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March 25, 2015, Las Vegas – It might be an attempt by northern pizzeria owners to get
away from the nasty weather, but Pizza Expo attendance is up this year according
to organizers.
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| 2011 Pizza Maker of the Year Carmelo Oliveri made a crust representing the flag of Italy during the Blind Box competition at the International Pizza Challenge in Las Vegas March 26. Advertisement
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March 25, 2015, Las Vegas – It might be an attempt by northern pizzeria owners to get
away from the nasty weather, but Pizza Expo attendance is up this year according
to organizers.
In particular, there was unusually high attendance at the Monday
new-operator sessions, perhaps a sign the industry as a whole is thriving.
Plenty of Canadians stopped by the Canadian Pizza booth to
say hello and wave the flag a bit. The Muntains, last year’s Pizza With Purpose
winners, stopped by to say hello, as did our Chef of the Year Carlo Raillo and
wife Kayla Wyntjes, and runner-up Vito Dachille and his team from Enoteca Mozza
Pizzeria Moderna.
Vito handled himself like a pro at his first International
Pizza Challenge, creating a dreamy Calabrese pizza featuring a mixture of
Calabrese sausage and nduia and caramelized onions in the Traditional
preliminaries on Tuesday. Vito did not make the stiff cut to four pizzaiolos
who will advance to the finals on Thursday but he was happy with his pizza and
smiling throughout the process, as were the gang of tasters who snapped up his
pie.
Carlo competed Wednesday in the Non-Traditional category
with his Cappuccino pizza. Created and served at about 10:30 a.m., it made for
a wonderful breakfast for a lucky few who got to sample the light, crispy cocoa
crust. Carlo’s dessert pizza will be judged alongside such innovations as duck
and reindeer pizza, so it’s anyone’s guess how the judging will go. Stay tuned
to Canadian Pizza’s website for details as we receive them.
We took in some fantastic seminars on catering and dough
do’s and don’ts – along with demos by Tony Gemignani (Sicilian-style pizza) and
Glen Cybulski (chicken pizza) and we’ll share more with readers in future
issues of the magazine.
See the Canadian Pizza Facebook for a photo gallery .
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