This buzzy new Trinity-Bellwoods pizzeria has a park-facing patio and margarita towers

When long-standing Italian restaurant Noce closed last year after an impressive 30 year run, the once-buzzing Bellwoods-adjacent corner of Queen and Walnut became a kind of culinary graveyard. So Nathan Godin and his wife and business partner, Elena Arsenov (who already own Greek and Co., Papi Chulo’s and Aleria), decided to bring it back to life with their new pizza concept, Little Ese.

“Originally, we were going to open Little Ese on Ossington, but that strip is already so saturated with restaurants, and there are already a few places doing pizza,” says Godin. “At the end of the day, we went with this location because we felt Queen West could really use some more solid food, a little love and some good old-fashioned fun.”

Related: An Italian bakery and trattoria is opening on the Etobicoke waterfront this summer

While the blazing neon-pink sign above the entryway may not hit your eye like a big pizza pie, it certainly does inform patrons that Little Ese’s pizza game is anything but pretentious. “We’re definitely not a traditional pizza joint,” says Godin. “We’re playing around with our menu—we have some typical items, like mozzarella sticks, but we also make poutine and a killer deep-fried chicken alla vodka sandwich that’s certainly not conventional but is nevertheless very crushable.”

The menu at the 200-seat restaurant (half of which seats are on the streetside patio, which will be enclosed come winter, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves) aims to please. There are chips and guac, chicken parm, burrata, wings, and of course, pizza.

Related: Ten of Toronto’s best new patios to sit on this summer

The list of New York–style thin-crust pies includes the traditionally topped (margarita, pepperoni), the more modern (hot honey and ricotta) and some wacky shout-outs to the couple’s other spots, like birria pizza (slow-cooked spicy beef, onion, cilantro, mozzarella) and the al pastor (stewed pork, red sauce, pecorino romano, pineapple and Papi Chulo’s jalapeño hot sauce).

The drinks are just as playful as the pizzas. There’s an electric-blue raspberry margarita; the Gummy Chelada, a gonzo take on a michelada that incorporates gummy worms; and—what we can see being a major draw before or after park hangs—margarita towers. Each $120 tower holds about 16 servings of classic, mango or spicy margarita, enough for a group of thirsty friends. Too much? Happy hour here means $10 pizzas and $7 margs (glasses, not towers).

875 Queen St. W., littleese.com, @eatlittleese