This Montreal pizza just won 3rd in a global competition — Here's where you can try it

If you want to eat some of the world's best pizza, you don't need to travel to Italy.

Two Montreal pizza makers earned third place at the 2024 Campionato Mondiale della Pizza (Pizza World Championship), an annual competition held in Parma, Italy last month.

Now, the duo is making their award-winning pie available for Montrealers to try right here at home.

"Winning in a competition that gathered around 1,000 people — some amazing performers and pizzaoli from all around the world —was something really incredible, and also now bring[ing] this idea to Montreal in our Pizzéria NO.900 is even something amazing for us because we bring our accomplishment to our customers to let them try," said Mirko D’Agata, one half of the winning team and the executive chef behind Pizzéria NO.900 and Morso Pizzeria.

D’Agata teamed up with NO.900's head of research and development Fiodar Huminski, a gold medalist at last year's International Pizza Expo, to clinch the victory.

While the event saw pizza artisans compete in 12 different categories — including classic, gluten-free, the largest, the fastest, freestyle and best wine matching — Huminski and D’Agata's talents shone brightest in the "Pizza a due" category, which required a two-person team.

"This is the formula that took us to the stage: three types of artichokes, four ways of preparation, Roman-style dough steamed in bamboo steamer then finished in the oven. And team work," Huminski wrote in an Instagram post, also noting his gratitude for the support of his staff at NO.900.

The bronze-medal pizza was made in Parma using a "double cooking" method that D’Agata said he picked up while working at a bakery in Italy. The dough was also stretched with corn flour for added crunch and dimension.

"You have an interior part of the pizza that's really moist with plenty of alveoli — all the holes inside the dough — [due to the steam] and then we finish in the oven to get it crispier," D’Agata told MTL Blog.

Their recipe used Sicilian artichokes, which were puréed, Sardinian artichokes, which were grilled, and Roman mammola artichokes, which were fried, creating a variety of complex textures. The 'za was topped with a mixture of salmoriglio (Italian lemon and olive oil marinade) and seasoned pecorino from Pienza, aged 36-months — all of which came together to create a "perfect balance," according to the NO.900 website.

However, D’Agata clarified that the version of the pizza available at Montreal's NO.900 is slightly modified — plus, it has a Quebecois touch. It's made with artichoke puree, grilled artichokes and crispy speck (cured, smoked ham) from Les Viandes Biologiques de Charlevoix, a family farm in the province's Capitale-Nationale region. Then, it's finished with parsley oil and ricotta salata.

"The pizza is an adaptation of what we did in Parma because, of course, we cannot cook by steam and we cannot fry in the 900. So that's why we use crunchy speck and we cook the pizza in the 900 oven at 900 F for 90 seconds," D’Agata said.

Artichoke and Crispy Speck Pizza is currently on the menu at all Pizzéria NO.900 locations at $23 per pie, but only for a limited time. You can also buy pizza dough at NO.900 and follow the restaurant's recipe to recreate the dish at home.

This article's right-hand cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.