Il Ponticello's Back! (This Time You Can Bring the Whole Fam)

Because I have always been a lola at heart, and would rather read a book, leaf through Vogue, or critique the fashion in an MTV music video than go out at night (this was during the dial-up internet days, in my early 20s) I wasn't much of a regular at Il Ponticello, or "Ponti" as everyone likes to call it.

But when my friends could manage to pull me out at 10 in the evening to go out, we would somehow end up there, even to just drop by for a quick drink.

I have actually come to forever associate the place with smoke and a room full of happily inebriated people standing and talking, or rather shouting into each other's ears.

I don't even remember how it actually looked like, if there were any seats at all. And not because I was buzzed, drunk or anything. Honestly, I'd rather spend on shoes than a drink I'll end up puking out.

So it is very clear in my head that the place was always shoulder to shoulder crowded, smoky and dark. Very dark. A great ploy to bump into somebody you were crushing on actually, come to think of it.

It was a whole lot darker than this, which is Ponti's new lounge area today by the way.

So when my mommy group decided to celebrate our send off for our friend Jenny Reyes aka My Mommyology at her in laws' Il Ponticello, the first thing that popped into my head was the smoke and packed room.

"It's different now, it's a gastropub, with good Italian food!" Jenny said.

The mention of good food to 30 something moms, is like telling your 20 something friends that there's an open bar.

Of course, everybody made arrangements to leave the kids at home on a week night, with the perfect excuse to the husbands, "Jenny is leaving in 4 days!"

Of course, some of us, I shall not name names, were also secretly hoping to sneak in a few drinks. Hahaha. Successful naman.

the Ponti Spritz

And the food, as Jenny promised, was excellent! I don't have the actual photos because my photos came out too blurry from lack of light, but Ponti is indeed now a full-fledged restaurant with appetizers, pasta, pizza, main courses, dessert and all.

Penne Pomodoro Salsiccia 

Pizza Maccelaio

Rack of Lamb 

Lasagna Carbonara

You can in fact go to Ponti during lunch with your parents and kids, and they'd have no idea that you spent a portion of your drunken youth there.

Great to know Ponti's back. Why not invite the gang for old time's sake? Get those arteries pumped up with cholesterol from the porchetta, instead of the usual alcohol. Or both. Because you can. Hey, why not.

Il Ponticello
Second Floor, Antel Corporate Center
121 Valero Street, Near V.A. Rufino Street
Salcedo Village, Makati City
Tel: +632 5539971, +63 9497608731

Steveston Pizza

Whenever we are in Richmond, BC we also make it a point to drive to picturesque Steveston just to soak in the scenery. I never realized it was home to a great pizza place called Steveston Pizza! Maybe because we always eat at Chinese, Korean or Singaporean restaurants when in Richmond heehee.

My friend Karen Wu invited me and the SoMoms for chikahan over pizza at UP Town Center, where she shared that her family partnered with the owner of Steveston Pizza in Canada, Nader Hatami, to put up Steveston Pizza here.

It was a pizza concept they enjoyed back in Canada, in fact bestowed upon the honor of Best Pizza by the Richmond Review from 2008 to 2011. Incidentally, Nader Hatami is also the world record holder for creating the most expensive commercially available pizza in the world, the $450 pizza made of lobster thermidor, Alaskan black cod and a side of Russian osetra caviar, called C6.

You'd have to order that a day ahead though. Nevertheless, while we did not get to try the famed pizza, haha, we all left with happy tummies, already looking forward to our next visit.

Because unlike most pizza chains, Steveston's gourmet pizzas have generous toppings, are made from the freshest ingredients (no canned or frozen toppings here), and the crusts are crispy on the edges, fluffy in the center.

We started off our pizza fest with their Flying Ceasar salad, which is basically ceasar salad with paprika coated, lemon scented chicken.

While waiting for our pizzas to be served, we also had some of their Angel chicken wings which come in dark, sweet and spicy flavors.

I am not exaggerating when I say how generous the toppings are. It's practically a salad, even a dish on a 12" pizza crust.

C2 is topped with prosciutto ham, brie, semi-dried Roma tomatoes, dollop of roasted garlic mousse (Php1299)

Black and Blue Pizza - yes you may split your pizza into two different flavors. Black is topped with honey glazed chicken breast, fig Gorgonzola, mascarpone mousse, walnuts and arugula julienne (Php699) and Blue has rosemary smoked bacon, caramelized onion, mushrooms, baby spinach and stilton blue cheese mousse (Php699)

Pink & Green pizza - Pink has smoked salmon, asparagus, bocconcini and onion with pesto drizzle (Php699) and Green is topped with herb pesto butter, shrimp, brie and scallions (Php699)

We also had a cheese pizza, but that was the first that came to our table and was devoured in record time. We shared a total of 4 pizzas that day, and I think we left with only 5 slices remaining. That was how much we enjoyed our food. 

Bring the family or your friends over to Steveston Pizza when you're craving for pizza that's out of the ordinary. You will enjoy it, especially if you like thin crust pizzas!

Steveston Pizza UP Town Center
Ground Floor UP Town Center
Katipunan Avenue
Diliman, Quezon City
Tel +632 955 2273
Mobile +63 917 904 3428

Steveston Pizza Tomas Morato 
186 Tomas Morato cor Sct De Guia
Laging Handa, Quezon City
Tel +632 921 9898