This September Pizzaovens.com will be hosting our 3rd Annual Bluegrass Pizza Bake-Off and boy are we ready! Coming a long way quickly, the Bluegrass Pizza Bake-Off originated in 2010 with the goal of providing a forum for pizzaiolos all across the state of Kentucky to get together & exchange recipes, experiences and most of all to taste each other’s pizza. However, let there be no mistaking, the title of ‘Best Pizza in the Bluegrass’ is taken very seriously by all involved and has been since the start. The additional element of competition takes the fun and camaraderie and ads more than a spark of fierce belief in each competitor that theirs is undoubtedly the best pizza in the Bluegrass.
Hosted in our Warehouse on Dewey Drive in Nicholasville, KY, the first Annual Bluegrass Pizza Bake-Off was held on September 21, 2010. We had a great turn-out for our first event – nearly 20 competitors from the state of Kentucky. Guest Judges Chef Bruno & Sharon Thompson had the task of choosing the best in the Bluegrass. 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. The Grand prize winner received a check for $1000 and a plaque with the title of Best Pizza in the Bluegrass. The runners-up each received a check for $500.
The Second Annual Bluegrass Pizza Bake-Off was held at our warehouse as well, on September 13, 2011. It grew from the first with the addition of half a dozen more pizzerias from the state. Many familiar faces returned and new faces joined in. Repeat guest Judges Chef Bruno & Sharon Thompson once again awarded the best Pizza in the Bluegrass. This time, 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. The Grand prize winner this year not only received a check for $1000 and a plaque with the title of Best Pizza in the Bluegrass, but more excitedly the winner received an all expense paid trip to Italy to compete with the U.S. Pizza team! The runners-up each received a check for $500.
We recently had a chat with the 2011 Bluegrass Pizza Bake-Off Over-all winner, Greg Spaulding of Puccini’s Smiling Teeth in Lexington, KY. Greg took the top prize in 2011, gaining the title of the Best Pizza in the Bluegrass, and earning a spot to compete with the US Pizza Team in Italy. Six months after the competition, Greg boarded a plane for Salsomaggiore, Italy to join the U.S. Pizza team for the Annual World Pizza Championship. Fortunately for Greg he did very well, receiving the highest score of any American in the ‘Classic’ Pizza category. Evidently his performance impressed the team members, as after only 2 weeks back in the U.S., Greg received a call from the Pizza Team inviting him to join them in Sydney, Australia to compete with them in the 2012 Global Pizza Challenge. Says Greg, “I got to go to Australia for a week [and] make pizzas.” Just to confirm, when we asked Greg if he is now an official member of the U.S. Pizza Team, he responded with a laugh, “I am! I guess I did well enough that they decided to keep me around for a little bit.” Greg’s pizza competing career has just begun…of course he will be returning to the Bluegrass Pizza Bake-Off to defend his title in September; afterwards Greg is off to Orlando, FL for the American Pizza Competition where he will be competing in acrobatics and culinary expertise. We couldn’t be more pleased to see Greg do so well after winning our 2011 Bake-Off and wish him luck in his future endeavors.
The third Annual Bluegrass Pizza Bake-Off will be held on September 11, 2012. This year we are especially excited as not only will the event be open to the public for the first time ever, we are also hosting the event off-site. We realized quickly into last year’s Bake-Off that we were rapidly running out of room. By the finale it was decided that we had officially grown out of our modestly sized warehouse and we would be forced to move the event to a larger location for year three. We figured while we were at it, we’d go ahead and invite the public too! So the Third Annual Bluegrass Pizza Bake-Off will for the first time, be hosted in downtown Lexington, at the Fifth Third Pavilion. To add another fun twist, we’ve decided to team up with a non-profit organization…. As size is a concern (we unfortunately cannot supply the entire city with pizza) we’ve decided to team with the Lexington Humane Society – anyone from the public can make a donation to the Humane Society in exchange for voting rights in the Pizza Bake-Off competition.
It’s been successful, fun and a learning process for all involved. Each year we learn a little bit more about what works and what doesn’t and how to improve the competition for the next year. Hopefully we have started a new tradition, our very own country culinary competition for Kentucky Pizza makers.
