DIGGING IN TO WINDSOR PIZZA
Pie makers share secrets of success
Windsor pizza. We love it so much, former residents living out west pay big bucks for Windsor pizza to be flown in for a party or they’re sure to buy a couple pies to take home on the plane at the end of a visit to the border city.
Pizza is such a part of the landscape, a local pizzeria recently paid for the naming rights to the South Windsor arena, now the Capri Pizzeria Recreation Complex.
We love our Windsor pizza so much we eat it without really knowing what makes it different. But then, do Philadelphians ponder what makes a Philly cheesesteak so tasty or do Chicago residents mull over the history of their deep dish, Chicago-style pizzas? Probably not.
While you’re eating a slice or two over the holidays, chew on what defines the Windsor pizza we take for granted.
THE WINDSOR SHRED
Shredded pepperoni is what makes a true Windsor pizza different from other pies. When you bite into a round pepperoni, sometimes you get the whole pepperoni but then the next mouthful could be all cheese. Shredding means every bite of Windsor pizza should have the taste of pepperoni, said Arcata Pizzeria owner Bob Abumeeiz.
In November, a customer who called from a Windsor hotel to order a pizza called back to complain. “I ordered pepperoni on the pizza and there’s no pepperoni,” Abumeeiz said. “I swear to him there’s pepperoni. ‘No there’s no pepperoni.’ Finally when we said to him our pepperoni is shredded, not round, he goes ‘Ohhhh.’ ”
Joe Ciaravino, president of Antonino’s Original Pizza Inc., said in the last year he’s been able to buy pepperoni already shredded but it used to take a lot of chopping.
VOLCANO PIZZERIA
Abumeeiz said the first pizzeria in Windsor was Volcano at the corner of Wyandotte Street and Victoria Avenue. Geno Manza, grew up in Italy and started Volcano Pizzeria Restaurant in 1957. Abumeeiz thinks other pizzerias copied the Volcano recipe for sauce and Windsor pizza grew from there.
Sauce counts for 50 to 60 per cent of the taste on a pizza, he said. “It’s a blend of spices,” Abumeeiz said of the basic recipe that pizzerias have tweaked to make their own. “It’s got a lot of oregano. It’s got a lot of this, a lot of that. Nobody wants to tell you what’s in the recipe.”
GALATI CHEESE
Many pizzerias depend on the Windsor-made Galati Cheese Company Ltd. mozzarella and it isn’t true Windsor pizza without it. It’s sauce, Galati cheese and then the toppings.
Abumeeiz said the Windsor crust is on the thin side. Original Italian crusts were thick on the outside and thin on the inside of the pie, he said. “We’re in between. We’re not like New York. We’re not like Toronto. We’re not like Chicago.”
Traditional pizzerias cook pizzas on corn meal on stone deck ovens. Antonino’s Ciaravino said that’s what makes the crust crispy. He doesn’t like doughy crusts. A thin edge means more pizza and more room for toppings, he said.
TOPPINGS
“Even though the entire market and industry has shifted toward fresh mushroom, the flavour profile of a classic Windsor-style pizza calls for canned mushrooms,” Ciaravino said of canned mushrooms that make the pizza less soggy. “And frankly I think it goes better especially on the classic super: pepperoni, bacon, mushroom, green pepper.”
Cooking shows and travel have made customers much more adventurous with their toppings when you get beyond a classic Windsor pizza. Goat cheese and specialty soy cheese are popular now, Abumeeiz said. “I remember when we first started anchovies was like a swear word to people,” he said of his start 22 years ago at Arcata.
“Now everybody knows anchovies, artichokes, capers, sundried tomatoes.”
WHAT MAKES IT SO GOOD?
“A lot of heart. I think it’s the fact a lot of these pizzerias have been around 20 years,” Sue Kalaydjian, one of the owners of Capri Pizzeria said of the many familyrun pizzerias in Windsor.
Competition raises the bar, Kalaydjian said. “Windsorites have high expectations for their pizza.”
The thought put into our pizza, Abumeeiz said. “We should change the name of the city. It’s not a rose city. The big pie,” he said.
PEAK PIZZA POINTS
You might be surprised to learn Boxing Day is Capri Pizzeria’s busiest day of the year, ranking above the Super Bowl and New Year’s. It could be the Christmas hangover or that a lot of people are busy visiting the day after Christmas. Halloween and the last Friday in December also keep the pizzeria busy.
Valentine’s Day is the busiest day for Antonino’s Original Pizza ever since they started making heart-shaped pizzas.
TOP SELLERS
The favourite at Capri and Arcata is the Super: cheese, mushrooms, sausage, bacon and green peppers. It used to be the Super at Antonino’s too but now it’s one that’s not even on the menu: the Angry Hawaiian. That’s pineapple, ham, double bacon and hot peppers. Ciaravino used to make it for himself and when word got out, people started ordering it.
SHAWARMA PIZZA?
Arcata added shawarma pizza a few years ago. Arcata marinates the chicken for 48 hours and cooks it for the 10 to 15 schawarma pizzas sold a week. A pesto garlic sauce is drizzled on top when it comes out of the oven.
“People always like to try something different,” said Abumeeiz who is from the Middle East. “There’s nothing wrong with keeping the old-style pizza but at the same time we have to stay cutting edge.”