Natasha is a San Diego-born, Montreal-based food writer and professional baker.
@imtardy I ADORE Bottega! I want to do a post on it soon.
@John Wozniak I couldn't agree more! My thoughts precisely...
@Adam Kuban Yeah, their more simple pies are much more successful. (I'll write about those, soon!) The crust was pretty good — a little denser and sweeter than a typical Naples crust, so it didn't have that mindblowing ethereal-bubblegum quality I look for, but still chewy and satisfying.
@humberto That would be quite a road trip, but yes — curious to know what the rest of Canada's pizza is like!
hahahahahaha holy shit! i had to stare at that photo a good 10 seconds to figure out what was even happening.
Holy cow. What a beautiful pie. I can't believe I didn't know about this spot when I lived in Portland!
Siiiiigh. I spent seven glorious years in Ithaca. The first four (while at Cornell) I exclusively patronized Hot truck, and the final three as a townie I was devoted to Shortstop, going there at least once a week for lunch. Never ever ever got tired of the sandwich magic there. Great story, Meredith!
@lexophile I remember seeing that duck confit pizza on the menu and desperately wanting to eat it! Damn, next time. :)
@ maginary_girl I wasn't in Toronto very long, but the night we arrived we drove straight to the Henhouse (killer jukebox!) for the avocado BLT, and the next morning I had a great iced coffee at the Belljar. We arrived pretty late on a Sunday night, so almost everything in our area was closed... but I wish I could have tried out more places! Next time. :)
Bravo — this is a great piece! I agree with you on all counts.
Quebeckers enjoy something very alarming called 'Pizzaghetti.' I wish it didn't exist.
Oh, how I wish this had been up when we were in Toronto on Monday! We went to Belljar Cafe and I liked it a lot — yum espressos + iced coffee.
@Everyone
Just to make an important distinction— Pizzeria Napoletana is *not* Montreal style, but rather some kind of mediocre riff on Italian thin-crust, while 'greasebomb' places like Amelio's and Elio's most decidedly are. (And I'm not a fan of either, although I've heard that the sit-down location of Amelio's is better than the new Bernard location, which is the only one I've ordered from).
When I say Montreal pizza is "bad" I mean that in a way where we actually LOVE "bad pizza," similar to how a "great" poutine is actually pretty terrible/indulgent/trashy. For example, I love all the pizza I've had in Lasalle, and it's definitely the greasiest and trashiest I've ever had!
Anyway, this is a really rad conversation and hopefully the first of many! I plan on covering Montreal-style pies more in the future, so if you have any more recommendations, keep 'em coming!
@Meredith, well I guess it's more of a 'regional' differentiation, as in, Lasalle is a suburban borough in the southwest part of Montreal, right along the Lawrence River, so you get all of these great places that cater to the summer / vacationing crowds. Really cute pizza shacks + casse-croûtes... I LOVE it!
@Monsieur_Ghislain, you bring up an interesting point but I'm not sure 'true' Montreal style is exclusive to the Greek diner genre... Elio's and Napoletana et al have been around for decades and seem pretty firmly entrenched in 'old-school' Montreal pizza culture...
@Monsieur_Ghislain, I enjoyed Jane quite a bit actually! It's totally worth a visit. Although, not to split hairs, they do sort of a refined Lasalle-style pie. Have you been to Manzos or Bardeco? Both are awesome!!
And thanks all for the other recommendations. I'm stoked to try em out.
hey @vivat.dan thanks for the welcome! I've hit up Elio's, Amelio's + Napoletana with little luck. Maybe the grease-bomb style isn't for me! (However, I've been to at least 4 pizza places in Lasalle, and I LOVE Lasalle style pies!) Where else should I go??
Just to chime in...
@martin S, actually, in Quebec, you won't be able to buy them *anywhere*, because it is totally illegal to commercially sell ramps or cook with them in restaurants. Personal foragers can pick up to 50 bulbs per outing, but be sure to leave that root system intact, or else they'll never grow back. The exposed root systems seen in the photos above make me wince! As for where they can be found — ramps love the damp soil of sugar-maple groves. :)
I'd have to second Ecola. The fried halibut, smoked mussels, and pickled herring were all outrageously good!
@KitchenVixxen It is definitely intimidating in that "how am I going to eat all of that?" kind of way, but deserves to be experienced. If it doesn't kill you it only makes you stronger? PDC's sugar shack is booked for their 2011 season, but I hope you get a reservation next year!
@Katie Potato They sort of adjust the family-style portions depending on how big your party is, so part of the fun is guessing what the golden number is to get the maximum amount of food. Judging from past reports and others' recommendations, my guess is somewhere between 5-6 people. Our party was about 10 people large, so I think they doubled the amount you would get if you were a party of 4 or a party of 6...
Either way, you are getting WAY more food than you can handle. :)
@Kate Potato It's a set menu, and everything is served 'family-style.' If you can agree about who gets to take what, I don't see why you couldn't take some things home — I certainly did! They were super nice about it and extremely accommodating, even for my stranger requests (i.e. the Cornish game hen bones... so I could make chicken stock!).
@tcal4404 Oooh, I should have mentioned this: the set menu is a BARGAIN at about $54 Canadian per person. But be prepared to spend about the same amount on wine! (Essential). You can also buy one of their gigantic tourtiers for $20. It comes in a pizza box and is. awesome.
@LeahDouglas That is awesome to hear! Hopefully the weather will perk up by then. Definitely get in touch, I'll take you to some sweet places!
@lexophile I know what you mean! Even though I've eaten at Pied de Cochon before, I still had no idea what to expect. I think PDC can be hit or miss these days because Picard just doesn't set foot in the kitchen very often — he's always at the cabane a sucre, where he is truly a mad scientist in the kitchen....
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New York-based Fleisher's Grass-Fed and Organic Meats recently hosted its annual Butcher Blackout at the Montreal restaurant Joe Beef. Despite the dinner coming directly on the heels of my gluttonous maple syrup feast at Pied de Cochon's sugar shack (it was the next night) I knew better than to turn down an opportunity to eat a massive meal of Fleisher's famed beasts multiplied by Joe Beef's spunk. More
Early March marks the beginning of sap season, and once the fields of maple trees are tapped, the province celebrates by opening the doors of the numerous family-owned cabanes à sucre, or sugar shacks. In 2009, chef Martin Picard—the owner of Montreal restaurant Au Pied de Cochon —retreated from the frenzied pace of his city restaurant and built a cabane à sucre in the Mirabel countryside, nearly an hour's drive outside Montreal. Take a look at the maple-centric menu: from New Brunswick oysters to the tourtière meat pie, everything involves maple syrup. More
@guycooking I'm telling you - the pickles is what makes it perfect!