The pizza-tasting competition that began with 117 reader-submitted nominees is down to Milano's and The Pizza Guy of Agawam. Watch video
It’s The Pizza Guy of Agawam vs. Milano’s Pizzeria & Restaurant of Chicopee.
Judges have determined the final match-up to settle the winner of the 2011 Valley Food Championship Pizza Playoffs.
The three judges will revisit each pizza place next week, and on July 29, they will announce the winner of the competition that began May 9 with 117 nominees.
Milano’s succeeded to the final round on a 3-0 vote by the judges – photographer Don Treeger, sports reporter Pam McCray and Holyoke reporter Mike Plaisance, substituting for Ray Kelly, arts and entertainment editor, who was on vacation.
They preferred Milano’s pizza of sausage, peppers and mushrooms over a pizza with the same toppings by Pizza Shoppe in East Longmeadow, a pizzeria with a distinguishing trait of a sweet-tasting crust.
“My vote this week is for Milano’s,” Treeger said.
“ I have to stick with my previous notion that a sweet crust is good, but just not what I want in my ‘everyday’ pizza. Milano’s serves a very traditional pizza and I think that their fresh toppings, including incredibly good sausage, gives them the edge over the Pizza Shoppe,” he said.
McCray said late-round pizzas are bound to be good, with competition filtering in only the top pizzas, but that also makes the judging tougher.
“I chose Milano’s because I thought their toppings tasted really fresh. They made a beautiful pizza that was also delicious. The fresh local sausage really made their pizza and was the deciding factor for me,” McCray said.
Plaisance agreed about the locally made sausage and fresh vegetable toppings making the Milano’s slices special.
But what made Milano’s the choice over Pizza Shoppe was a focus on detail, he said.
“The sauce announced its presence with a zest and didn’t get lost among the cheese, crust and toppings, which often happens with many pizzas,” Plaisance said.
“The chunks of crust made for still-tasty, post-meal munching. And in presentation, the Milano’s pizza was worthy of a Treeger photo,” Plaisance said.
The 2011 Valley Food Championship Pizza Playoffs began with readers reducing the nominees to 64 contenders.
Those contenders were matched in four regions of tournament style voting.
Online readers of MassLive.com, The Republican and El Pueblo Latino narrowed the field to the Elite Eight visited by judges.
As always, visit www.masslive.com/pizza to keep up with where the judges have been and where they are headed next.
Elite 8 Bracket:
QUARTERFINALS |
SEMIFINALS |
CHAMPIONSHIP |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||