A sweet victory for Hamilton pizzeria whose Mala Honey pie wins national honours

Salar Madadi isn't sure there's a singular secret to creating good pizza. 

But one thing that really matters, he says, is "using good ingredients and making something that you're proud of." 

Madadi, who owns Hamilton's Maipai tiki and pizza bar, recently competed in the Canadian Pizza Summit. He won best pizza recipe for the restaurant's Mala Honey Pie. 

The competition is a one-day event for Canadian pizzeria restaurant owners and operators. Although usually held in person, COVID-19 measures moved the event online. 

The recipe for the winning dish by Madadi, who opened Maipai in January 2020, was a spontaneous invention.

Each day before service begins, Madadi says that someone on staff cooks a meal for their team. The winning pizza started off as a staff meal. 

The pie, which judge Diana Cline called a "colourful pizza," contains ingredients that Madadi says he normally finds around the restaurant's kitchen. 

"We have a Mala spice and a hot honey that we use on one of our wings. We tried putting that on a pizza and it kind of went from there," he says.

"With this one, I think we went pretty out there in terms of what you would put on a pizza." 

Along with the title, the prize comes with a trip to Las Vegas in March 2022 to make the Mala Honey pie in person and compete in the International Pizza Challenge.

Something different 

The winning recipe also is done with the same Detroit-style pizza method that Madadi learned how to produce in Detroit and now uses in Hamilton.

"Rather than being round and a thin, stretched-out crust, it's cooked in a rectangular pan. The crust is definitely a deep-dish crust, it's thicker but we ferment our dough for two days so it's more tender and it has more flavour." 

The fun part of Maipai's pizzas is that they are topped in reverse order, starting with cheese first, then toppings and then sauce.

According to Madadi, Detroit-style pizza contains a lot more cheese than regular pizza. The cheese goes edge-to-edge in the pan, creating a crisp border of cheese on the crust. 

Great talent in Canada 

John Chetti, manager partner of Queen Margherita Pizza in Toronto, was a judge for the Canadian Pizza Summit in 2019. 

Although he didn't judge Madadi's pizza this year and has yet to try it, he says overall Canada has "great talent" when it comes to pizza chefs. 

He says that Canada's two major cultural centres for pizza making are the Greater Toronto Area and Montreal, the latter having "authentic roots and very innovative chefs that are willing to take risks."

But the biggest aspect that hinders the pizza industry in Canada might be lack of quality products. 

"A lot of countries, especially Italy, buy Canadian wheat. They mill it and come out with phenomenal flour. We're poor at taking our wheat and making phenomenal flour, but that's starting to change now. We're getting better," he said. 

And when it comes to trends that feature unusual ingredients, he says "anything goes as long as it is done well," although for an "authentic pie, certain toppings don't belong."

As for pineapple pizza? He says a lot has changed in the past 15 years when it comes to pizza norms. 

"There are different types of pizza for different clients," he says. 

Madadi agrees. 

"I think there is some element of dogma with some pizza makers, insisting on a very narrow set of ingredients as being acceptable, something that I don't personally subscribe to," he says. 

"At Maipai we're always pushing what can end up on a pizza. I really don't think anything is off limits. With Detroit-style pies, the crust and the cheese are such big presences... You need to go with bold flavours on the toppings so that they compete. It's not really the vehicle for subtle flavours."