Worlds collide! Windsor restaurant introduces shawarma pizza

One of Windsor's oldest take-out restaurants has combined two of this city's most beloved foods: shawarma and pizza.

After months of experimentation, Arcata Pizzera on Dougall Avenue started selling shawarma pizza to the public in mid-March. You can order it with beef or chicken.

Because of the extra time required to prepare the ingredients, it is currently available on weekends only.

The best of both worlds

Arcata's shawarma pizza starts with regular pizza dough. But instead of adding tomato sauce, the chicken shawarma pizza uses a house-made toum. That's the super garlickly white sauce you find at every shawarma place.

The beef variety uses a different sauce, made with tomatoes and onions.

A layer of cheese is added, which, like any proper Windsor-style pizza, comes from the Galati plant on Tecumseh Road. Just before it goes in the oven, the meat —which has marinated for 48 hours — is added.

After the pizza is cooked, another sauce is drizzled on top. The beef shawarma gets a tahini sauce, which is made with crushed sesame. 

The chicken shawarma get a different treatment. It's drizzled with basil garlic pesto. It's not a traditional shawarma ingredient, but the owners told me they found that it just works really well with the pizza version.

I totally agree.

Since this is a fusion food, a bit of poetic licence is completely permitted.

To hear more, tap on the audio player.

Windsor Morning6:47Food with Jonathan Pinto - Shawarma Pizza

Worlds colliding. A long-standing take out restaurant in Windsor has combined two of this city's favourite foods into one dish. Jonathan told us all about Arcata Pizzeria's shawarma pizza.

Arcata Pizzeria is located at 3021 Dougall Ave. in Windsor. You can call them at (519) 969-2551. Shawarma pizza is currently sold on weekends only.