Find out if your favorite pizza shop has advanced to the round of 32.
The votes have been tabulated, recounted, reexamined for hanging chads, and counted again. Our democracy works, and we now know the names of your favorite 32 pizza shops in the Valley.
Voting in Round 1 of the 2011 Valley Food Championship Pizza Playoffs concluded at noon on Wednesday, and your voices have been heard. Eight pizza shops from each of the four regional polls have advanced to Round 2.
The balloting was incredibly close in every region – your vote matters!
Starting with Round 2 of the Pizza Playoffs, the surviving pizza shops have been paired off in NCAA-style, head-to-head brackets and will advance through the field until the champion is determined. We'll reveal those brackets at noon on Thursday when Round 2 voting begins. Round 2 voting will continue through next Wednesday at noon.
Our readers will participate in two more rounds of voting to narrow our field to an Elite 8. At that point, judges from The Republican's newsroom – arts and entertainment editor Ray Kelly, sports reporter Pam McCray and photographer Don Treeger – will visit each of the surviving pizza shops in head-to-head critiques until the one true 2011 Valley Food Championship Pizza is determined.
Check back at www.masslive.com/pizza at noon on Thursday to vote in Round 2. For now, here are YOUR 2011 Valley Food Championship Pizza Playoffs Round 1 winners:
South
Fazio's Ristorante & Pizzeria (East Longmeadow)
Family Pizzeria & Restaurant (Springfield)
Frankie & Johnnie's Pizza (Springfield)
Peppa's Pizza / Peppa's Express (East Longmeadow / Springfield)
Pizza Shoppe (East Longmeadow)
Red Rose Pizzeria (Springfield)
Salerno Pizzeria (Springfield)
2 Guys Pizzeria (Springfield)
North
Antonio's (Amherst / Easthampton)
Big Y (Northampton)
Easthampton Village Pizza (Easthampton)
Joe's (Northampton)
Nini's Ristorante (Easthampton)
Pinocchio's Pizzeria (Northampton)
Pizza Paradiso (Northampton)
Roberto's Restaurant (Northampton)
East
Dugout Cafe & Pizza Shop (Chicopee)
Family Pizza (South Hadley)
Gregory's Pizza Pub & Restaurant (Wilbraham)
John's Pizzeria & Restaurant (Chicopee)
La Cucina di Hampden House / La Cucina Express (Hampden)
Milano's Pizzaria & Restaurant (Chicopee)
Poppi's Pizza (Ludlow)
Teresa's Restaurant (Ware)
West
Amadeo's Restaurant & Pizzeria (Holyoke)
Bertucci's (West Springfield)
Bruno Pizzeria (Feeding Hills)
Capri Pizza (Holyoke)
Liquori's Pizza (West Springfield)
Pizza Guy (Agawam)
Roma Restaurant (Southwick)
Sorrento Pizza (West Springfield)