A Toronto pizzeria took home first prize at Canada’s top pizza competition

Toronto just scored big at Canada’s top pizza competition—with a Detroit-style pie. Of course we did: we don’t have a signature pizza style of our own, but if there’s one thing Toronto does well, it’s cultural remixing. Give us a Motor City classic, then throw on some jerk chicken, mango chutney and a dash of chaos, and voilà—it’s suddenly very Toronto.

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At this year’s Pizza Fest Challenge—the country’s largest professional pizza competition, held annually in Montreal—Leslieville’s Descendant took first place in the pan pizza category. The event doesn’t name an overall best pizza, instead awarding medals across seven styles: gourmet, delivery/traditional North American, New York, pan, creative, Neapolitan and Roman.

Sotirios Tzakis, owner of Descendant, has built a cult following with his deep(ish)-dish, crunchy-cheese-edged rectangles, some topped traditionally and others not so much. His winning pie, Daddy’s Favourite, piles jerk chicken, kothu roti, mango chutney, curried lime aïoli and pickled Italian chilies onto a two-day-fermented crust that’s crisp, chewy and gloriously over the top. “It’s a multicultural pizza,” says Tzakis. “You’ve got Sri Lankan, Indian, Jamaican and Italian backgrounds in topping form. It felt like the perfect pie to represent Toronto.”

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Of the more than 60 pizzaiolos who competed, six were from the Golden Horseshoe. Among those who made the drive to represent southern Ontario, only Descendant brought home gold. Capra’s Kitchen in Port Credit snagged silver in the Neapolitan category, while Hamilton’s MaiPai landed a podium finish in the creative category for its Iron Sheik, an ode to Iran topped with smoky eggplant, caramelized onion, pomegranate, mint and walnuts.