An uneven experience in Hintonburg’s Tennessy Willems easily fixed

• Name + address: Tennessy Willems

• Diet: Meat, vegetarian

• Appetizers: $8-$38

• Mains: $20-$27

• Wheelchair accessibility: No

• Licensed: Yes

• Website: https://twpizza.squarespace.com/

Over the years I was repeatedly told by some readers that I needed to try the pizza at Tennessy Willems in Hintonburg.

For 14 years Tennessy Willems has served locals in Hintonburg. The owner used the first names of her two children for the restaurant.

I made an attempt last year only to find they closed for a period of time for renovations. Then a few days ago, it was my lucky day. If that’s the phrase I want.

Of course I would have one of their famed pizzas but I was interested in a cross section from their modest menu and began with the spinach and artichoke dip.

It arrived in a small cast iron skillet with a side of housemade country style bread. There was a superfluous layer of browned cheese covering the dip and luckily there was a spoon to break through the crust. 

I wouldn’t have called this a “dip” but rather a spread. It was very dense with both artichoke and spinach with little of the warm creaminess you associate with this starter. For a textbook example and a better than average recipe for a dip, just pay a visit to the Cheshire Cat Pub for their Maryland crab dip. 

In all it was too salty and the artichoke had not been cleaned of their shard-like outer petals. There was just no breaking down all that tough cellulose.

Having seen the house salad on the menu I saw that it was properly imagined. When it arrived I was happy that my instincts were correct. All the elements from the arugula and blue cheese to the apples and pumpkin seeds, pickled shallots, hazelnuts and maple dijon vinaigrette were top quality and delicious. 

This was one of the better salads of the last year and I would have it again but this comes with a warning: it’s excessively sweet. So much so that people with concerns about sugar in their diet would be better off with, what I’m told is, their famous caesar salad.

I expect that most people have not had a true Bolognese pasta precisely because they get served ground beef with tomato sauce over noodles. That is not a Bolognese ragu. I’ve included a link below for the authentic recipe and you may be surprised to learn that it contains white wine, sofrito (finely diced, onion, celery and carrot) and milk with little tomato.

Here it was the standard North American interpretation with a better than average pasta having been used. It was cooked al dente but had been cut into shorter strands perhaps for children. I have no idea why that was necessary.

It was a generous portion and would have tasted much better if less salt had been used. There was so much that it masked any other flavour experience.

Last up was the capricciosa pizza, a rather large pie built with house-made tomato sauce, fior di latte, cremini mushrooms, artichokes, kalamata olives and capicola ham from Niagara Food Specialties. 

Decades ago Mario Pingue of Niagara created a fine artisanal prosciutto that was sought out by restaurants everywhere and soon his line-up of traditional Italian charcuterie grew. Here it adorned the pizza adding a rustic and salty punch with every other bite. This is capicola as it’s meant to be.

The pizza, oddly, had only been cut into four slices making the handling unwieldy. There was also too much sauce and the dough had been rolled far too thin at its centre so that the toppings just slid off. There was not enough structural integrity and that was made amply clear when my finger broke through the good-tasting crust as I attempted to hold the piece.

As with Cumin and Pepper a few weeks ago, I left in a huff of frustration. The basis for a much better experience is all there and it wouldn’t take much to fix the minor issues they currently have.

First, I would recommend investing in some pizzaiolo training. The kitchen needs to learn something about the science of dough and how to construct a crust with integrity. The extension of that is learning how to dress a pizza for the crust you have. Serving a heavily dressed and wet pie is never appealing.

Last, a review of their recipes would not be out of order. I’ve seen this happen many times: a restaurant enjoys a level of popularity and they become complacent about the menu.

Getting together with staff and industry friends periodically to give honest assessments about the recipes is a simple and helpful strategy that leads to better outcomes for everyone.

I can see why readers appreciate this restaurant. They make an effort delivering food with quality ingredients at fair prices and all that good will needs to shine by the addition of a few tweaks to the execution of the recipes.

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