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Nelson's Best Pizza Contest: Thor’s inspired by Greek gods

For pizza on-the-go that tastes homemade, Thor’s Pizzeria is the place to call.
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Thor’s has been cooking up pizzas that taste like homemade for nearly 12 years.

For pizza on-the-go that tastes homemade, Thor’s Pizzeria is the place to call.

The Victoria Street eatery, which celebrates its 12th year in business this October, was opened by Chris Van Dyk, a certified chef de cuisine, and Lorri McCready, who brought her marketing background to the business.

“We knew from the beginning that we didn’t just want to make regular pizza,” McCready said. “Thor’s isn’t part of a chain or franchise, so we had the freedom to experiment and, over time, customize it to Nelson.”

Van Dyk developed recipes for the dough and sauce. Both are made from scratch using extra virgin olive oil, rather than canola oil.

“We don’t buy our sauce in a can. Chris makes it from scratch and seasons it with his own blend of herbs and spices,” said McCready, noting the end result is more flavourful and lower in sodium.

The dough is a made from a mix of whole wheat and unbleached white flour. It’s aged in the fridge for days — a method popular in Italy — which creates a yeastier flavour and makes it easier to digest. All the vegetables are hand chopped and the meats are high quality with no filler. The cheese is a blend of mozzarella and edam, again with no filler (some places use a soy product to bulk up their cheese).

“We do all these little things that make our pizza incrementally better, so the end result is really good pizza — though you might not be able to put your finger on the exact thing that makes it different,” McCready said. “I’ve had people tell me that usually they can’t eat pizza, but they can eat Thor’s pizza.”

Among the most popular pizzas at Thor’s are the Venus Veggie with spinach, feta, black olives, onions, tomatoes and roasted garlic; Poseidon’s Treat with ham, pineapple and bacon; and the Hera Fave with chicken breast, sun-dried tomatoes, res peppers, onion and roasted garlic. (All Thor’s pizzas are named after Greek gods, like the restaurant itself.)

Pizza by the slice is also very popular. The chefs are always experimenting with new kinds of pizzas to put in the slice box.

"It's a great creative outlet," McCready said of creating the daily specials. "Sometimes we make something for a day and it's so popular we wind up adding it to our regular menu."

McCready said one of the most rewarding parts of running Thor's has been getting to know the regulars.

"There are people I've literally watched grow up on Thor's pizza," she laughed, citing customers she remembers seeing come in as kids with their parents, then as teens with their friends, and now are carrying babies of their own when they come in for pizza.

"It's very rewarding," she said. "Our goal when we opened was to become part of the fabric of Nelson, and I think we've done that."

To vote for Thor's in the Nelson's Best Pizza contest, click here.

You must be registered to vote and only one vote is accepted per day.

Other participating restaurants include Itza Ristorante & Pizzeria, Hume Hotel, Louie’s Steakhouse, Panago and Leo’s Pizza & Greek Taverna.

The winning pizza will be featured on the cover of {vurb}.