Arlequino is a quaint, Franco-Italiano, more-than-just pizza joint with a supportive bent toward the underguy (1% of its proceeds go to Breakfast Club for kids). The menu is fairly reflective of the typical upscale pizza culture. However, a few of this Montreal Restaurant’s thin-crusts – such as the Cosenza, a mélange of tomato sauce, cheese and fried egg, as well as the San Bennedetto, a can’t miss combo of lobster meat, cheese and rosé – are refreshingly uncommon.

Arlequino’s menu also integrates the usual suspects on the salad front (Greek, Caesar, Caprese etc.) but includes an Atkins devotee’s dream, the grilled vegetable salad. This warm and comforting hodge-podge of farmland perishables, covered with melted blue cheese, is like a pizza without a crust and will smartly serve the carb-fearing quotient at the joint. Arlequino also doubles as a charcuterie, boasting Quebec cheeses, meats, jams, and dressings that are locally prepared by Quebec artisans.

The exposed brick interior, whose highlights include a long padded banquette that serves to divide the lounge from the restaurant and a glassed in fireplace, is suitably inviting. Don’t worry, no matter how busy the spot gets no one will be asked to make his own pizza on the decorative hearth, that stuff’s for kids. – E.H