Edmonton is a city that knows it's way around a pizza. Several of the country's major pizza chains…read morehave gotten their start here and you don't have to look very far to find your preferred style of pie. We've got it all! From traditional wood-fired Neapolitan to prairie-style pies to rectangular-shaped Detroit. There's a very good chance that no matter where you live in the city that there's bound to be a pizza place nearby that everyone loves. One of those spots is Pizza Garage in St. Albert. Named Favourite Take-Out on the Edmonton Food Faves We Crave 2024 list, I had to find out what all of the hype is about and make the drive up to St. Albert myself!
Pizza Garage prides itself on not being fast food. They believe that each pizza is a living, breathing piece of art that should be made with only the best ingredients. And they don't focus on just one style, either. Pizza Garage is skilled at creating Detroit style, Chicago bar pie style, and New York style, giving them the ability to satisfy your pizza craving no matter your pie preference. I visited on a Saturday evening ready to PIZZA!
The shop is located in an unassuming strip mall in a quiet neighbourhood called Forest Lawn. It's a small location that doesn't look like a whole lot from the outside. Inside is more of the same; the space contains a take-out counter and not much else. However, there is a counter with some bar stools if you're looking to dine in (and I always am). We were greeted by Shane Oates, the restaurant's founder, and ended up having a lovely chat with him. Originally from Windsor, Ontario (home of its own signature pizza style!), Shane wanted to bring the Italian-owned, independent pizza experience to the Edmonton area. Not a big chain, no cheap ingredients. His menu is large but each and every pizza is thoughtfully created with ingredient wastage in mind. Beyond the list of 35(!!) different pizzas, Pizza Garage also serves calzones, sandwiches, pasta, and even desserts. There's actually a lot to choose from for such a little shop!
First lets talk about the styles of pizza on offer. Each Pizza Garage pie can be made in your choice of style and it helps to know the difference. First there's Detroit Style, which has really risen to fame within the last decade. This pizza is known for its rectangular shape, a thick dough with a caramelized cheese crust, edge-to-edge toppings, and is often made with the sauce on top. Next is New York Style, which is mainly what North American pizza has become today. This pizza is crispy yet pliable enough to be folded. Finally there's Chicago Bar Pie Style, which is different from the Chicago deep dish that you might first imagine. Alternatively, this pizza is ultra thin, has a crispy pan-fried crust, and also features edge-to-edge toppings. No matter what type of pizza you might be in the mood for, Pizza Garage has got you covered! I also enjoyed that many of the pizzas on offer are named after various cars - they are a garage, after all.
Pizza Garage has a really fun "exotic drinks" cooler and it's worth checking it out! Forget about boring cokes and sprites because here you'll find cans of drinks that you've never even heard of before! They've got a bunch of beverages from Calypso, Chubby, and Faygo - and all sorts of other things! It's a lot of fun to select a really unique beverage to try and I went with an Electric Blue Razz Crush Back to the 80s. I didn't know what most of that meant but it sounded awesome. How fun indeed! This can of carbonation totally had that blue raspberry flavour that we grew up with as kids. I still don't know why raspberry got assigned the colour blue but I suppose it's because red was already taken by too many other flavours.
35 pizzas is a lot to choose from and many of them caught my eye. They've got the awareness to know that a donair pizza (two types!) is a must - it's Edmonton after all and everyone has the donair crazies. There's a buffalo chicken pizza, which always speaks to me. And the Via 313 will be a must on my next visit with its pepperoni on roni on roni situation! However, the pizza that I wanted to try the most was La Ferrari (Cheese, sauce, pepperoni, spicy Italian sausage, hot calabrese, salumi, hot Calabrian peppers, kalamata olives, piped ricotta cheese - $35.75 for medium Detroit Style). Once ordered, the pizza took about 20 minutes to be prepared because they are creating these masterpieces from complete scratch. This award-winning pizza is positively covered in incredible ingredients and I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into it! First of all, I absolutely loved the crust. The sides and bottom were so beautifully crisp and caramelized while still preserving a glorious interior chew. The crunchy fried cheese edge was elite. The toppings on this pizza felt luxurious and decidedly Italian without being too heavy. I absolutely loved the various meats and the spicy kick. The cheese was sooo cheesy. The kalamata olives took the flavour profile to a wh
