Find out which pizza shops have advanced to the round of 16.
On Wednesday, nature's fury put in perspective so much of what we take for granted in our daily lives. The fun we've been having with the 2011 Valley Food Championship Pizza Playoffs had to be set aside – all of the resources at The Republican, MassLive.com and El Pueblo Latino were devoted to covering the storms that ripped through our area.
So we're a little late with our announcement of the Round 2 winners of the Pizza Playoffs – and while we know the focus of our region remains on assessment of what we lost and where we go from here, we're taking a little time to bring you up to date on where things stand in our search for the best pizza in the Valley.
In Round 2, 32 of your favorite pizza shops went head-to-head in four regions. Our readers voted for the shops which they preferred to move on to the Sweet – Spicy? – 16. Voting closed at noon on Wednesday, and once again, the voting was very close in just about every race.
With Round 2 results in, it's on to Round 3, in which the 16 winners advanced through their respective regional brackets to again be paired off in NCAA-style, head-to-head matchups. Round 3 voting will begin Thursday night and continue through next Wednesday at 4 p.m. (we're adding four extra hours of voting to make up for some of the few that were lost today).
Round 3 is the final round in which our readers will participate 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 about 11 p.m. on Thursday to vote in Round 3 (again, voting will continue through Wednesday, June 8 at 4 p.m.). For now, here are the results from Round 2 of the 2011 Valley Food Championship Pizza Playoffs:
NORTH REGION
Joe's (Northampton) defeated Big Y (Northampton)
Pizzeria Paradiso (Northampton) defeated Pinocchio's Pizzeria (Northampton)
Roberto's Restaurant (Northampton) defeated Nini's Ristorante (Easthampton)
Antonio's (Amherst / Easthampton) defeated Easthampton Village Pizza (Easthampton)
SOUTH REGION
Red Rose Pizzeria (Springfield) defeated 2 Guys Pizzeria (Springfield)
Frankie & Johnnie's Pizza (Springfield) defeated Salerno Pizzeria (Springfield)
Family Pizzeria & Restaurant (Springfield) defeated Peppa's Pizza / Peppa's Express (East Longmeadow / Springfield)
Pizza Shoppe (East Longmeadow) defeated Fazio's Ristorante & Pizzeria (East Longmeadow)
WEST OF THE RIVER REGION
Liquori's Pizza (West Springfield) defeated Roma Restaurant (Southwick)
Capri Pizza (Holyoke) defeated Bruno Pizzeria (Feeding Hills)
Pizza Guy (Agawam) defeated Bertucci's (West Springfield)
Amadeo's Restaurant & Pizzeria (Holyoke) defeated Sorrento Pizza (West Springfield)
EAST OF THE RIVER REGION
Gregory's Pizza Pub & Restaurant (Wilbraham) defeated Teresa's Restaurant (Ware)
Milano's Pizzeria & Restaurant (Chicopee) defeated Poppi's Pizza (Ludlow)
John's Pizzeria & Restaurant (Chicopee) defeated Family Pizza (South Hadley)
Dugout Cafe & Pizza Shop (Chicopee) defeated La Cucina di Hampden House / La Cucina Express (Hampden)