Bread is Pain

I find it hard to believe I might be the first person to be writing about this little gem, considering I think it’s been open for about a month and is in one remarkably high profile location, but I cannot find anything about it online whatsoever!

There is a lovely trend in fast food going around right now using high heat brick ovens to cook the food. Sacwich makes a sandwich leaps and bounds greater than Subway & Co. but there’s still a processed element to it that’s a little off putting.

Chez Fourna also functions around a brick oven operation, turning out individual pizzas for very reasonable prices. Reasonable in the sense that an entire pizza is comparable to a slice at most places! The za’atar (an Arabic herb and sesame blend) and cheese prices bottom out around $2 each, while even the most expensive pizza, the sausage (Merguez, perhaps?) only rings in around $4.50.

I pointed at one absolutely covered in chopped artichokes, olives and peppers and said, “That looks good!” The man lifts it into the oven with a pizza peel and responds, “It is good!” He wasn’t lying. Sliced into four, the crust was stable enough to hold this enormous mass of flavorful toppings into my mouth. The size of the flatbread definitely a bonus here as well, I’m sure. It is a thin, crisp and very satisfying.

My wife, who previously had no interest in pizza quickly changed her mind after I made my owner, confessing a desire for the spinach and feta version. Sitting at our table, she digs in. “It’s kind of lemony!” she says. I take a bite. There’s a flavor of grape leaves, the brininess of them being used as a seasoning. I will have to return to determine what exactly those greens are comprised of, but it’s safe to say they’re delicious! A generous amount of feta adorns every bite. There is an option of salad as well, what looked as though a mixed slaw of sorts or a very fresh looking tabbouleh, but we passed. I’m not certain if these are permanent fixtures or rotating options. Oh, another reason to return!

The total for our entire meal came to $8.50 including taxes, which makes it the perfect meal before a moving at the Scotiabank Place, which is in very close proximity. How close? Well, that’s the one caveat here: Chez Fourna is located in the food court of the Carrefour Industrielle Alliance building that makes up Simons and the theater. They’ve developed the space right by the escalators which used to house a Cafe Depot!

Strangely though, the place sets its own tone and atmosphere once you’ve entered it, to the extent that I was temporarily disoriented after leaving with my tray and looking for a seat and discovering I was standing in front of a place serving hot dogs and smoked meat sandwiches. This, of course, means seating is never an issue, as the entire food court is an option. It does, however, not have the most wonderful ambiance, but how many places serving food portions for five dollars in a hurry do? If Chez Fourna maintains the quality and prices I indulged in this weekend, about the only complaint I can make of them is that they’re going to soon be obscuring the escalators with their queue.