A Toronto pizza place that opened to much fanfare has called it quits after less than two years in business.
Chicago, New York, Naples, Rome; all cities that call to mind their own unique styles of pizza, whether specializing in paper-thin crusts or blasphemous concoctions where the cheese goes under the sauce (sorry, Chicago).
For Sara McCulloch and Ryan Silber, however, it was Detroit’s take on the permanently-popular Italian treat that stole their hearts and prompted them to create Oswald’s Pizza.
Created, originally, as a pandemic project while their catering company, Encore, slowed down due to lockdowns, head chef, McCulloch, got to work experimenting with the regional pizza style, settling on a unique (and to die for, if I do say so myself,) format that used focaccia as a crust.
After operating out of North York for a couple of years, McCulloch and Silber took it up a notch in 2023, opening the venture’s first-ever brick and mortar location in Chef’s Hall, immediately taking the curated food hall and pizzaholics around the city by storm.
It was a short and sweet run for Oswald’s, though, as Chef’s Hall recently took to their Instagram to bid farewell to the pizzeria, announcing that its location in the food hall has officially closed its doors (metaphorically, of course, because it didn’t actually have any).
“Sad to see you go, @oswaldspizza,” the caption reads. “You’ve turned every bite into a little slice of happiness.”
“From cheesy goodness to saucy perfection, you’ve given us more than just full stomachs — you’ve left us with some seriously tasty memories.”
At the time of publication, McCulloch and Silber did not respond to my inquiry as to the reasons behind the closure and whether Oswald’s will live on in any form in the future, so only time will tell whether the Toronto food scene will be graced with that fluffy focaccia crust ever again.
On the bright side, this means that there’s an opening for a new spot at Chef’s Hall and I, for one, can’t wait to see what it’ll be.
Chef’s Hall is located at 111 Richmond West, and houses 15 different food and drink concepts, including outposts of Grandma Loves You, Pokito and Mary’s Brigadeiro.
