Famous Original Pizza, Downtown Victoria

I think calling your pizza joint 'Famous' is hubris, especially when there's only one in the chain.

I think calling it 'Original' when your knocking off the New York style seems odd, even if you acknowledge you are inspired.

I think calling it 'Pizza' is spot on.

The venue is hot, and narrows, funnel like into the gloom.  Up front you have big picture windows, brightly showing the city passing by on Yates Street. As you walk up to order, though, it gets darker, and the venue thins to narrow booth and a skeeball corner.  The heat from the lamps and ovens starts to wash over you, and the aroma of freshly baking pizza hits you.

You can see the pizza's ready to buy by the slice, but you do have to ask what they are... there's no signage or labels up to tell you whats currently on offer.  The harried staff must get bored of folks whats up and ready.  In between serving, pouring drinks, massaging the dough, prepping the sauce and piling on the toppings.

The pizzas here are BIG thin-crusted pies.  Generous but not deep on the toppings, baked onto a just thick enough base.  The base, in fact, is the single greatest thing with these pizzas.  Crispy at the rim, but soft in the centre, so you have to fold the slice to get enough structural support to eat the point. The point oozing with cheese and a flavourful tomato sauce base, and maybe anchovies, or bacon or pepperoni, or a medley of vegetables.

That base... it just has a freshness to it, and a mouthfeel to it that's a delight.  Often the crust is the worst part... here, it's not the -best- but after the rich toppings, there's something pleasant about the way the crust just crunches.

I'm not sure it's famous (yet) or original (really).  But I guess 'The Good NY-Style Pizza' isn't quite the marketing dream.

It's good pizza. Probably the best ready-to-go place in town.  A slice is a deal at $3.75... and you can wash it down with a decent craft brew as well. I would recommend getting your face around a slice.  And they have anchovies.

Crows Restaurant, Gorge Road, Victoria

The Crows restaurant is in the Ramada on Gorge, in the same space that used to be occupied by the Cecelia Creek Restaurant. The Creek did really good food when it first opened, but was marred by a very odd attitude to splitting bills and taking cards.  They had a change of ownership last year, but that seems to not have saved the venue; and it's now under a brand new name; and another set of owners.

So, we headed of for brunch on Sunday morning, as two of my friends have moved within walking distance.  No lines, but there was a good number of people eating in there. Quietly busy.  Which is probably the sweet spot for any brunch joint. Enough to keep things lively, but not crammed in so it's a rushed, painful experience.

The coffee is brewed dark and strong, and has kept wired until 11 o'clock. Cream is sadly single server creamer in plastic cartons, which doesn't jive with the hipster mason jars of brown sugar and a tiny coffee spoon. The water is provided in big glass bottles, so no waiting for the servers to keep you hydrated.  Much prefer little jugs of milk or cream.  It seems more homely and welcoming.

The menu is extensive, but doesn't over stretch itself into too many options.  You have a variety of benny's, a variety of traditional meat/eggs/potato combinations, some waffley/pancakes and a small set of specials.  Including Shakshouka, poached eggs in Moroccan tomato sauce, with garlic bread.  Which sounded awesome, but the Trueman grabbed my eyes.

Spoons and Floyd's have their own 'dealer's choice' options, and the Trueman is the Crows version.  Choose either breakfast or lunch, omnivore or veggie, sweet or savoury, and for $11, the chef will send out something random.

I like random. I like surprises. I also liked the $11 price tag.  So I went for that, and got a plate of potatoes and double deck burger bun stuffed with a sausage+chicken omelette, with big chunks of tomato.

The Trueman

It was indeed delicious, as promised, and not so huge my stomach muscles were over stretched.  A hearty breakfast, not an idiot sized one.  I did have to ask for ketchup and hot sauce (neither were offered), but the mole spicy sauce was worth asking for, and added a pleasant level of heat and pepped up the eggs just how I like them.    The potatoes were cooked to a dark crisp.  They looked burnt and not incredibly appetizing... until I tasted them, and they were crunchy yet soft on the insides.  I am not sure it was intentional to have a couple of stray yams pieces in there as well, but there they were, and they seem like a happy accident.

Two of my friends ordered the Goat Benny, which was reported back as tasty, with a good (not great, but good) Hollandaise.  The sausages that came with Crow's nest (French toast with eggs) were huge fat boys.  Reported back as juicy and full of flavour, though they also looked like they had been over-cooked, they weren't.

The general verdict was to visit again.  It was a good price, and they were more than happy to split bills and let us pay in any way we saw fit.  The need to do it as one big bill seems to have gone with the new ownership.  Thank goodness.  The visual presentation possibly needs a bit of a tweak, but this was a solid breakfast, with no lines, no mucking around and decent size servings to keep you going all day.

The Crows space doesn't seem to have changed much.  Lots of big wooden tables, plenty of space and light making a farm house/country kitchen feel.  The owners are supportive of the gamer community in Victoria, hosting a regular Board Game night every month (see facebook for more details).  Being tied to the hotel as well should keep a good flow of customers through as well.