GROTTO PIZZA TECA

61B Edward Street, Norwood

This is the first in (probably) a series of posts delineating pizza parlours par excellence located around Adelaide. I’m calling it (most likely) “Pizza as culinary Twitter” (seems almost everyone’s doing it, but perhaps not everyone should – and too often you regret it in the morning).

To kick things off, and set the pizza toss of expectation “high” it’s Grotto Pizza Teca.

Set back slightly from Norwood Parade – and a world apart from numerous would-be-rival eateries along the strip – is a modest brick cube that since 2003, has offered-up some of the best za going around in this town.

Inside it’s basic – you sit and you eat, or you sit and you wait to eat someplace else. The pick-up experience is made all the more agreeable by the reading selection; which is current, varied and offering great insight into the iconic history of the cigar. The dining décor is befitting of the venue’s name and emblematic of the business ethos; “functional simplicity”. It’s open, casual and welcoming. You really get the feeling these guys just do what they do best – they make pizza.

Whether you opt for the Caesar-inspired signature, or something that may perhaps look more at home on a Gouger St bill of fare (BBQ pork? And corn? On a pizza? For serious?), or even the smack-mouthedly unsubtle “The Bomb”, each option is well considered, and prepared to order. There are more straight-up and familiar options too, as well as few salads. Oh, you also must try the Swiss brown mushroom and basil pesto hot breads (and tell me if they’re any good). Pizza toppings are ever fresh, well-placed (read: no dead spots) and the bases – crispy Frisbees of deliciousness. There’s also a special something in Grotto’s sauce that compels you to go in for that one last slice, and not regret it.

Grotto is licensed too. A modest array of beers and wines are served (all in humble tumblers) and coffee by fellow Adelaide institution Rio Coffee is available to follow your feast.

At around $20-$30 a head, Grotto’s aren’t exactly ‘cheap eats’ by takeout standards, but when it comes to pizza, most often you get what you pay for. At one end there’s “I may as well just eat the box” bland – perfect for rent week and refuelling in between dancing around the living room at 2am, and waking up to a salami facial having faceplanted into the box. “Three types of cheese / herbs from a shaker” gourmet (payday style) sits somewhere in the middle, and “matsutake, wagu and truffle trio” balls-our deluxe (three months to live) tops the list. The looser your purse strings, the less regret you’re forcing yourself to endure the morning after*. For my money, Grotto sits very high on the curve, and deservedly so.

FACT #1: There are enough pizzas made in Norwood every year to eradicate world hunger 3 times over.
FACT #2: Grotto rules for a square mile.
FACT #3: Bookings are limited to 10 people, max.
FACT #4: You can get a 10% discount coupon if you visit their website and pay with cash money.

Dine in recommended; their delivery coverage is a little splotchy, and it tastes better straight off the stone.

 Thanks for stopping by. Be well, TV.

*notably, I learned recently that this scale is almost an exact inversion of the one used when strategizing for a mate’s stag night.