Windsor, Ont. pizza featured in documentary to showcase 'The Pizza City You've Never Heard Of'
Windsor’s official moniker may be the automotive capital of Canada, but a filmmaker is hoping to put the Rose City on the map for another reason: pizza.
George Kalivas was raised in Windsor, but moved to New York when he was 18. During his time there, the expat was introduced to many famous New York pizza joints, but he says none held a candle to the pizza from his hometown.
“I used to always say to my friends, ‘You should try the pizza where I’m from, you should come to my hometown.’ And they would look at me like I was completely insane, like ‘Where are you from, this is New York City!’” Kalivas recounts.
Suddenly, the idea struck.
Kalivas wrote and produced the new road-trip documentary delving into the history, interviewing the people behind Windsor’s well-established pizza places.
“The one thing that every owner and every family behind these pizza brands brought up is the fact that it all started with Volcano,” he says, noting the storied 70-year history branches out like a tree, with Windsor touting the most pizzerias per capita in Canada.
The documentary also explores essential characteristics that define our favourite Italian cuisine.
“Some people will say it’s the style of sauce that goes on there,” says Adriano Ciotoli, co-owner of Windsor Eats. “Some will say it’s the canned mushrooms, others will say it’s the Galati cheese that makes it a Windsor-style pizza.”
But Kalivas’ number one goal is putting Windsor-style pizza on the map.
He tells CTV News Windsor the flick has already been picked up by a number of film festivals -- and his team, including director Tristan Laughton, is working on getting a deal with a streaming service.
“Nobody knows about the Windsor pizza story and we’re hoping to be the ones to finally introduce it to the world,” Kalivas says.
The trailer goes live August 12 and Kalivas expects a film release in 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.