"montreal style pizza" ... what is it?

another forum came up today talking about montreal style pizza, though nobody really knew what it was.

i found a few web pages that mention it, that don't seem to agree:

"A Montreal style pizza has light tomatoe sause, mustard, Montreal style smoked meat, pickles."

and this: "As for Montreal style pizza, it is as debateable as New York style. There are places that believe in a thicker, pan or Chicago style crust whereas there are others with (my preference) a crust that sounds similar to Di Fara's round. Crispy and fire-browned, with toppings mixed into the cheese before being put on the pie so that they do not slide off when eaten. "


"...Montreal best pizzas are made by Greeks! The genuine Montreal style is made by hand and cooked in ''Bakers pride'' gas oven, have crust thin on the bottom and have nice borders, the most popular toping ''all dressed'' consist of tomato sauce, pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers and mozzarella cheese in generous quantity..."


...does anyone know what makes montreal style pizza--montrealesque?

"thin on the bottom ..... tomato sauce, pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers and mozzarella cheese in generous quantity..."

What will those crazy Quebecois think of next. They do things different up there. Who knew that every bad thin crust place in Chicago was making Montreal pizza. I can only imagine how it tastes, given the fact that Toronto has many, many more Italians, yet infamously lousy pizza.

As a native Montrealer I have never heard mention of a "Montreal-style" pizza, although before I even read the three quotes you provide, the very phrase conjured in my mind an image of the third description. A thin crust, moist in the center, puffy and bready around the edge. Nothing especially Greek about it, though the many Greeks who dominated the restaurant scene in Montreal at one point may have had a hand in developing the style.

Here's a picture from a small local chain we ordered from when I was a kid:

http://www.placetevere.com/

Maple Leaf: I checked out your link. Please tell us more about the trio of pizza, poutine and soft drink. A favorite of yours??? (And people say Chicagoans eat heavy. Must be a winter-time dish!)

The picture of the pizza in the link looks like the toppings were put on an already cooked crust for the purpose of the photograph. It doesn't look like these ingredients were cooked together on top of the crust as in nearly every style of pizza known to man. Is this typically what this style of pizza looks like? Are the toppings cooked separately and then added to the crust as it appears in the picture?

OK, I've only lived in Montreal for 6 months, so what do *I* know? But... I've done pizza with some genuinely big-time Montreal pizza guys, at places they swore were "Le meillieur", and so far as I can tell there's nothing totally distinctive about the pizza I've had. As has been mentioned, every Greek place in town does pizza and gyros; of course every other corner joint in town does pizza and gyros, too. Once a month we get a PubliPak with menus and garish pictures from all the "we deliver" joints in the quartier. We've tried quite a few of them: nothing either different or special.

Now maybe it's the topping, for example, Montreal smoked meat, that 'distinguishes' a Montreal pizza.

Other than that, who knows?

Geo

Stevez--

That photo looks pretty "styled" to me. The crust looks right but the pile of thick-cut toppings does not look quite like what I think of as Tevere's pizza. They are most certainly cooked with the crust in practice. I am actually heading to Montreal with my family on Thursday; I'll try to get a better picture if we order any pizza.

JILS:

I was not a big eater of poutine in my youth, certainly not as a pizza chaser! Growing up, our West Island suburb was very "anglo" (although I went to French schools) so typically French-Canadian dishes like poutine were not as
widely available as they were elsewhere in the city. I've probably only had it twice in my life.

As a somewhat amusing aside, the French transliteration of Vladimir Putin's name is, you guessed it, "Poutine." This makes for some amusing headlines in which a French fry, cheese curd, and gravy concoction appears to be playing a major role on the world stage.

Maple Leaf wrote:As a somewhat amusing aside, the French transliteration of Vladimir Putin's name is, you guessed it, "Poutine." This makes for some amusing headlines in which a French fry, cheese curd, and gravy concoction appears to be playing a major role on the world stage.

What a relief. I always thought that in French his name would be pronounced "putain".

Ich bin ein poutine...

Probably "Ich bin eine Poutine."


:^)

Geo

I knew Jack Kennedy, and you sir...

I thought it was M. Pooty-Poot.

Montreal is not a destination for pizza. Except for a few places the tomato sauce is usually padded with cornstarch. They slip mortadella in under all the toppings so the pizza tastes like hot baloney. When in Montreal, skip the pizza and stick to the local cheap eats, poutine, steamies "all dress", smoked meat, hot chicken.