Best Montreal pizza

[CLOUD 500]

I keep hearing about 99-cent pizza, but I've never seen one.

Why don't they have any downtown locations?

Yes they did 20 years ago. When the Arabs opened up the first 99 cent pizza on Guy-Concordia on St-Mathieu St. It caught on very fast. It was constantly busy and the pizza was very good. But as the years progressed like must greedy owners they jack the prices and lower the quality. That same pizza today costs $4 and is nowhere the same quality as what was had 20 years ago. BTW that 99 cent pizza shop at Guy-Concordia is long gone the restaurant is vacant.

 

[Eurasian]

Bella Italiana on Jean-Talon east

 

[kabukicho]

i recently started contemplating similarities to me, of old montreal pizza, to old pizza in boston, usa. for whatever reasons, both are about 16" at its max. both are rather thick crust, no attempt to make them thin.

and the squares, montreal has a bit of a history in slab pizza, tomato pies. and boston has pizza trays of squares. in both cases they are thinner than the NY sicillian, more like 'grandma' squares in thickness.

and in both cases, the squares can come from bread bakeries which 'had' pizza on the menu.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Kabuchiko,

Obviously you have never had New Haven style
Pizza. It's considered by many to be the best and is de rigeur in CT:

New Haven–style pizza - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

The pizza I have had in Montreal is nothing like it and also unlike anything I have had in NYC or Boston. I consider the New Haven style to be the best style of pizza in the world. I am just lucky that I don't have to go too far to get it.

Although I have been told by locals that it's a matter of taste, at the risk of sounding like a pizza snob, I don't agree on Montreal pizza. It's like someone telling me I don't know good wine when I taste it. There is the New Haven style as practiced by the Holy Trinity and then there is everyone else. When I am in Montreal I lower my standards and seek pizza that is merely acceptable, and using that merely acceptable standard, 80% of the time I have struck out. It's just not a Montreal strength like bagels or crepes or fromage.

 

[in4hell]

Pizza Boys
3836 Blvd. Cote-Vertu Ouest, Saint-Laurent, Quebec H4R 2X7 - (514) 544-6425

Sapori Di Napoli
1465 Rue Dudemaine, Montréal, QC H3M 1P9 - (514) 335-1465

​

 

[kabukicho]

Kabuchiko,

Obviously you have never had New Haven style
Pizza. It's considered by many to be the best and is de rigeur in CT:

New Haven–style pizza - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

The pizza I have had in Montreal is nothing like it and also unlike anything I have had in NYC or Boston. I consider the New Haven style to be the best style of pizza in the world. I am just lucky that I don't have to go too far to get it.

Although I have been told by locals that it's a matter of taste, at the risk of sounding like a pizza snob, I don't agree on Montreal pizza. It's like someone telling me I don't know good wine when I taste it. There is the New Haven style as practiced by the Holy Trinity and then there is everyone else. When I am in Montreal I lower my standards and seek pizza that is merely acceptable, and using that merely acceptable standard, 80% of the time I have struck out. It's just not a Montreal strength like bagels or crepes or fromage.

actually you're 100% wrong EB, I have... several times, several shops.

 

[kabukicho]

though i started contemplated similarities between old school mtl "all dressed" shops, and old school boston pizzas, mostly in size of their round pies, persistent highschool thickness.....

the look of their pies, but the taste of them, go to boston. the doughs and the oven sources, and the mozzarela cheese.



consider regina pizza in boston. hefty weight for only about a 16" disk.

but fierce fire, char, gives you that bitterness not unlike a master bread bakery with a hard wheat, high glutine flour, brick oven loaf.

leading to which, the new haven style also has that signature hint of bitterness as well, i mean hey, they have coal fired ovens.
however what their dough lacks is flavor from fermentation... it's a rather bland dough...

I suspect but haven't researched, their doughs aren't risen+aged long enough, and by that i refer to beyond 24 hours..... to have a proper natural fragrance.

 

[EagerBeaver]

actually you're 100% wrong EB, I have... several times, several shops.

If you have not tried it at Sally's, Pepe's or Modern, you have not tried the real thing. Those are the "Holy Trinity" of New Haven style pizzerias that everyone else copies.

It's not bitter. It's charred, which gives it a distinctive flavor. Coal burns hot and dry, and not with steam. As it says on the Pepe's website:

"Frank Pepe knew in 1925 that only coal burns hot and dry, and doesn’t give off steam like a wood fire. He knew that only a coal fire could give his “tomato pies” their famous crisp, charred, chewy crust.

