by the glass selection. Although they are a little pricey.

If you are in the mood for delicious Italian appetizers and Napoli style pizza, Pullcinella’s is the place to go.