Halifax pizzeria ranked among top 100 in the world

Karsten Greene · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 03, 2025 4:57 PM EDT | Last Updated: 11 hours ago

When Cédric Toullec opened his pizzeria successful Halifax successful 2022, helium ne'er imagined his pizza would get designation connected an planetary scale.

Every year, the Best Pizza Awards, an accredited awards assemblage made up of much than 500 adept panelists from 60 countries, votes connected the 100 champion pizza restaurants successful the world. This year, the sheet ranked Toullec's restaurant, Lou Pécou, located connected Cunard Street, No. 93 on its list. It was 1 of lone 2 Canadian pizzerias to marque the list. 

"To beryllium honest, it was a existent surprise," Toullec said. "We knew astir this assessment, we knew astir this organization, but it was mode beyond our tenable thoughts to deliberation similar aft conscionable 3 years being caller successful Nova Scotia, we could person been noticed and assessed similar that."

Born and raised successful Marseille, France, Toullec's travel to becoming 1 of the world's apical pizza chefs began aft attending a satellite title pizza contention successful Rome, wherever helium witnessed the trade astatine the "highest level."

Toullec said that up until that constituent helium was inactive uncovering himself arsenic a young chef. He was unsure if helium wanted to beryllium a navigator oregon pastry cook oregon an crystal pick maker. But attending the contention settled it for him.

"It truly hooked maine due to the fact that it was conscionable stitching everything I emotion together," helium said. "So pizza was the cleanable mean for maine to find clarity and alignment successful my career."

Upon moving from Marseille and opening Lou Pécou successful Halifax, Toullec noted a beardown absorption from the locals to his "classico" benignant of pizza making. He says that Haligonians thin to beryllium precise passionate astir pizza and person definite expectations of however it should beryllium prepared, which were often astatine likelihood with Toullec's European sensibilities. 

When Lou Pécou archetypal opened, Toullec initially didn't portion his pizzas, communal for astir European pizzerias, but successful Halifax led to him receiving galore complaints. 

But nary of this has discouraged Toullec, who is inactive committed to bringing gourmet pizza to the metropolis and exposing radical to antithetic tastes and cultures. Included connected Lou Pécou's paper are Nova Scotian staples specified arsenic ail fingers, but besides gourmet options with toppings similar pome chips, conifer lipid and truffle ricotta connected an integrated pizza dough.

He hopes that newfound vulnerability from the Best Pizza Awards volition assistance successful this mission. 

"The full nutrient country volition radiance and the agriculture volition shine, the caller endowment volition shine," helium said. "It's much similar a infinitesimal wherever we share."