Pizza Coming Soon

Pizza Coming Soon chef/ owner Keith Allison. 179 East Pender St. 604-558-4900 pizzacomingsoon.com

Is it moxie or madness for a restaurant that opened late last year to have a name that appears created to stymie the dreaded Google search engine? For the record, it’s in no way a “pizza” restaurant, nor is it any longer “coming soon,” and while the old crank in me decries the overly meta name, the writer in me (whose words also seem to—unwittingly—stymie the Google search engine) feels a kindred spirit with these kooks. My connection was deepened with some takeout before in-person dining was re-happening: they were offering a smoking deal on dinner for two built around their periyaki chicken and, swinging by the retro room (it looks one part A Clockwork Orange and one part... well, it really just looks like A Clockwork Orange) reinforced the lovingly oddball nature of this operation. Again—and I can’t stress this enough—there is no pizza, but there was a really well-curated selection of (what else?) natty wine lined up on the counter and the friendly dude giving me my takeout was reminiscent of Brad Pitt’s turn as Floyd in True Romance.

The chicken was excellent—a PortugueseJapanese mash-up of flavours imbued into a mahogany-skinned bird with just the perfect amount of moistness while still retaining the firmness you want in a roast chicken. I resolved to be the first in line when in-person dining resumed.

I wasn’t, of course. I got busy and by the time my wife and I returned, the secret of this spot had leaked a bit. I had heard rumours that it was “impossible to get into,” so was pleasantly surprised that a 6 p.m. phone call on a Wednesday resulted in a “come on down”