It’s time to put an end to big-city snobbery. New York. Chicago. Yeah, even you Detroit. Just because you’re overrun with humans with an inflated sense of self-importance, that doesn’t mean you have a monopoly on food. Take pizza for instance. You claim yours is the best, but a closer look shows it’s being outdone by Windsor pizza. You heard that right—Windsor.
Windsor?
This place is not big.
It’s the 10th-largest city in its own province.
Province?!
That’s correct—it’s not even in the US.
We’re talking about Windsor, Ontario, Canada’s southernmost city—the little dot on the map just across the Detroit River from Michigan, linked to its international neighbor by the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.
A metro area of perhaps 400,000.
The automotive capital of Canada (a euphemism for the nation’s Rust Belt).
The southwestern tip of the Quebec City-Windsor corridor, Canada’s 710-mile answer to the Boston–Washington corridor and home to about half the country’s population.
The site of some casino that’s apparently popular.
The place where no one famous is from. (Okay, it did produce Shania Twain and a bunch of NHL players you never heard of.)
The city where Midwestern American kids go to get wasted (legally) on their 19th birthday.
And the home of numerous immigrant communities.
It even has a Little Italy.
And yes, world-famous pizza.
The Pizza
Beginning in the 1950s, humble Windsorites began to make a style of pizza that was all their own.
Almost three quarters of a century later, that style is finally receiving the recognition it deserves.
What are the secret ingredients?
First, the crust—a delicate balance of flour and cornmeal.
Next comes the sauce, made from tomatoes that bring sweetness, later balanced with a touch of bite.
On top of that goes high-fat mozzarella from the one and only Galati Cheese Company, southwest Ontario’s specialty cheese master.
Then comes the shredded pepperoni, distributed evenly across the pie and shaped to ensure infusion of its oil into the pizza itself. (Say goodbye to oil puddles.)
And finally, the canned mushrooms, key to avoiding the burnt flavor and soggy crust that come with the raw variety.
Obviously, variations abound, but few would argue with the formula above.
Not convinced?
Many others are.
At the annual International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas, Windsor has made its presence felt. In 2014, Armando’s Pizza took home third place in the Traditional division of the International Pizza Challenge.
In fact, Windsor-style pizza has inspired a documentary on just how life-changing this culinary creation is.
So don’t be surprised, big city, if you start dropping down those lists of the places with the best pizza. Because the word is out—young Americans know that a passport and the almighty American dollar can get them a whole bunch of Windsor pizza. And pre-21 beers.
Dr. Nicole Hunter, a native of Windsor, contributed to this article.
