Roving Montreal pop-up Corner Pizza specializes in nouveau Neapolitan slices

Here’s a true bro love story. It involves a bunch of friends, regularly hanging out in somebody’s kitchen, just shooting the shit. And then one day, a full-fledged, aesthetically sharp pizza pop-up full of complex flavours is born. 

One night in the mid 2000s, through mutual acquaintances, Peter Currie (now the production assistant and marketing manager of Holistic Roasters) met Matisse Gill (green buyer and head roaster at Holistic Roasters) at our city’s beloved Grumpy’s Bar. They got pretty drunk and became immediate friends. Meanwhile, Currie passingly knows this guy Erik Hutt (sous-chef at Larry’s and a part-time butcher at Lawrence) through their shared undergraduate circles. They sort of stay in touch. Currie slaps the shit out of Hutt one day, deservedly, and, “I knew then, we were friends.” Nearly a decade passes, and they still find themselves sitting in said rotating kitchen sharing beers and having “super stupid,” ideas. 

When he was 18, Gill worked at a restaurant where his love for pizza really began. Years later, he decided to get his hands on an official roccbox, “(#Gozney),” and started making really great doughs with blistering bottoms. This is the dough that has now been tested and altered to serve as the base dough for Corner Pizza. He sometimes sends his bros pictures of these early pizza tests. “I still have photos from then that pop up in my phone history,” says Currie.

They keep meeting up. They keep having beers. They keep loving pizza. “Roberta’s in New York was the ultimate experience for me,” says Gill. They start group chats called “Yum Tour” where they talk about stopping at every metro stop and finding its best pizza spot. “We’ve always had ideas that were continuously brewing, and we kept saying, we have to do something,” says Hutt. In 2023, post break-up, Hutt turns to a true bro, Currie, and moves in with him for a while. The kitchen hangs become even more regular. And then, after talking for nearly a decade, the three finally meet up for ramen one night, and officially decide, “Let’s do this. Let’s invest,” says Hutt.

Currie earnestly points out the importance of the trifecta as a whole, highlighting, “Erik’s five-plus years and culinary background in pizza, Matisse and his diehard DIY thought process about pizza,” after which the other two are quick to chime in about Peter’s photography background and sharp aesthetic eye. Those red and blue photo graphics you’ve seen being re-shared among your Saint-Henri pals? That’s S1 of Corner Pizza, baby, and it’s contributed to much of the success and popularity of their social media brand. 

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So much so that after a healthy amount of online teasing, the three soft-launched in Currie’s very own background (dropping the location the day before). Lessons were learned, pizza was had. Next. They pop up again a short couple of weeks later at the Canadian Roasting Society HQ, where my friends and I delight in sharing all three pies on deck: seasonal asparagus, a classic margarita and the fan favourite, Hawaiian (pineapple gets charred, of course). 

“It’s Neapolitan, but kind of like nouveau Neapolitan,” says Hutt. “Neapolitan is that blistered crust, it has that big rise and is usually a bit floppy because of more fermentation and the flour that we use. It has that structure on the undercarriage that holds up like a New York slice, so it’s a Neapolitan slice of pizza where you can get that charred flavour, but still carry it around like a New York slice.” 

“I’m taking these refined dining techniques and flavour combinations and applying it to pizza. Like, last week we did a double siphoned béarnaise — that’s not something you would necessarily see in a pizzeria, let alone a pop-up.”

“We all bring so much to the table and, honestly, have the advantage of not being a restaurant. We can do whatever the fuck we want,” says Currie. And sure, a restaurant  might be a long-term goal, but it’s certainly not the main motivation. “Right now, we just want to focus on what we’re doing day to day for ourselves,” says Hutt. “You don’t see a lot of pop-ups around the city, like this,” he says, referring to capturing the pure fun of trying to track the boys and their pizza down. Where will they be next?

But wouldn’t a restaurant be more sustainable, and maybe less exhausting than this nomadic lifestyle, I wonder? All three of the boys have full-time day jobs as is, isn’t it exhausting? “100%” they all chime in, in unison. “But it’s also really fun.” 

For more on Corner Pizza, please visit their Instagram.

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