We knew when we began to bring Pepe’s Pizza closer to you that we had to recreate his original oven, brick by brick, with a fire door cast from a mold of the original. And even in today’s fast-paced world, we knew that our customers might at times be willing to wait a few minutes longer for our world famous pizza. So that’s how we do it today. Grandpop, you taught us well."

 

[The Nature Boy]

Cravin Chicago style pizza now you guys stop!

 

[Theresa April]

Pepe's is not so bad, agree, especially if you've never had a chance to try the real thing, in Naples or pretty much any other Italian city.

As far as Montréal is concerned (if I am allowed to bring up something that is actually on topic here), what is the best pizza place in Little Italy these days? Napoletana was pretty good for many years, but recently it has gone downhill, I think. Gema maybe? Any other good places to recommend?

 

[anastasiabloom]

These are my favourite places in Montreal:

-Il Foccolaio( philips square)
-New-Yorkaise( Griffintown)

To try: Gentile Parlour ( they’ve opened recently a pizza place, their Italian restaurant is amazing) and Slice&Soda located in Old port

Hope I’ve helped

 

[RobertNYC]

These are my favourite places in Montreal:

-Il Foccolaio( philips square)
-New-Yorkaise( Griffintown)

To try: Gentile Parlour ( they’ve opened recently a pizza place, their Italian restaurant is amazing) and Slice&Soda located in Old port

Hope I’ve helped

I’ll check these out next visit.

I’m not sure if a bartender at a popular bar on Peel Street was just blowing smoke, but he told me that Montreal pizza is generally terrible because a certain family has a monopoly on the cheese that must be purchased by owners of most city pizza restaurants. He responded after I commented just how bad pizza and wings (even Hooters on Crescent couldn’t get it right) are in Montreal compared to north Jersey and NYC.

I’ve had truly bad pizza in Montreal for sure. Frustrated with prior choices, a couple of times I simply settled on Pizza Pizza after Euphoria sessions and before Hurley’s. Sadly, the best pizza I had in Montreal, and it only took 75 minutes to get there cold.

 

[katsrin]

These are my favourite places in Montreal:

-Il Foccolaio( philips square)

That has always been my goto place when I visit Montreal. Love the ‘Said’. So good!

I hope they are weathering through the Covid storm alright!

 

[EagerBeaver]

I’ll check these out next visit.

I’m not sure if a bartender at a popular bar on Peel Street was just blowing smoke, but he told me that Montreal pizza is generally terrible because a certain family has a monopoly on the cheese that must be purchased by owners of most city pizza restaurants. He responded after I commented just how bad pizza and wings (even Hooters on Crescent couldn’t get it right) are in Montreal compared to north Jersey and NYC.

I’ve had truly bad pizza in Montreal for sure. Frustrated with prior choices, a couple of times I simply settled on Pizza Pizza after Euphoria sessions and before Hurley’s. Sadly, the best pizza I had in Montreal, and it only took 75 minutes to get there cold.

What the bartender told you must be correct. To be very honest and even accounting for my being spoiled by eating authentic New Haven style pizza all the time, all pizza I have had in Montreal was average to terrible. The worst pizza I ever had in my life was in Montreal, and the most overrated I ever had was also in Montreal. It's just really bad. It's also pretty bad in Florida and most of the southern states I have travelled to. NYC, CT and Boston are the places to go for the best pizza.

The worst I had was at the bar in the Delta Montreal. It was putrid terrible and I couldn't even finish one slice of the pie. I took it outside and threw it away and went for dinner somewhere else. It's the only time I ever threw away a fresh made pizza.

Around 6 years ago all the local yokels on YELP had a hard on for some pizzeria on western St. Catherine near Westmount. I walked a half mile or so due west from Le Seville condos to get there and it was on same side of road as La Seville. Don't recall the name of the place and not sure if it's still there. Was very high end both in decor and prices. I ordered one of their featured pizzas for which I paid close to $20 and it was not good!!! The crust somewhat tasted like it was made of matzoh meal and reminded me of eating a matzoh. The toppings weren't good either. I recall the meats being finely chopped which I also didn't like, and you never see pizza made like that here. It was an abomination. A culinary bastardization.

So I developed a strategy over the years of basically giving up on pizza and instead focusing on what I know I can get good in Montreal. Crepes. Bagels. Smoked meat. Portuguese chicken, which seems prevalent in Montreal (and also very good) and for some reason not so prevalent here. Because I realized after trying a number of pizza places in Montreal (including the place on Peel which is totally fucking generic and worthless!!!!) that it's misplaced energy and money.

