For years I had wanted to try Little Caesar's pizza. Its reputation was enormous. People would literally drive all the way to Mundaring for one of their prize-winning pizzas. That seemed a little over-zealous even for me, so I was prepared to wait.
Unfortunately, no one told me that four years ago, chef Theo Kalogeracos opened another Little C's in the more central suburb of Leederville (and then a couple of years later, a third one in Hillarys).
But finally, almost 16 years later, I was able to try my first ever Little Caesar pizza.
And it was worth the wait.
The Smashing Pumpkin pizza
The menu is enormous.
14 vegetarian pizzas. 14 meat pizzas. 14 seafood pizzas. 14 chicken pizzas. 14 dessert pizzas.
I'm beginning to detect a theme.
A few things stand out when you look at the Little C's menu: great names and extraordinary ingredients. These are really interesting pizzas.
Smashing Pumpkin ($15.50/$21) roasted pumpkin, cashews, mozzarella, parmesan, cream sauce and parsley.
Pork Star ($16.50/$22) Linley Valley pork mince, caramelised onions, sweet potato, mozzarella, crushed fennel seeds, cream sauce, garlic, parsley.
The NY Salmon
NY salmon ($17/$22.50) sesame seeds baked into the base, smoked salmon, leeks, whole egg mayo, mozzarella, cream cheese, garlic, lemon wedge, parsley.
Greek Lamb ($16.50/$22) free range lamb, mozzarella, semi-caramelised onions, fetta, olives, rosemary, tzatziki, garlic, parsley, lemon wedge.
Hey there Cinnamon girl
Cinnamon Girl ($17/$22.50) chicken, cinnamon, sultanas, sweet potato, mozzarella, cream sauce, balsamic glaze, parsley.
Some of the more unusual ingredients you will find on a Little C's pizza include Brazil nuts, satay sauce and curry sauce, oysters, and Japanese mayonnaise. Oh and fettuccine and lasagne sheets.
Don't worry – they're not all on the same pizza.
We chose five pizzas because a) we were greedy and b) we wanted to try as many as possible. In the spirit of moderation we chose the smaller size: the 8 slice (10 inch) Little C (they also have a 12 slice (13 inch) Big C.
Hello it's the Aloha pizza
We were so glad we chose the smaller pizzas. These are seriously moreish pizzas. They are heavy with ingredients which makes them good value and very filling. Despite the use of cream sauce and mozzarella in many of the pizzas we chose, the overwhelming observation (after "yum") was "these are not oily".
Often you expect pizzas to be dripping in oil, but these were borderline dry: not the bases, which were thick and chewy and tasty, but there was no excess oil in the toppings, which I suppose can only be a good thing.
We also had to difficult task of choosing a dessert pizza from the 14 on offer.
Carrot Cake and wine is a cinnamon based carrot cake, honey wine, carrots, pecans and cream cheese frosting ($16.50).
Apple Strudel has custard, sultanas, apple slices, icing sugar, cream and cinnamon ($16.50).
The Red Velvet dessert pizza
We chose Red Velvet which was a layer of red chocolate cake on top of a thin pizza base, melted dark chocolate, dusted with icing sugar and a container of cream cheese frosting that we variously smeared over our pizza or scooped out with our fingers.
The richness and outright decadence of the dessert pizza stopped the obnoxious gluttony as our eyes glazed over and we all pushed our chairs out a bit. Our stomachs contemplated the enormity of what lay within.
'We should try to have everything on the menu,' my husband said optimistically.
It might take a while.
At least two dozen different pizzas have been entered in national and international competitions. Many of them have won, with the ultimate prize of course going to Theo himself winning the title of World Champion Pizza Maker in 2010.
One of the nicest things though is the occasional West Australian references in the menu: pizzas are named after local bands Birds of Tokyo and Tame Impala. Even Eskimo Joe get their own pizza.
The biggest downside is that Little C's don't deliver, so unless you're in travelling distance of Leederville, Mundaring or Hillarys, you might find it a bit of a challenge.
Each of the stores have different opening times so you need to
check the website but for example the Hillarys store is open for lunch every day, the Leederville store is only open for lunch at the end of the week, and Mundaring is only open for lunch on weekends.
All stores are open at dinner time until late. Seating is limited and they recommend phoning your takeaway order in advance.
As Caesar himself said: I came. I saw. I conquered.
