Carmine’s gives Calgary twist to New York-style pizza
Warm and welcoming strip mall parlour is licensed for stay-in, or ready for takeout
The northwest Calgary community of Highwood doesn’t seem like the most obvious spot for a cool New York-style pizza place. Located in a strip mall most recently occupied by a short-lived restaurant called the Kookie Moose Café, Carmine’s Pizzeria doesn’t really look like something you’d venture out of your own neighbourhood for. In fact, I live nearby and it took me a couple of months to stop in, despite driving by almost every day.
Alas, food snobbery will get you nowhere and I can now see that I was wrong. Carmine’s is not only now my go-to local pizza spot, but has proven to be somewhere worth travelling to from any corner of the city. Owned and operated by Rob Greco, a Calgary restaurant veteran who was the original owner of the now defunct Fine Diner, Carmine’s is a very welcome addition to Calgary’s evolving pizza landscape. The 20-seat parlour is warm and welcoming — there’s nothing fancy here, just a few high tables and a counter that sits in front of an open kitchen, with the smell of pizza wafting through the room.
Greco is aware the location is not necessarily in one of Calgary’s hottest restaurant zones, but even before settling on this particular space he intended to start a neighbourhood joint and Highwood, along with neighbouring communities like Thorncliffe, Mount Pleasant, North Haven and Cambrian Heights, is in dire need of more restaurant choices. So, he put together a small staff, including chef Reed Vares who used to work with him at Fine Diner, and Carmine’s was born.
If Calgary has a pizza “style” it would probably be the thick, Greek-style pies that dominated the city throughout the 1970s and ’80s, or perhaps the fancy Neapolitan pizza that has become so popular over the last decade or so. But as more of us travel and seek out the great pizzas of the world, choices are expanding.
Although Carmine’s advertises “authentic New York-style pizza, Greco admits that he has had to colour a little bit outside the lines as far as authenticity goes. New York pizza tends to be very thin (you can fold it and eat it like a taco) and is usually sparse on the toppings. While Greco does get those irresistible little “cupping” pepperoni specially made for his pizzas and also has house-made hot honey to drizzle over top, he did have to make the crust just a bit thicker than a traditional NYC pizza and offer a wider range of toppings to satisfy Calgary tastes.
“New York pizza is very, very thin,” he says. “But Calgary loves toppings, so we had to go a little thicker than we would have liked, otherwise the pizzas would fall apart.”
Carmine’s pizzas come in two sizes: a 14-inch that can easily feed two people ($25) and an 18-inch that can feed four for
$31. Customers can pick their own toppings should they insist, but the kitchen has put together deliciously creative combinations for both red and white pizzas. In addition to classics like the O.G. (double pepperoni with double cheese) and a margarita, customers can choose concoctions like the perogy pizza with fried perogies, onions, bacon and green onion or the O.D.B. with slow roasted brisket, sweet onions, and jalapenos.
The restaurant also serves a selection of appetizers, pastas, salads and soft serve ice cream, including a dairy-free pineapple flavour that tastes an awful lot like Dole Whip.
Greco says that his takeout business has overshadowed the dine-in option since Carmine’s opened earlier this summer, but the restaurant is now licensed, with select beers and wines on offer. Carmine’s is open daily from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. and is located at 390 Northmount
Drive N.W. The restaurant can be reached at 403-457-8885 or carminespizza.ca.
If you don’t get up to Alberta’s capital often, two of Edmonton’s most well-known restaurant people have released new cookbooks so you can get a taste of their food at home here in Calgary.
First up, we have Shane M. Chartrand, the chef at SC Restaurant at the River Cree Resort in Enoch who is quickly becoming one of Canada’s most renowned Indigenous chefs. Chartrand released his first cookbook, tawâw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine, at the beginning of October. Co-written with food writer Jennifer Cockrall-king, the book features more than 75 recipes, as well as Chartrand’s reflections about Indigenous ingredients and cooking.
Meanwhile, Giselle Courteau, co-owner of Duchess Bake Shop, just published her second book. Whereas the first, Duchess Bake Shop, featured scaled-down versions of her famed bakery’s most popular recipes, the new Duchess At Home is full of French-inspired recipes that are solely for the home cook.
Naturally, there are lots of baked goods, but also savoury French-canadian classics, and a whole section of Christmas favourites. It’s just as beautiful as Courteau’s debut, though perhaps a little more approachable. Both Courteau’s and Chartrand’s books are available at most major booksellers.