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Take three friends (and former restaurant owners) and a straightforward menu and you’ll arrive at Pizza Fabrika, a West End pizza joint on Robson near Cardero Street, open for just two weeks. This fully-licensed pizzeria aims to please with yeast-leavened sourdough thin-crust pizzas, side dishes, and dessert jars.

Owners Michael and Steven formerly co-owned La Brasserie on Davie Street. Recognizing a need for a cozy, family-style pizzeria in town, they united to form Fabrika, a term used in several European countries that translates to factory in English.

The menu contains Canadian, Australian, and German-inspired dishes, including the Flammkuchen pizza (double-smoked bacon, crispy pork crackling, house-made crème fraîche, and caramelized onion), Dukkah, a tasty Middle Eastern dish (currently popular in Australia): bowls of crushed toasted hazelnuts mixed with aromatic spices and extra virgin olive oil (both great dipping companions!) with warm bread sticks, plus favourites Margherita Fabrika pizza and beer bison meatballs.

[Pizza Fabrika’s Dukkah]

White, red, and rose wines are poured by the glass, carafe, or bottle. Beers are mostly served in cans and bottles, ranging from Red Racer ISA to Pilsner Urquell. The 25-seater keeps Steamworks on tap; there isn’t much room to expand their draught offerings just yet.

[Photo courtesy Pizza Fabrika]

A couple of high tables in the center of the room and at the window form the main seating; a row of booths against the wall seats smaller groups. Industrial-strength Metro shelving holds wine bottles, beer, and supplies above, making productive use of their limited space.

Large sacks of pizza flour sit inside the front window. The interior’s sleek design features dark wood and concrete table tops, and it doesn’t take long for us to settle in and feel right at home here. The owners and staff are friendly and efficient. Even though we dined on Canada Day and a large birthday party took up the majority of the space, we were looked after and our food arrived hot.

The owners believe that using sourdough in their pizza recipe is better suited to take-out orders — Neopolitan pizza tends to go soggy after about 10 minutes.

Their sauce recipe uses raw San Marzano DOP-certified tomatoes, with extra-virgin olive oil and Kosher salt, while the cheese is a combination of full-fat Canadian mozzarella and Danish Fontina.

[Pizza Fabrika Bison meatball/roasted red pepper pizza]

The rustic-style pizzas have an airy and crispy crust, and their 12” size will serve one to two people, especially if you order a couple of sides. Prices range from $16 to $18 (there’s a kids pizza for $13 called the Bambino, with Fabrika cheese blend and tomato sauce).

[Pizza Fabrika Caprese salad]

The Caprese salad has delightfully fluffy fior di latte, fresh basil, thinly-sliced onions and yellow tomatoes, an excellent way to start dinner.

[Pizza Fabrika Duck proscuitto/fresh pea shoots pizza]

Both our pizzas were divine. My husband ordered the bison meatball with roasted red peppers in a spicy tomato sauce, and I went for the lighter duck proscuitto with a fine sprinkling of fresh pea shoots brushed in extra virgin olive oil. Super tasty with a subtle bite to the shoots!

We wound down with a Lemon tart dessert jar ($5 each; $6 and you keep the jar to take home). The chilled lemon mixed in with what tasted like bits of crushed graham pie crust offered a refreshing end to a warm, sunny day. There’s always two sorts available with a rotating offering (made in-house). The other choice at the moment is mascarpone chocolate mousse.

Reggae music (and later funk and soul) played over the loudspeakers on the night of our visit. Take-out service is also available. Find Pizza Fabrika at 1680 Robson Street. They’re open seven nights a week from 5 pm to midnight.