Pizza Challenge 2023 Winners

The Vancouver Foodster 9th Pizza Challenge was a great success featuring unique creations at restaurants around Metro Vancouver including Squamish.  Each restaurant featured their creation on their menu from April 5-30, 2023. and their customers voted for their favourites daily throughout the challenge for their People’s Choice favourites.

The Winners are:

1st Place:

{114 points}

Gastronomy Gastown

i Giardini di Marzo

Price: $25

Created by: Chef Selim Dahmane

Description: the Pizza creation name is”i giardini di marzo ” which translates in English to “The gardens of March”. One of the most exciting songs in the Italian music scene, composed by the famous lyricist Mogol and sung by Battisti. To me March and April are such special months where winter is introduced to summer, by the beautiful spring. After long months of rain and snow , cold and short days, spring brings us joy and color. The gardens in March shows the first fruit of the sunshine. Through this pizza , I wanted to illustrate what this part of the year bring us, the squash is a colorful reminder that winter is not too far behind us, the flowers and the greens illustrate the essence of this season. The Nduja comes at the end of the bite to warm up the pallet, announcing a hot summer.

Ingredients: On the 3 days of fermentation  Neapolitan Pizza dough: Roasted Squash sauce ( ricotta, Housemade creme fraiche, grana padano), fior di latte cheese, Grana Padano, Raw Squash butternut ribbons marinated into a preserved lemon brine , and some Garam Masala spices. N’Duja  crumble on top before baking. some chopped Wild Garlic greens.

A minute and 30 second later at 800 Fahrenheit:Fresh herb Salad (mint , dill , chives ,parlsey), Some colorful Edible Flowers, Toasted Pumpkin Seed, Whipped Goat Cheese and Pickled Wild spring onions stem.

Gastronomy Gastown

62 E. Cordova Street, Vancouver

Tel: 604-331-0557

Web: https://www.gastronomygastown.com/

Instagram @gastronomygastown

2nd Place:

{103 points}

Backcountry Brewing

Presto Pesto

Price: $26

Created by: The Backcountry Brewing kitchen team

Description: The perfect spring pizza, fresh, light and colourful

Ingredients: Pesto Genovese (nut free), Roasted cherry tomatoes, fior di latte, prosciutto cotto, parmesan, arugula, evoo

Backcountry Brewing

405-1201 Commercial Way, Squamish

Tel:(604) 567-2739

Web: https://www.backcountrybrewing.com/

Twitter @Backcountry604

Instagram @backcountrybrewing

3rd Place:

{101 points}

Doppio Zero

Boschetti

Price: $23

Created by: Ingala Daniele

Description: Our Head chef ,Daniele Ingala, named the pizza after a forest close to his hometown. He used to go to collect mushroom with his grandfather when he was young. He recreated a mix of ingredients that reminds him his childhood and time he spent at “Colli Bolognesi”.

Ingredients: San Marzano tomatoes sauce, fior di latte, truffle cream, mushrooms, sausage, speck DOP (smoked prosciutto) and shaved parmigiano reggiano.

Doppio Zero Pizza

1655 Como Lake Ave #103, Coquitlam

Tel: (778) 355-5333

Web:https://doppiozeropizza.ca/

Instagram @doppiozeropizza00

In the People’s Choice Awards category, the public who tried the Pizza Creations were the ones who had the opportunity to cast their vote throughout the challenge.

The Winners are:

1st Place People’s Choice:

Gastronomy Gastown

i Giardini di Marzo

Price: $25

Created by: Chef Selim Dahmane

Description: the Pizza creation name is”i giardini di marzo ” which translates in English to “The gardens of March”. One of the most exciting songs in the Italian music scene, composed by the famous lyricist Mogol and sung by Battisti. To me March and April are such special months where winter is introduced to summer, by the beautiful spring. After long months of rain and snow , cold and short days, spring brings us joy and color. The gardens in March shows the first fruit of the sunshine. Through this pizza , I wanted to illustrate what this part of the year bring us, the squash is a colorful reminder that winter is not too far behind us, the flowers and the greens illustrate the essence of this season. The Nduja comes at the end of the bite to warm up the pallet, announcing a hot summer.

Ingredients: On the 3 days of fermentation  Neapolitan Pizza dough: Roasted Squash sauce ( ricotta, Housemade creme fraiche, grana padano), fior di latte cheese, Grana Padano, Raw Squash butternut ribbons marinated into a preserved lemon brine , and some Garam Masala spices. N’Duja  crumble on top before baking. some chopped Wild Garlic greens.

A minute and 30 second later at 800 Fahrenheit:Fresh herb Salad (mint , dill , chives ,parlsey), Some colorful Edible Flowers, Toasted Pumpkin Seed, Whipped Goat Cheese and Pickled Wild spring onions stem.

Gastronomy Gastown

62 E. Cordova Street, Vancouver

Tel: 604-331-0557

Web: https://www.gastronomygastown.com/

Instagram @gastronomygastown

2nd Place People’s Choice:

Doppio Zero

Boschetti

Price: $23

Created by: Ingala Daniele

Description: Our Head chef ,Daniele Ingala, named the pizza after a forest close to his hometown. He used to go to collect mushroom with his grandfather when he was young. He recreated a mix of ingredients that reminds him his childhood and time he spent at “Colli Bolognesi”.

Ingredients: San Marzano tomatoes sauce, fior di latte, truffle cream, mushrooms, sausage, speck DOP (smoked prosciutto) and shaved parmigiano reggiano.

Doppio Zero Pizza

1655 Como Lake Ave #103, Coquitlam

Tel: (778) 355-5333

Web:https://doppiozeropizza.ca/

Instagram @doppiozeropizza00

3rd Place People’s Choice:

Ragazi Pizza

Chef Special

Created by: Chef Paul Teixeira

Price:

Slice pie it’s $4.50 a slice 

Small pizza 10”  is $20.00

Description: Try our New pizza creation a garlic cream mushroom sauce on a bed of fresh spinach topped with red onion and mozzarella for a limited time. We use only the highest quality ingredients: fresh vegetables, high quality mozzarella cheese, and imported meats to help create flavours and textures found in Italy. our pizza is hand stretched and baked directly on a stone for an authentic Italian crust.

Ingredients: Garlic cream mushroom spinach red onion mozzarella

Ragazzi Pizza

2996 E. 22nd Avenue, Vancouver

Tel: 604-433-2235

Web: http://www.ragazzipizza.com/

Twitter:   @RagazziPizza

Instagram: @ragazzipizza

Our media judging panel determined the ultimate winners of the challenge, and this was quite the task as each judge who tasted each creation with a rigorous process based on taste, originality/uniqueness and presentation/appearance.

Each media judge scored each creation with a maximum of 40 points as follows: Overall Taste 20 points, Originality and Uniqueness 10 points, Presentation and Appearance 10 points. The highest number of points a challenge creation could have been awarded is 120 points.

Our Media judges for this challenge were: Hanson Do, Karina Pangilinan and Tara Lee.

Thank you to all the chefs and restaurants that accepted my invitation and featured the Pizza Challenge creations on the menu for the past few weeks during this challenge.

I encourage you to visit the winning restaurants to try their Pizza creations if they are still available! See all the Pizza Challenge Entries Here.

By: Richard Wolak