Unique pizzas are a taste sensation
PIZZA MAESTRO Vincenzo Butticé’s brilliant creations at Rosalie are easily the best things on the menu
Ithink too many of the same restaurants get the lion’s share of attention in this city. Some restaurants are just completely off the foodie radar, with little way for them to garner attention, which is what makes it extra important to share a discovery when something special is going on. And, boy, do I have something special to share: pizza, super pizza, and it’s served at a restaurant that I had all but forgotten, Rosalie.
Now I cannot deny that though I last reviewed this restaurant but a mere three years ago (this write-up is my fourth), it was only when Bono was spotted on the Rosalie terrasse during U2 mania last summer did I even recall this place existed. Frankly, it wasn’t a restaurant that was leaving much of an impression any more. Chefs came and went, as did cooking styles. When I heard Bono was there, I thought he must know somebody who knows somebody who found out he wanted to eat outside.
Bit of history: Opened in 2003 by the same team behind Globe and Buona Notte, Rosalie was originally conceived as a brasserie/bistro. Slowly things started to change. Within a five-year period, I went from eating guinea hen confit with apples and Savoy cabbage here, to deep-fried jumbo shrimp with three dipping sauces, one of which was guacamole. And when you start seeing the old guacamole dipping sauce come out, you know you’re in trouble.
So, yes, I’d notice Rosalie on the occasional drive-by, and wondered who frequented the place besides the hockey crowd, the concert crowd, and probably a fair share of tourists. I had no reason to return until a friend sent me a text containing a video of a chef at Rosalie whipping up pizzas at a dizzying pace. In less than a minute, he made three pizzas, shaping each so expertly and quickly with his hands spinning and twirling dough into the most perfect of circles, then laying on the fixings and sliding each pie into a large pizza oven located near the entrance of the restaurant. I was gobsmacked watching the video, and then saw him at it again live when I went to dine at Rosalie on a Tuesday night last week.
No usual pizza maker, this fellow, Vincenzo Butticé from Ribera, Sicily, is a pizza maestro. No, make that a pizza God. I’m told he’s presently acting as “pizza consultant” to the restaurant. Like wow.
I ordered a pizza topped with tomato, basil and buffalo mozzarella, which was served with a cold topping of arugula and whisper-thin prosciutto slices. Now I’ve eaten a lot of pizza in my day and I bet you’ve eaten your fair share of pizza, too. But Butticé’s pizza is better than all the others I’ve had because the crust is so light, chewy, bubbly and crisp. And the toppings are just so perfectly balanced and fresh tasting. This is one elegant pie.
But the review doesn’t end there, for Rosalie has many other Italian dishes on offer. Nothing is as brilliant as the pizza, and a few dishes I tasted were flat-out duds, but there were some high points.
Post pizza binge, we ordered three starters: an octopus salad, vitello tonnato and a Caesar salad. The prettiest of the three was the vitello tonnato. Served with the veal slices twirled into tufts, the requisite tuna mayonnaise was smeared underneath, and a scattering of arugula sprouts and a few caper berries were placed on top. As fabulous as it all looked, taste-wise, it’s rated a meh … no sparks. The mayonnaise was a bit too thick, and the veal slices were a bit too thin, which meant the balance was off. After a few bites, I moved on to the octopus salad.
Again the dish, served on a long rectangular plate, looked great, but the tomatoes were too salty and the octopus had an off-putting soft-and-chewy texture similar to a Hot Rod.
Only the Rosalie Caesar salad satisfied. Made up of large Romaine leaves, sesame tuiles and a lot of creamy dressing with a good shot of anchovy, the salad scored, yet I wished the dressing had just a touch more lemon to cut through the richness.
Main courses counted one pasta, a meat and a fish dish. Rosalie offers a half-dozen pasta dishes, yet I couldn’t resist the simplest of them all: fettucini Alfredo. Listed with the recipe alongside (100 grams of homemade fettuccine, 80 grams of butter and 80 grams of Parmesan cheese), the dish comes in at an eyebrow-raising $27. I’ll generously assume the food cost on that one is $7. Which raises the question: why the extra $20 considering there’s not that much in the way of cooking going on here? Could it be because the pasta is plated in a large twirl under a glass dome that’s lifted off when served? Perhaps.
Anyway, I cannot deny I expected the earth to move with the first bite, but though the pasta was gorgeously al dente, the all-around taste of the dish was overwhelmed by one ingredient: the butter. So basically, for $27, you’re getting a plate of buttered noodles. Whoa.
The fish, a dorade Royale, didn’t grab me, either. I liked the grilled vegetables alongside and the pesto-flavoured crumb topping on the fish. Yet the dorade itself was overcooked, resulting in a texture similar to mattress stuffing.
But all was not lost. The meat dish, tagliata di Manzo, was a hit. Served with a goat’s cheese gnocchi and spinach, the sliced beef loin was a tad chewy, but perfectly cooked and so utterly flavourful. The gnocchi was nice and the spinach was fine. Nothing dramatic here, just good solid food.
The dessert menu is short and predictable. As the panna cotta was sold out, we chose the bambolini (doughnuts) oozing with a sort of liquid Nutella that tasted good, yet the dough was undercooked. Far better was the tiramisu. Made with the right ratio of cream to cake, this perfect cube of unctuousness was the ideal way to finish a meal at Rosalie.
I hate when restaurant critics offer restaurants advice, yet in this case, please indulge me. If I could give one reason to get your keister over to Rosalie, it’s to taste that killer pizza. Rosalie people, your pizza is fantastic, the rest is not. If I were you, I’d lose 80 per cent of your menu and focus on salads, a few pastas, and pizza, pizza, pizza.
And while you’re at it, ditch that Grand-prix-weekend-$1,000-bottles-of-champagne wine list in favour of a funky carte filled with pizza-friendly, affordable Italian vinos. Find a few friendly waiters who actually smile while they serve customers (ours didn’t crack even one), and turn up the music to get the party started. You now have a great bar on the third floor, so why not bring a little of that fun spirit downstairs? And whatever you do, hang on to the pizza God.
Prediction: Chef Butticé is sure to put Montreal pizza on the map.