Waldo Peppers, a pizzeria like no other

If we told you that one of the best pizzas we have tasted recently is in Rawdon! Let us tell you the extraordinary story of a family who cooks pizzas in their home and that customers come to pick up at the drive-thru.

Iris Gagnon Paradise
The Press

Waldo Delay, pilot for a major airline, is also passionate about good food. Before the pandemic, he regularly liaised between Montreal and Rome. With colleagues, he likes to discover addresses off the beaten track. “When it speaks the local language, it’s a good sign! “, he remarks.

One day, he set foot in O’pazzariello, a small restaurant near the Vatican. Then he went back again, and again. “One day, I brought them maple syrup and then they adopted me! “says the pilot. He befriended the owner and the chef, two pizza makers who agreed to teach him the secrets of their Neapolitan pizza. Cybèle Major, his wife, later accompanied him and also learned the basics of this art.

In Rawdon, where the couple lives with their four children, he liked to receive friends for pizza evenings which allowed them to refine the techniques and recipes learned in Italy. “Our family loves to eat pizza, but we wanted to try other flavors than pepperoni-cheese. We launched a Facebook page and when I indicated that the oven was open, our friends showed up! says Waldo Delay.

Then came the pandemic.

Nailed to the ground, the pilot said to himself that it was now or never to realize his dream: to open a pizzeria. Cybèle Major, who owns a wedding event business, also suddenly had a lot of free time. And we had to find a way to generate new revenue. This is how, in the fall of 2020, Waldo Peppers was born!

A transformed house

Soon friends and locals embraced Waldo Peppers — whose name is a nod to the inspiration behind the pilot’s first name, the movie The Great Waldo Pepper. Then word of mouth did its job.

First installed in their kitchen, with their oven working at full speed, the family had to face the facts: part of the house had to be transformed into an operational kitchen, both to meet the demand and the requirements of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of Quebec (MAPAQ) for the catering permit.

Because Waldo Peppers is not a restaurant, but a caterer. All pizzas are therefore picked up in “curbside pick-up” mode by customers who are waiting for their orders outside the home.

The dining room has been sacrificed to accommodate a kitchen, where there is a pizza oven imported from Italy and everything necessary for Waldo Delay to make his delicious pizzas. The 17-year-old eldest, William, assists him. Heidi and Wendy, 13 and 12 respectively, help their mother take orders on the phone, deliver pizzas to customers and set up boxes with their little sister, Cobie, 9. Heidi is also responsible for topping the decadent S’mores pizza with Nutella, graham crackers and marshmallows…

Starting from a small, very limited and fairly traditional menu of six flavors, the menu has expanded, with more North American-influenced creations, and now includes around forty choices of pizzas, as well as fresh pastas. , salads and desserts.

“Our goal is to reproduce the best of our abilities the O’pazzariello pizza, as if you were in Rome,” says Waldo Delay. The dough, the tomato sauce, the quality ingredients, nothing is left to chance. Waldo Peppers pizzas are not only good, they are excellent.

On a roll

A glance at the reviews seen on Google confirms this, with an almost perfect rating of 4.9 stars out of 5.

She says they offer the option of “70%” cooked pizza for those who can’t eat it quickly. Once you get home, you just have to cook it for a few minutes in an oven at maximum power.

Given the success, the family decided to continue the adventure, even if Waldo Delay resumed his work. Despite the high demand for wedding planning, Cybèle Major devotes herself entirely to Waldo Peppers and a full-time chef has been hired.

How is it to have a pizzeria in your house? “It’s a bit special, but it’s the fun ! remarks Heidi. “Of course it’s not always easy, even as adults. But Waldo Peppers is the business of the whole family, it also belongs to the children, ”adds Cybèle Major.

The following ? The opening of a restaurant, a real one this time, is in the cards. A project that the family intends to carry out in time and place, one step at a time. Like a good pizza!

Waldo Peppers is open Thursday, 4-8 p.m., then Friday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Orders in advance by phone, Messenger or Instagram, and car pick-up on site.

3153.7^e Avenue, Rawdon