Story and photo by Jack Barten
This great nation was built on the concept of the general store: one place where you can get everything you need to go out into the wilderness and make a name for yourself. And the best fuel for going out into the Canadian wilderness? Pizza. So it goes without saying the Dawson General pizza from the general store of the same name is a modern classic in the making.
First, this pizza is, in a genius way, inspired by Dawson General’s own smash burger. With pizza sauce, mozzarella, ground beef, bacon, onion, pickles, aged cheddar, and a top-secret burger sauce, the pizza wonderfully emulates a smash burger while also carving out its own identity. When you are presented with the Dawson General pizza, you will be awestruck by the sheer magnitude of this pie. In the style of a New York pizza, it has large slices that folders will love, and crust enjoyers will savour. The crust brings a cornmeal bite and bready undertone that provides the perfect base for the discerning pizza aficionado. With the first bite, you’ll taste the secret burger sauce—a mythological secret at this point, the burger sauce is creamy, tangy, and just a bit addicting, uniting the flavours of every other topping and creating cohesion. The two cheeses present (cheddar and mozzarella) make this pie comfort-food certified, as the sharpness of the generously applied cheddar and the creaminess of the mozza reminds us what makes a good pizza: lots of cheese. The classic burger toppings—onion, pickles, bacon, and ground beef—echo the dish’s origin, with the beef and bacon bringing a nice, hearty protein and bit of smokiness, and the onions and pickles bringing a freshness that cuts through some of the more decadent flavour combinations. With every topping, this pizza lives up to its namesake, perfectly echoing the smash burger for those of us who can’t decide what to have for dinner.
Overall, the idea of a general store reminds us of a simpler time, before innovation made everything just a bit more complicated. But what happens when a general store brings innovation to us? Well, you get the delicious fusion of pizza and burger that will have all of us driving up Dawson Road tonight.
3130 Dawson Road
807-767-8669
