The Dumouchelle Family’s Love Letter to Windsor Pizza
With the ring of the doorbell, the chef’s eyes look up from the dough he is kneading with his flour-covered hands to the front entrance of his pizzeria. A man enters the mom-and-pop shop with a warm smile on his face, eager to collect the pie he ordered over the phone not long ago. The restaurateur recognizes the man and returns the smile.
As he exits the shop, his wife, Ellie, stands on the sidewalk, cellphone recording in hand. Albert opens the box for the world to see, breathes in the savoury aroma, and his eyes light up as he takes a large bite from a slice. Meanwhile, four-year-old Rowan is pressed against the backseat window, eyes wide, waiting for her share.
“I call in maybe 30 minutes before we do the thing: ‘Hey, can I get a medium with shredded pepperoni and canned mushrooms?’” explains Albert, the face and voice of Win-City Pizza Reviews. “I feel like that’s what quintessentially defines Windsor pizza: obviously Galati cheese, but shredded pepperoni and canned mushrooms.”
Although it is up for some debate, Windsor-style pizza took root when cousins Gino Manza and Frank Gualtieri and their restaurant, Volcano Pizzeria, started serving in 1957. Their pizza became the standard model for Windsor pizza to come. The Dumouchelles use their vlog-style social media reviews of the many pizza shops in Windsor as a love letter to the craft of Windsor-style pizza-pie-making.
Ellie is the woman behind the camera for their team of pizza aficionados and handles editing and social media. “I get to just be a guy eating pizza,” says Albert. “It’s nothing without her.” Rounding out the trio is their daughter, Rowan, who Albert calls their “expert pizza eater”. The family grades these delicious pies by rating them on a system based on how far it would be worth to drive to buy them.
“Windsor absolutely deserves to be put on the world stage for pizza,” Albert opines. “It needs to be. And so I thought, this is a way we can do that.”
Ever since their first review, Episode 1: “Windsor Pizza” on Jefferson, the Dumouchelles have scoured the city for the choicest slices, sharing with the community and the world the best that Windsor-style pizza has to offer. Windsor pizza is a matter of civic pride, symbolizing the city’s blue-collar roots and the essence of our family-run businesses. It could be said that you don’t know the City of Windsor if you don’t know its pizza.
“At the very root of Windsor pizza is supporting local,” he states. “We have such a high standard for pizza in Windsor.”
“You go anywhere, any bar in Windsor—you could know no one there—if you strike up a conversation about pizza, everyone leans in. It’s a community builder.”
Windsor-style pizza is inseparable from the Galati Cheese Company, an iconic local business that supplies most of the city’s pizzerias. Galati mozzarella is mouth-wateringly distinct, with its rich flavour and its unique texture when perfectly melted. Not to mention, its shredded pepperoni and canned mushrooms—considered a quirky yet delicious, apart from the norm in the pizza world.
“Windsor pizza absolutely has to have the Galati cheese, the shredded pepperoni, and the canned mushrooms,” explains Albert, who worked in restaurants during high school and even attended culinary school. “Outside of that, I’ve seen a lot of variation on the sauce—some are much sweeter, some are a lot spicier—and it’s been really interesting to see people staying true to the form while still trying to perfect their own style.”
With a seemingly inexhaustible number of pizzerias in the area to review, the Dumouchelles continue their mission, one pizza box at a time. However, what they are doing is more than reviewing food. They’re preserving a Windsor tradition and reminding the city of what makes it special. Every slice they share is a tribute to family, community, and the unmistakable flavour of home.
To follow the Dumouchelles and their mission to rate every Windsor-style pizza, please follow their social media pages: Win-City Pizza Reviews on Facebook, @wincitypizzareviews on Instagram, and @wincity.pizza.rev on TikTok.
