One Night Only
One Night Only Pizza has to be one of Toronto's best-kept secrets for delicious thin-crust 16-inch pies getting its start with pizza pickups every Saturday from the back porch of a Riverdale home.
The pizza is now available Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from the storefront at the corner of Pape and Wroxeter Avenue.
Located just about five minutes from where it all started, the interiors of this old pizza and variety store feature bits of the home kitchen where the pies used to be prepared.
The black tiles along the bottom of the counter are the same as the backsplash you'd find in the Pollard's kitchen, even the light fixture hanging from the ceiling has been brought over from their home.
Luke Pollard and his wife, Brianna, started ONO Pizza to keep sharing their well-loved homemade pies with their friends and family when the pandemic got in the way of their long-lasting pizza party tradition.
Pollard, a visual artist and owner of a family construction company, says he got his obsession for making the perfect pizza slice from his mom who religiously made pizza from scratch every Friday when he was growing up.
Taking after her, Pollard has been tweaking his dough, which is made with organic Canadian flour, for years. Once prepared, it gets a 72-hour slow ferment before it's rolled into the large-sized pies. They focus on doing just a few different pizzas at ONO, but doing them well, with five options on the menu.
Tomato sauce from Italian Bianco tomatoes covers the cheese, pepperoni, and mushroom. Garlic and basil cream comes on the spicy potato and can be switched out for the tomato on the mushroom.
We go for a white cream base for the mushroom pie ($29.50), which is topped with mushrooms that have been roasted alongside red onion to suck out their moisture. They're also finished with a bit of soy and balsamic vinegar giving them a dark colour and deep flavour.
The pies are in the oven for a quick 10 minutes before moving to the box for a sprinkling of parmesan and fresh basil.
The pepperoni ($27.50), which comes regular or spicy, is covered in a generous amount of artisan pep and features a perfectly thin and crispy crust. This keeps it feeling light, even when you're putting away three or more slices.
Each pie comes with two servings of the garlic dill that's made in-house. This creamy dip seems to complement nicely with just about every one of the pizzas on order.
Listed beside your classic pepperoni and cheese, the spicy potato ($28.50) has to be the most out-there pizza on the menu. It comes with garlic and basil cream as its base and good amounts of smoked mozzarella.
And of course, thin slices of potato prepared simply with olive oil and salt and pepper while jalapenos bring the spice. Pickled red onions and basil add extra hints of flavour and freshness.
One Night Only is just the spot to run if ever you're craving a slice of thin-crust pizza. Just remember they only churn out their pies on the weekend.
Fareen Karim