Once again it's been far too long since one of these pizza reviews has graced the screens of the interwebs. It's been a busy time, with little of the "free" variety of such to venture out and sample some of the many new intriguing pizza pie options popping up throughout the city of Toronto.
So as a long overdue comeback of sorts, instead lets take a look at some of the pizza offered in Montreal!
That's right, despite the fact we haven't had time here at WC Street to check out anything local... last month I took a brief getaway in Montreal and spent much of it in the most relaxing way imaginable... walking dozens of kilometres a day to try food places I'd read about. Yes. I am weird.
Anyhow! A few of those MTL food spots I tried were indeed pizzas (shocker) and so lets now take a brief look at each of them.
Pizza Bouquet
45 Rue Beaubien E
Tucked on the corner of a side street in Montreal's Little Italy, Pizza Bouquet gives off the vibes of a tiny, greasy little old-school pizzeria that would be overwhelmed well into the morning hours by drunken vistors from any nearby mega-pubs (think Papa Ceo/Cora in the Annex). Of course, Montreal is a city wired somewhat differently... and so Pizza Bouquet closes at 9:30pm(!), even on weekends. I imagine the staff are very grateful for that.
As you can see Pizza Bouquet offers slices (bless them) and I went for a standard pepperoni with these hot banana peppers you can also see. My first impression was that this is a very droopy slice: it's a thin foundation and the weight of all the toppings and cheese made it initially flimsy to eat, even when folding it over. Despite that, this is still a slice with some nice crispness on the edges and the crust is quite tasty in addition to that... just very well rounded texturally (totally a word).
Flavour-wise, you get a nice balance of sweet and spicy, which fits a salty cured meat like a birthday suit. The sauce reminded me of a lasagna: there was something very enjoyably hearty about it and the cheese likewise seemed melted to the point of mostly merging with that plentiful sauce. Oftentimes I find that problematic, since cheaper cheeses lack flavour and paired with a bad sauce... you get something aggressively bland... but here there was a good balance where the cheese was still a presence taste-like and the sauce (as mentioned above) stood out to me anyhow.
I liked this pizza quite a lot. Good crisp texture, great flavour balance, and quite filling for a single slice. Comparing it to my Toronto grading system, Bouquet probably lands in the "B" to "B+" range... meaning it's definitely worth popping in to try should you be walking down Rue Beaubien and feeling snackish. Looks can be very deceiving in this case.
SEGRETA (Pizza Al Taglio + Epicerie Italienne)
413 Beaumont Avenue
SEGRETA is very much like the Montreal version of Toronto's Mattachioni (at least the Dupont location... haven't been to the east end one yet): essentially a shelf shoppe specializing in Italian foods that also doubles as a restaurant. While Mattachioni has tables for actual sit down dining, SEGRETA is more like a cafe with limited seating by the window... with the hot food available to be ordered at the counter. Another major difference is that SEGRETA serves Roman style slices: which are baked in a wood-burning oven but in rectangular trays (resulting in the shape you see above).
I walked into SEGRETA about an hour after trying Bouquet, having spent that hour walking through a chilly day (again, I'm weird). This is a very small space and so the counter where all the slices are dominates the room, and you face it immediately upon entering. There wasn't a menu describing the slices they were offering (at least that I could see, and even if there was I probably wouldn't be able to understand the French well) and their selection was extensive: at least eight different combinations and both white and red type pies were well represented.
A friend of mine will likely shake her head in severe disappointment at me upon learning I didn't choose the white mushroom slice (which also had a drizzle of a tasty garlic looking aioli) and went for the one you see above. If you've read my (many) pizza reviews before, you know I like to go off the traditional book and fully embrace the creativity of a place over a typical cheese/pepperoni offering.
Thing is, I probably went too far off the book with this one. Blame the absurd amount of walking or the dim lighting inside SEGRETA on what was an aggressively overcast Montreal day... but in the moment I thought I was ordering a white pizza version of a Hawaiian (the yellow bits being pineapple... which again seems absurd now that I've looked at this picture multiple times).
I took a bite and, confused by the starch I was tasting... then assumed this was a pizza slice with some kind of noodles on it. Pasta noodles on a pizza slice is actually something you'll see in New York slice joints fairly often, but on this occasion I was disappointed since that wasn't what I was in the mood for. Then after another bite... I realized these were actually potatoes and I deservedly felt like an absolute fool. Not only did it take a "third time's the charm" approach to even realize what I was eating, but that I couldn't recognize freaking potatoes... both my Irish and Ukrainian ancestors would be so ashamed...