Another thing you can't good anywhere in Montreal is American style pancakes. Most places will not serve them or if they do they will use crepe batter and not buttermilk batter, another bastardization of cuisine!!!! The two places you can get buttermilk pancakes that are OK are Beauty's in Westmount which is a glorified Jewish diner and Reubens downtown. Reubens' pancakes are decent, maybe even solid. At Beauty's you want to get the Challah French toast. The Beauty's pancakes are legit buttermilk and fluffy (not as fluffy as Reubens), but are just Ok.

 

[Cap'tain Fantastic]

Personnaly I stick to the real napolitan pizza, you guys know there is a certification required for naming it "napolitan" in Europe. Otherwise I pass, I cant eat the industrial mozzarella and the dough made from bad flour.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Personnaly I stick to the real napolitan pizza, you guys know there is a certification required for naming it "napolitan" in Europe. Otherwise I pass, I cant eat the industrial mozzarella and the dough made from bad flour.

The problem is that in North America there are not many places to find it outside the NYC to Boston corridor with New Haven in the middle. But you are right, the rest of it is garbage, and this thread would be highly insulting to a lot of people who are inside the pizza business and know it. I was at one time, pre-law school. Suffice it to say there is wide variance in the industry as to what is acceptable quality, but the true practitioners of the Neapolitan style (of which New Haven is a distinctive species and refined successor genre, albeit produced with better/superior oven technology) do not accept inferior product. I have seen inferior product get urinated on, by way of demonstrative protest.

 

[jeff teliska]

Martini Pizziera on Lajeunesse.

 

[jmioffe]

What the bartender told you must be correct. To be very honest and even accounting for my being spoiled by eating authentic New Haven style pizza all the time, all pizza I have had in Montreal was average to terrible. The worst pizza I ever had in my life was in Montreal, and the most overrated I ever had was also in Montreal. It's just really bad. It's also pretty bad in Florida and most of the southern states I have travelled to. NYC, CT and Boston are the places to go for the best pizza.

Seems like a great opportunity for an enterpreneur. Good pizza isn't as hard to find around the world as it once was. Most of the highly-rated places are still in the Northeast, but there are places in Arizona, Portland and SF getting attention. Might be hard to participate in the hobby once you get famous as a pizzaiolo though.

How about doner? I can't find any decent ones outside of Germany. Not the abominable gyro -- a real doner is what I want.

So I developed a strategy over the years of basically giving up on pizza and instead focusing on what I know I can get good in Montreal. Crepes. Bagels. Smoked meat. Portuguese chicken, which seems prevalent in Montreal (and also very good) and for some reason not so prevalent here.

Where is good for crepes?

Another thing you can't good anywhere in Montreal is American style pancakes. Most places will not serve them or if they do they will use crepe batter and not buttermilk batter, another bastardization of cuisine!!!! The two places you can get buttermilk pancakes that are OK are Beauty's in Westmount which is a glorified Jewish diner and Reubens downtown. Reubens' pancakes are decent, maybe even solid. At Beauty's you want to get the Challah French toast. The Beauty's pancakes are legit buttermilk and fluffy (not as fluffy as Reubens), but are just Ok.

That's unfortunate, since Quebec is so closely associated with maple syrup!

I found Beauty's to be dramatically overrated and expensive. Is it because American-style diner breakfasts are rare in Montreal?

What would be the equivalent meal in Montreal -- something working class and cheap to start the day. Poutine? Sousmarin? Pate Chinois?

 

[Cap'tain Fantastic]

Another thing you can't good anywhere in Montreal is American style pancakes. Most places will not serve them or if they do they will use crepe batter and not buttermilk batter, another bastardization of cuisine!!!! The two places you can get buttermilk pancakes that are OK are Beauty's in Westmount which is a glorified Jewish diner and Reubens downtown. Reubens' pancakes are decent, maybe even solid. At Beauty's you want to get the Challah French toast. The Beauty's pancakes are legit buttermilk and fluffy (not as fluffy as Reubens), but are just Ok.

Truth is american pancakes are not so popular among locals, wich is normal after all lots of us have french origins so we prefer crêpes. As for Beauty's, it is gone, they took down the building. Dont know if they are planning a reopening.

 

[EagerBeaver]

That's too bad about Beauty's. This basically means that the only place to get American style Pancakes is Reubens.

jmioffe, for crepes with variety, I like Chez Suzette on St. Paul in Old Montreal but there are a number of great places. There is/was a place on corner of Crescent and St. Catherine that's good but it's specialized in dessert crepes. Chez Suzette is a bigger menu and has entree and dessert crepes.

Menu – Montreal - Chez Suzette

CRÊPES & FONDUES | MTL

www.chezsuzette.ca