It takes me at least 12 hours to write about pizza. Actually that is not true, but the truth behind that falsehood has too little drama, and so it is not acceptable for media circulation in the fast paced parlance of Web 2.0, or whatever other phenomenon CNN gets all worked up over these days.

There aren't many things quieter than a fish, except for maybe a pizza, and the quiet pizza I ate at Pizzeria Toscana, just across the street from indie/foreign cinema-cafe-restaurant 'The Movies' on the Haarlemmerdijk (the oldest cinema in the Netherlands, no less), was not only super quiet, but almost mad good -that is bad-good...well...tasty. You get the idea.

I emphasize the quietness of the pizza, because sometimes I don't like the def beatz blasting while I eat my food. I like that sound of the sea of conversation, even if I only ever understand 67%. Moreover, if you prefer less smoky dining, I did not see very much lighting up -though I would need to conduct a participant observation (it's an anthropological method) to determine if my observation is representative of the typical state of smoke in the place.

From the outside the place appears to be nothing special, and, well, it's really nothing special from the inside either -which is all fine by me because I came for one thing only, and that is good pizza, which I found in near unbounded variety and for awesome cheap with most 12" pies exacting a mere 5.50 euro; the most expensive no more than 8. Yeah. It's a run-on sentence. So what?

I ordered an 'inferno', a ham salami combination which I heartily do NOT recommend; my date got something with parma ham and rucola on it and that was a jealous moment in my mouth. If you are not sure whether to spend the extra euro or two or three on the parma ham, it is much better than the salt-licks I received. Of course, you can do away with ham altogether, or even meat for that matter -which is what I usually do but I've been ravenous of late.

The patrons I observed to be a mix of couples, double couples, and a sprinkling of young families. A little web research yielded a number of other travellers who had written positive comments on the place -so I assure you I am not alone.

Toscana lacks that 'thing' which pushes a pizza institution over the edge and to the top, and so all things considered, I rank it at an even B, which means you can go there and be good. And as for The Movies, I refrain from a formal review at this time, but they keep a good bill of current foreign and indie pictures. Sometimes they run midnight series in case you feel like time in cult. Worth it if you are in the mood, Haarlemmerdijk 157-165.