 December 1993 Goodfella's Pizza alla Vodka Is Pizza a la Vodka, a 16-inch New York style pie from Goodfella’s Brick Oven Pizza of Staten Island, took home the top prize of $1,000 in the first "Industry's Best Pizza Contest," Nov. 7 at the International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show (IH/M&RS) in New York City.
In addition to the unusual vodka cream sauce, Messrs. Basillio and O'Neal used fresh mushrooms, homemade fresh mozzarella and a homemade dough consisting of semolina flour and hi-gluten flour. The competition was excellent. Each of the other four finalists produced beautiful and tasty pizzas that tickled the tastebuds of the judges and the packed Demonstration Kitchen at the Jacob Javits Center, which was filled with a crowd hungry for pizza. "Incredibly Delicious Pizza #1," or the Cajun Spiced Chicken, a colorful and tasty pie, was presented by the team of Joel Cohen and Jackie Sivan of All the Right Stuff/Pizza Amore of Huntington Village, New York. "Chicken Alla Fina Pizza" was the entry from Pete Sciarrotta and family at Chuckle's Pizza of Lawrenceville, New Jersey; "Eggplant Tomato Ricotta Pesto Pizza" was entered by Paul Previ of Bloomfield, Connecticut's Villa Pizza; and "Pesto Pizza with Cajun Shrimp" was entered by Joe Soboti of The Pizza Company in Little Silver, New Jersey. The five finalists were selected from entries received from all over the country by Pizza & Pasta magazine during the late summer and early fall. Entries were received from Pismo Beach, California to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and from Castine, Maine to Crockett, Texas. A three member panel consisting of two food editors (Leah Zeldes of the Lerner-Pulitzer Newspapers and Eloise Valadez of The Daily Southtown) and a restaurant hospitality expert (Chuck Hamburg, chairman of Roosevelt University's Restaurant/Hospitality Management Program), judged all of the recipes on creativity of the pizza, originality of the idea and uniqueness in the use of ingredients in narrowing the field down to five finalists for the contest in New York City. A little before 8 on Sunday morning, Nov. 7, the finalists began to arrive at the Javits Center, carrying boxes of ingredients, dough, pizza cutters, screens, peels and a hope that their creation would be judged the "Industry's Best Pizza." Rose Panariello, Tony Orlando, Cathy Fineman and other members of the George Little Management Team dashed about the Demonstration Kitchen making sure that they knew that American Metalcraft had supplies available for the finalists, and that they had enough space to get ready for the contest. Pete Sciarrotta, the first contestant to go, tried out the Baker's Pride countertop deck oven with a test pizza. Paul Previ was putting on a show in another corner, tossing pizza dough into the air. Unbeknownst to the crowd milling in the seating area outside, there was a nervous buzz of anticipation. After introductory remarks, each of the judges was introduced: Rita Nurzia, director of marketing for Dairyland USA, in the Bronx -- New York's leading food distributor to upscale Italian restaurants; Peter Dardaganis, national sales manager for Kontos Foods Inc. of Paterson, New Jersey; and Valentina Porta, food editor of American Oggi newspaper of Westwood, New Jersey. Before bringing out their pizzas for the audience to view, each of the contestants was interviewed about their establishments and the making of their pizza. After the brief interview, their pizza was sliced for the judges to sample. Television and newspaper cameras from various outlets in New York jockeyed for position at the front of the stage as the pizzas and finalists were trotted out for the crowd. After the judges finished sampling each of the pizzas, the runnersup were called to the stage to accept their personalized banners. The judges' unanimous choice for "Industry's Best Pizza" of 1993 was Goodfella's "Pizza a la Vodka," which sent a roar from the audience, including a good sized contingent of Goodfella's patrons who made the trip from Staten Island. Co-owners, E. Jay Myers and Scot and Marc Cosentino accepted the $1,000 check and championship banner. E. Jay Myers took time to thank his "hard working staff" and their customers for the honor. At about 1:30 p.m., all of the pizza was gone, the crowds had left, but the finalists offered congratulations and showed a great deal of respect for each other's hard work and creative, tasty creations in what turned out to be a cooperative, friendly competition. Perhaps Joel Cohen of All the Right Stuff/Pizza Amore summed it up best: "We're all winners just by being invited here today." |
E. Jay Myers and his crew, including chefs Sergio Basillio and Alex O'Neal, competed against four other top notch pizzas chosen for the contest, sponsored by Pizza & Pasta magazine and presented by IH/M&RS, produced by George Little Management of White Plains, New York.
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