00:00There are many different ways to interpret Leonard Cohen's masterpiece Hallelujah.
00:04My take on it?
00:05Well, he's a Montrealer, so he's probably talking about delicious food.
00:08Okay, maybe that's a little far out there, but this is Food Trip, the show where I travel
00:12across a Canadian city eating the tastiest, bucket-less foods that I can get my hands
00:16on.
00:17So I'm going to get ahead of myself.
00:18I'm Alex, and I love eating food, but I don't have a lot of time or money, so here's what
00:22I'm going to do.
00:23In under four hours, and with only $100 in my pocket, I'm going to try to hit as many
00:27of Montreal's hottest, tastiest food spots as I can.
00:30Two rules.
00:31One, no chain restaurants, and only one food per episode.
00:35Today, I'm eating pizza.
00:38Let's start things off by tossing four hours up on the clock and head to our first location,
00:47Pizza Danny on St. Catharines Street.
00:49Pizza Danny is the pizza place next door.
00:51It's the place you end up at at two o'clock in the morning after a night out.
00:54My personal experience with it is, whatever they have when you get there is what you eat,
00:58but my favorite has always been the spinach.
01:00So let's start things off healthy.
01:14Spinach pizza.
01:15A little bit of parmesan, chili flakes, oil.
01:18Mmm.
01:19I don't know what it is about the crust, but the crust is actually amazing.
01:26The crust actually tastes like a loaf of bread that they then put cheese and some sauce on.
01:30That's one of the main reasons why I think a lot of people end up here.
01:33The ingredients are solid, the crust is fantastic, and it's always consistent.
01:38Good pizza.
01:44Alright, time check.
01:473 hours and 29 minutes left on the clock.
01:49Money check, $91.51 left in my pocket, but we're doing great.
01:53Next stop is Il Focolaio, also on St. Catharines Street, further in the downtown corner.
01:58The reason we're going there is because ever since they opened their doors in 1984,
02:02they've been pumping out pizzas out of a wood oven.
02:04This is the good stuff.
02:05This is the way they make it back in Italy.
02:17Oh, look at that.
02:40Oh, it's so damn cheesy.
02:46Black truffle, usually a very overpowering flavor.
02:49Not that overpowering.
02:51The crust is amazing.
02:52It's a good pizza.
02:53It's a good pizza across the board.
02:56Sauce is good, ingredients are good, crust is good.
02:59Cheese is excellent.
03:01My biggest takeaway, this is actually kind of crazy.
03:03Usually when tomatoes are on pizza, it's a very watery vegetable, right?
03:07So you bite into it, the juices of the tomato just kind of go everywhere.
03:10It stays in place.
03:11You're eating the tomato, it doesn't ruin the whole pizza.
03:13Beautiful.
03:16I'm trying to eat pizza here.
03:18Pizza and peace.
03:19Come on.
03:30That's how good this pizza is.
03:32Everybody wants a bite.
03:33Come on.
03:36Oh, f**k.
03:37Oh, f**k.
03:46I need more pizza.
03:52All right, time check.
03:54Two hours, 41 minutes left on the clock.
03:56$72.25 left in my pocket.
03:58Moving on to the next spot, Amelia's on the edge of the Plateau Mojave.
04:02This place has history.
04:03Passed down from generation to generation, from father to daughter since 1985.
04:07All right, so it's going to take about 20 minutes for the pizza to get made, but it's
04:11cash only.
04:12So I got to go withdraw some from the ATM.
04:16Get pizza.
04:28This is Amelia's famous white pizza.
04:31Just to give you an idea of what we're dealing with here.
04:33Five cheeses.
04:34Mozzarella, brick, ricotta, parmesan, and feta.
04:38If you like cheese, this is the pizza for you.
04:43This is 100% cheese.
04:45This is like a cheese stick turned into a pizza.
04:47This is somebody who loves cheesy bread and said, why are we not just making a whole pizza
04:51out of this?
04:52That's what this is.
04:53People have been saying they drive in to downtown Montreal just for this pizza, and I got to
04:58say, I get it.
05:06All right, time check.
05:07One hour, 27 minutes left on the clock.
05:09Got a little sidetracked there with the whole ATM thing, but it's all good.
05:12We're making moves.
05:14On to the next one.
05:1547.25 left in my pocket, and our next stop is Magpie in the Mile End.
05:19Now Magpie is younger than all the other places we've been to, but what they lack in age,
05:24they make up for it in creativity.
05:26We're going to taste their own unique creative take on the classic Neapolitan style pizza.
05:31Let's go.
05:33That 15 minute wait, hopefully we'll be able to make the last spot on our list.
05:47All right, we got our pie.
05:49Let's go give it a taste.
05:53Oh, ho, ho, ho.
05:55That's a beauty.
05:56You got the prosciutto.
05:57What is that, arugula?
05:58Some cheese.
05:59What is that, mozzarella?
06:00Tomatoes.
06:01Tomato sauce.
06:02This is maybe the prettiest one I've seen today.
06:07That's amazing.
06:08Way too much arugula.
06:10That's my only comment here.
06:12But the dough is fantastic.
06:14The prosciutto is so on point.
06:16The cheese is so on point.
06:18The sauce is so on point.
06:19Of all the pizzas I've eaten today, this is the lightest.
06:22In terms of flavor, it's one of the tastiest I've had, definitely.
06:25And it all comes down to the ingredients.
06:27These are fresh ingredients.
06:30This almost doesn't taste like a pizza because of how fresh everything is.
06:35All right, let's move on to the next place.
06:38All right, time check.
06:3927 minutes left on the clock.
06:41Not a whole lot of time.
06:43But you cannot have a conversation about pizza in any city without going to Little Italy.
06:47It's just wrong.
06:49Pizzeria Napolitana opened up just after the Second World War.
06:52And for 70 years, it's been a place that Italian immigrants have gone to to, you know,
06:56just get a taste of back home.
06:58They use the freshest ingredients and they go for authenticity.
07:01So, let's see what they can do for me.
07:04We don't have a whole lot of time, so I'm gonna hop in the car and we're gonna head over there real quick.
07:28All right, the tutta bella.
07:34This is mushrooms, pepperoni, mozzarella, tomato sauce.
07:41I mean, I don't want to get ahead of myself here.
07:44This is the best pizza I've had all day.
07:46This is the best pizza I've had all day.
07:48It's got a ton of meat.
07:50But it's not impossible to eat.
07:52The crust, thin, crispy.
07:56And I don't know how it can be so thin and not fall apart.
07:59As the owner mentioned, they go to Italy for these ingredients.
08:03For the tomatoes. For their sauce.
08:05This is, undeniably, one of the best pizzas in Montreal. Period.
08:09When you fold it over.
08:11Look at the thickness there.
08:13Because it looks thin. You see that?
08:15Stacked.
08:17I guess you just can't beat a classic.
08:21And that's it. We finished on time.
08:25While I was in there, the clock ran out.
08:27I have only 27 cents left in my pocket.
08:29I don't know how we did it, but we did it.
08:31Pizzeria Napolitana had the pizza of the day.
08:33Hands down.
08:35Chez Danny, best crust.
08:37Amelia's, great for a white pizza, if that's your thing.
08:39Magpie, solid pizza overall.
08:41But very saucy.
08:43And Il Focaleo, black truffle or not.
08:45That is a solid AF pizza.
08:47All right, next time you're in Montreal.
08:49Here are five new places that you can check out on your own pizza food trip.
08:54Bye!
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