What's the most iconic local dish? Survey finds there's no topping Windsor pizza

Windsor pizza — known for its shredded pepperoni — has just shredded the competition in a poll to crown the city's signature dish.

Windsor's unique take on pizza tops a new list of the nine most iconic foods compiled by WindsorEats. It bested other local favourites such as paczki, Lake Erie perch and shawarma. (The full list is available here)

The results are based on a survey WindsorEats launched back in April.

Adriano Ciotoli, the founder and co-owner, dished all about the food fight, so to speak, on CBC Radio's Windsor Morning on Wednesday.

"It's pretty well known that Windsorites are very passionate about their food and that we do have a lot of amazing food here because of the cultural diversity and because of the longer growing season here," Ciotoli said.

"So we wanted to see exactly what it is they were passionate about."

Pizza was the overwhelming favourite, he said. People submitted many votes for particular pizza places but WindsorEats decided to roll them all into a single entry.

"The top nine list could have really just been nine different pizza places in and around Windsor," he said with a chuckle.

As part of the project, WindsorEats commissioned Julie Hall, a local multi-disciplinary artist. Hall drew the portraits of each item within a period of two months. 

"I had seen that they were doing this project earlier on when they were actually conducting a survey, and I was kind of excited to see the results myself so I was really happy when they asked me to illustrate them," Hall said. 

This was Hall's first time collaborating with WindsorEats, but she has worked as a professional artist for over five years.

To get her work to a place of satisfaction, Hall said she worked in her own personal aesthetic with photos and inspiring visuals sent by others. 

"It's very whimsical, it's kind of accessible to all age groups. You have to kind of utilize that tension between it being child-like but also having a maturity and a little bit of gravity," Hall said. 

While Hall drew all nine of Windsor's top iconic foods, her favourite dishes to draw were the Chicken Delight and Lake Erie Perch. 

The images are featured in the article and can also be purchased as a print.