This September 11th, Pizzaovens.com hosted their 3rd Annual Bluegrass Pizza Bake-Off with great success! This year's competition was a new experience for the Pizzaovens' crew, as the competition was held at the Cheapside Pavilion in downtown Lexington and consumers were invited to help decide who had the best Traditional & Non-Traditional (Gourmet) Pizzas. To top it off, the proceeds from the event went to the Lexington Humane Society.
Guest Judges Chef Bruno (Culinary Coach of the U.S. Pizza Team) & Sharon Thompson (food Writer for the Lexington-Herald Leader) were present once again to help award the Over-All Best Pizza in the Bluegrass, also joining the judges for the first time was local restaurateur Joe Bologna. The first round of the competition was for public voting; folks who donated 5 dollars or more to the Humane Society were able to cast their votes for who had the best Traditional and Non-traditional Pizzas. The winners & Runners-up from the public votes then competed in a final round for our guest judges to select the over-all Grand-Prize winner, granting the title of the Best Pizza in Central Kentucky.
In the Traditional Pizza category, consumers voted FatKat's Pizzeria of Georgetown as the best, with runners-up Goodfella’s Pizzeria of Lexington & Sal’s Pizza of Louisville tying for second place. In the Non-Traditional category, the public voted newcomers The Bridge Pizza (Lexington) as the best in the category, followed closely by Sal’s Pizza of Louisville & Shakespeare & Company of Lexington. The Grand prize was awarded to The Bridge Pizza. They were awarded a check for $1000, a plaque with the title of Best Pizza in the Bluegrass, and an all-expense-paid trip to Italy in 2013 to compete with the U.S. Pizza Team! The 1st place winners in each category each received a and a plaque with their title and competition information, a check for $1,000 and a free entry into the category of their choice in the next year's Bluegrass Pizza Bake-off competition. The runners up in each division will each receive a check for $500.
Read all about the competition from guest judge Sharon Thompson in her article, "Downtown pavilion becomes pizzeria for pizza bake-off".
For those who missed Pizzaovens.com's first two Bluegrass Pizza Bake-Offs, the results were:
Bluegrass Pizza Bake-Off 2010:
Goodfella’s Pizzeria of Lexington took the over-all prize for Best Pizza in the Bluegrass with runners-up Saul Good, Puccini’s Smiling Teeth and Smashing Tomato, all out of Lexington.
Bluegrass Pizza Bake-Off 2011:
Puccini’s Smiling Teeth of Lexington returned to win the over-all Best Pizza in the Bluegrass title, with runners-up Sal’s Pizza & DiOrio’s Pizza & Pub, both out of Louisville, and Snappy Tomato Pizza of Lexington.
