SEGRETA Pizza AL Taglio + Epicerie Italienne

Roman-Style Al Taglio Pizzeria Opens in to Park-Ex | Eater Montreal

"Roman-style al taglio (by the slice) pizza has made its way to Park-Ex with the opening of Segreta on the relatively industrial Beaumont Avenue strip last week. Owner and pizzaiolo Richi Ourichian is effusive about the rectangular pan pizza style—characterized by a crisp yet tender crust, interspersing air bubbles, and a thickness designed to sustain virtually any topping combination—and insists “it’s all about the dough,” calling Roman pizza “a canvas you can put anything and everything on.” He offers half-meter slabs studded with toppings like spicy Italian sausage, diaphanous potato slices, smoked caciocavallo cheese and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil; the pies are baked in large rectangular cast-iron trays and artfully displayed alongside a small selection of Italian grocery items (imported organic pastas, Calabrian dried rosemary) in his 900-square-foot corner space on Hutchison. A local resident since immigrating in 1978, Ourichian left a long career in shoe cobbling and began seriously baking during the pandemic—posting to social media and making some 200 pizzas in two months—before opening his first restaurant. He uses a drawn-out cool fermentation of 72 to 96 hours for a high-hydration, airy yet sturdy crust that he says is easy to digest (“when you eat our dough, you won’t bloat...you’ll digest it in 30 to 40 minutes”), a technique he learned in 2019 at the Roman Pizza Academy in Miami under Massimiliano Saieva. As a first-time restaurant owner he’s still learning the business, but says submerging his hands in sticky dough keeps him grounded: “I’m happy, that’s why.” Segreta is open at 413 Beaumont Avenue, Wednesdays to Sundays, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m." - Valerie Silva