So here I was with a potato and sausage slice of pizza. How was it? Well, that combination certainly doesn't sound exciting and there's only so much you can do with that profile... and to me SEGRETA has completely raised that bar. This pizza was simply fantastic: the potatoes hit that sweet spot of light, buttery and fluffy with enough solid texture to very much be presence in the mouth. Speaking of texture, the bread foundation was likewise extremely on point... providing a wheaty crunchy bottom but also easily chewed through (as any good and freshly baked bread should be). The cheese and sausage were more of a supporting element... and well you can definitely do worse conceptionally.
Certainly one of the more unusual pizza slices I've eaten, but it was akin to a hearty home-cooked dinner and the high quality and subtle flavour was without dispute. Exceptional stuff, and I will definitely visit again next time I'm wandering those street (just for a more traditional slice offering next time, heh)... easily a strong "B++" if we're comparing this to Toronto pies.
Adamo Pizza
4629 Notre-Dame Street West
Adamo is another slice joint but in the "somewhat off the beaten path" neighbourhood of St. Henri in the southern-west portion of Montreal. If anybody remembers the now long departed (and briefly existing) Yeah Yeahs pizza near the Summerhill subway station here in Toronto, Adamo gives off a similar vibe in terms of atmosphere. Wherein Yeah Yeahs had a Super Nintendo for customers to play (and why don't more places do this?), Adamo has a fuzball table and similar decorations to both invite folks to hang around a bit longer in homey comfort and provide something for the kids to play around with.
As for the pie though... bit of a disappointment. This isn't the nicest looking photo of a pizza you'll see (the sun legit shone for maybe ten minutes in Montreal the four days I was there) and the texture of this when eating it? Somewhat stiff and gummy at times. The flavour is fairly predictable: cheese, sauce and pepperoni is a classic for a reason and don't get me wrong this does it successfully... but the taste just didn't leave much of a unique impression upon me. Well, aside from the tomato sauce... which was actually rather vivid, garlicy, seasoned and distinctive. It actually elevates what would've been a sad generic pizza into something in the low "B--" or "C++" range.
There really isn't a whole lot else to say about Adamo. If you're in the area and peckish? Sure. But not a "must visit" destination if cruising the Montreal pizza scene (despite the cool vibes and fuzball inside).
Pizzeria No. 900 (Laurier location)
1481 Laurier Avenue East
It's almost unfair for me to even review or comment on this one: at this point of my trip (and this particular day especially) I'd been walking for several hours, wasn't particularly hungry after nibbling on a Portuguese chicken poutine (and sipping beers along my long journey) and really only ordered this pizza you see above because my friend I was staying with asked me to pick up dinner for her and her sweet little toddler. With all the peppers and other sharp flavour notes on this pie... this perhaps was not the best choice for a toddler...
Pizzeria No. 900... so with all those caveats what can I actually say? Well... it is indeed quite good! No. 900 is in fact a sit-down dining restaurant chain with at least half a dozen locations throughout Montreal, which immediately brought the comparison to Pizzeria Libretto to my mind... and both places do very much tow that fine line of casual restaurant with extensive wine lists, high-end service (although at 900 I just got takeout) and just the general vibe of classy-meets-accessible.
As a pizza... I'd probably still lean Libretto (not that I'm biased... and I definitely didn't work there for two years... nope) as their overall quality is just a tiny notch above (the crust and sauce in particular)... but No. 900 is surely in that ballpark. This was a considerably enjoyable pie: that pesto spread really added a nice dimension to the salty sausage, sweet sting of the peppers and the foldable softness of the rest of the pie. Probably a pizza that's best enjoyed sitting down with friends over a glass of wine, and not walking for seven hours with a giant poutine in your bag and multiple Quebec wheat beers in your belly. I'll have to try them again... but I think my impression of a solid "B" maybe "B+" likely will hold true.
Anyhow! Those are a bunch of Montreal pizzas I tried about a month ago. I'm sure I missed a bunch of places that are legendary, and so I would love to hear any recommendations for the next time I go (which hopefully won't be another five years like last time). In the meantime, stay tuned for some Toronto pizza/food reviews in the near future.
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