Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
241 Ch. Old Chelsea, Chelsea, Que., 819-827-2882, instagram.com/robertopizzaromanachelsea
Open: Thursday to Sunday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday to Sunday, closed Monday to Wednesday
Access: Steps to the front door
At a Michelin-starred restaurant in Rome during the summer of 2017, Geneviève Parent found herself completely smitten by her dinner.
Then, she was a 27-year-old server at the Chelsea fine-dining restaurant L’Orée du Bois. As people in the restaurant industry and beyond do, she showed appreciation to the chef by sending him a thank-you glass of wine.
“I didn’t know he was handsome,” says Parent, now the co-owner of Roberto Pizza Romana in Chelsea, seven years later.
So Parent thought, after Roberto Catervi, the chef, emerged from the kitchen. Perhaps quickly smitten himself, Catervi told Parent that he would be finished work in 30 minutes and then asked if they could drink the wine together.
“Then I was in love,” says Parent.
Six months after they met, Parent succeeded in luring Catervi away from Italy. He was broke and had a lull in his work life, and Parent bought him a plane ticket so that he could visit her during the dead of an Ottawa-area winter, -28C nights be damned.
“I knew there was going to be good food and other good things in life,” Parent says.
Now, they are married and have a baby girl. Since the fall of 2021, they have had the pizzeria on Chelsea’s main drag, renowned for fantastic Roman-style pizza available by the slice, a selection of breads served at nearby restaurants, and a showcase beside the cash that houses entrancing sweet treats like maritozzi.
What are maritozzi? Had you been vacationing with Parent seven years ago, you too would have swooned over those incredibly light brioche buns that hide flavoured whipped cream centres. They’re on every street corner in Rome, Parent says.
At Roberto Pizza Romana, the maritozzi ($4.50 for one) come in three flavours — vanilla, chocolate and lemon and white chocolate. They are all sublime, not too sweet and just a wee bit tangy due to the sourdough in the airy brioches.
Fittingly, “marito” means “husband” in Italian, and folklore says that maritozzi, which supposedly date back to medieval days, were once used to hide engagement rings during marriage proposals.
Maritozzi — the plural of maritozzo, should you be ordering just one — debuted at Roberto Pizza Romana not long after it opened. Parent was surprised when I told her that while she may have brought maritozzi, not to mention its baker, to the Ottawa area, a few maritozzi can now be found elsewhere in town. However, no matter how tasty any other maritozzi might be, none would have such a sweet romance as its back story.
Do you have a favourite place to get a little treat in Ottawa? Send Peter Hum an e-mail to share your picks.
Supreme croissant at Hugo Cafe
Smoked salmon croissant at Choux Atelier
Apple cider doughnut at Red Door Provisions
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