A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from February 22, 2012
All Dressed Pizza

Entry in progress—B.P.
 
Montreal (Canada) is known for its “all dressed” bagel, “all dressed” hot dog and “all dressed” pizza.
   
“All dressed” pizza has been cited in print since at least 1970.
       
Google News Archive
15 October 1970, The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec), “Paduanao to trade crown for lasagna, cannelloni” by Marv Moss, pg. 22, col. 1:
“Making the weight takes too much out of me now,” said Donato, for whom abstinence was restricting himself to two wedges of pizza—all dressed, no anchovies—at his uncle Antonio’s house here thanksgiving.
 
Google News Archive
23 November 1977, The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec), pg. 21, col. 5:
Who makes best pizza?   
All dressed, or topped with mushrooms, anchovies, sausages, or peppers—where’s the best pizza in town.
   
Google News Archive
2 August 1980, The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec), Ted Blackman column, pg. 3, col. 5:
...and you can just forget all about the first three letters when ordering pizza. It’s now as in “Give me a za, all dressed, no anchovies.”
 
Google News Archive
11 March 1986, The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec), “Informed choices can turn fast-food fare into a nutritious meal” by Nancy Croitoru, pg. D11, col. 2:
Italian food outlets have pizzas ranging from all dressed to such specialties as eggplant, artichokes, asparagus and shrimp.
 
4 July 1998, The Record (Kitchener, Ontario), “Canada finds its tongue” by Howard Richtler, pg. C5:   
Dining in Canada can also be a distinct experience. You will not find any of these words in non-Canadian dictionaries: poutine, tourtiere, all-dressed, or smoked meat
 
2 January 2003, The Record (Kitchener, Ontario), “Language remains one of the last regional differences,” pg. D1:
Same with Montrealers’ pizza, which they often order “all dressed,” a direct translation of toute garnie. But many people in the Prairies and B.C. order a “deluxe” pizza, most Americans ask for “everything on it,” and the majority of Maritimers ask for “the works.”
   
InOverYourHead.net
The Mystery of All Dressed Pizza
Filed by Julien at 10:28 pm under random
Have you ever heard of all dressed pizza? If my suspicions are correct, you probably haven’t.
(...)
COMMENTS
Jon Tillman Says:
June 30th, 2007 at 5:51 am
“All Dressed” is to Canada what “The Works” is to America.
(...)
Loren A. Doone Says:
October 29th, 2011 at 3:15 pm
I disagree with the 1st comment, which says that “All Dressed” is the Canadian equivalent of what we in the US refer to as “The Works”.
 
The Works implies Everything on it. All Dressed seems to mean “sausage, green peppers, and pepperoni.”
 
Everything ! = Sausage, Pepperoni, Green Peppers
(...)
Matt Forsythe Says:
July 3rd, 2007 at 7:43 am
I’m pretty sure it’s a local term. In Ontario, All-Dressed usually refers to chips.
 
I wouldn’t leave anything as serious as pizza toppings to shorthand.
(...)
JMCampbell Says:
July 5th, 2007 at 11:36 am
Where I’m from the closest that is to would be Supreme, but supreme usually also has olives and sausage.
(...)
Moses Says:
July 5th, 2007 at 11:50 am
“All Dressed,” or “Deluxe” in southern Ontario is pepperoni, green peppers and mushrooms.
(...)
Martin Says:
July 24th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
I’m from Montreal, and that’s certainly how I’ve heard it called all my life. For me, “all dressed” pizza has tomato sauce, pepperoni, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, and cheese.
(...)
richard Says:
December 29th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
being a montrealer, there are 3 things that can be properly described as “all dressed”. Pizza,chips and hot-dogs. I’ve tried ordering like that in other parts of Canada and the US and always get the look of confusion. it’s definitely a local thing..
 
Canada.com
Montreal english grows even more distinct
How different is Montreal English from the English spoken elsewhere in Canada?
By The Gazette (Montreal)
November 15, 2008
How different is Montreal English from the English spoken elsewhere in Canada?
 
The first reaction of many people would doubtless be: “Just a few words here and there.” Depanneur is the most obvious example: You’d never catch someone in Toronto or Vancouver saying she was off to buy milk at the dep.
 
“All-dressed” is another local idiom. We use the phrase to mean a food item garnished with everything available, and seldom, if ever, do we order a supreme pizza or a loaded burger. But outside Quebec, Canadians tend to restrict “all dressed” to clothing.

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