Today we were at Emilio Finatti Pizzeria’s Port Moody location for a Taste of Tri-cities. This is one of two locations, out of their four participating in this foodie festival.
Taste of Tri-cities is organized by Tri-Local, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020’s. It was created as a way to support local businesses, encouraging locals and consumers to shop and eat at their local independent businesses for the benefit of the community as a whole. The Taste of Tri-cities food festival is now a way to bring new business and draw attention to Port Moody, Coquitlam, and Port Coquitlam.
This would be my first time taking part in the food festive, and I was eager to scroll through the list of participating restaurants. Then choosing to visit a handful that I might not otherwise would have heard of.
The festival runs from February 15 to March 15th, 2025 with discounted specialty menus/items. I was able to get into Emilio Finatti pizzeria early to learn of their Taste of the Tri-cities promotion and also celebrate National Pizza day with a couple of their pies.
This is a hole in the wall, located within a strip mall. A couple of bar stool and high top tables to sit and lean on as you wait for your food. The pizza is prepared fairly quickly and we did not have to linger more than 10-15 minutes.
We spent the most time trying to decide what to order. They have a listed menu, but it is easier to use their flip deck with photos and a write up of each pizza and its topping, when ordering.
Their claim to fame is the use of honey butter on each and every one of their pizza crusts. It is a sweet drizzle that adds flavour to their corn meal dusted base. A finishing touch that adds character to the part of the pizza that customers might otherwise discard. You can also purchase a container of it for a more indulgent dip.
They also have pre-sectioned out containers of sour cream, marinara, and inferno sauce to use as dips. However, I recommend one of their “white sauces”, available as is, sweet with BBQ sauce mixed in, or spicy with hot sauce. Each was a rich and garlicky dressing to help prolonge the flavour of your pizza.
They specialize in thin crust pizzas topped with premium Canadian sourced ingredients. From their grains to meats, cheeses, and locally sourced produce. They use premium extra virgin olive oil in their recipes, and their honey butter is made with 100% Canadian honey. This is not like traditional pizza or anything you have had before.
The crust is crunchy and tastes like a cross between flat bread and fast food pizza. It is best eaten warm when the dough is still doughy from the moisture and weight of your toppings. We did note that what we had as leftovers was a little tough once it cooled.
We went with the Al Capone with marinara, cheese, smoked ham, Genoa salami, pepperoni, red onion, basil, Roma tomato, parmesan, herbs, and shredded parmesan. The cross between baked meat and fresh vegetable gave this pizza a lovely mixed texture. The heavy handed saltiness was toned by the thicker slices of tomato. This I enjoyed with an additional drizzle of their white garlic sauce.
The Funghi with organic olive oil, crushed garlic, cheese, sautéed mushroom and onion, extra mushroom, roasted red pepper, basil, and goat cheese was the more savoury of the two. This was especially the case, when we added on Italian sausage and agreed to the recommended truffle oil drizzle at no extra charge. The former were slices of herbed sausage and I completed forgot about the latter, not being able to smell, let alone taste any truffle. The goat cheese really won me over here, it was an exciting pairing with the sweet honey, cured meats, and fragrant red peppers. Like the truffle oil, I ironically really missed the mushrooms in this.
And for the Taste of Tri-cities, Emilio’s Port Moody and Port Coquitlam is offering buy one get one 50% off on all calzones. Basically any of their topped pizzas can be folded in half and made into a calzone, which is just a large pizza pocket that can feed two people.
Here, we went classic and got a pepperoni, and the chef even made ours with a happy face from ripped pepperoni for eyes and a smile. It was stuffed substantially with plenty of tangy marinara sauce and a good amount of salty pepperoni per bite.
Overall, a great spot for flavourful and fresh pizzas, and a pizzeria I would not have discovered if not for the Taste of the Tri-cities.
Emilio Finatti Pizzeria Port Moody
2818 St Johns St, Port Moody, BC V3H 2C
(604) 469-8448
emiliofinatti.com
