National Pizza Day Competition
Happy National Pizza Day!
For years I have wanted to host a competition to determine “GR’s Best Pizzeria”. I dreamed of sampling all my faves in one sitting to determine what sauce/crust/cheese combo would impress my taste buds enough to be able to say, with certainty, “X” is my favorite pizzeria. (Ok, so in my dreams I probably also had a brew in hand – but this time sparkling seltzer water was my only option!) A few months ago I threw the idea out there to my teammates at OST and, no pun intended, they totally bit. So, today, for National Pizza Day we hosted an official competition to determine which pizzeria would earn the highly coveted title of: OST’s favorite.
We had 15 OST-ers bring in pies from their favorite pizzeria’s and 50-60 people showed up for the tasting. We asked all pizza purchasers to follow a few simple rules:
Keep the toppings minimal – cheese or pepperoni only
Ask to have the pizza’s cut into squares so more people could sample (vs. slices)
No frozen or homemade pizzas
Pizza’s had to be ready to be sampled at exactly 12:00PM
To determine the winner, each taster could vote for their top two favorite pizzas. After doing a final tally, the results are in and OST’s FAVORITE Pizza is….
[Drumroll, please]
ANDREA’S!
The official breakdown:
1st Place – Andrea’s [2014 Boston St SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506]
2nd Place – Harmony Brewing [1551 Lake Dr SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506]
3rd Place – JB’s Pizza Parlor [2433 Eastern Ave SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49507]
4th Place – Mitten Brewing [527 Leonard St NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504]
4th Place – Fratelli’s [435 Bridge St NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504]
5th Place – Big O’s Cafe [80 Ottawa Ave NW #1, Grand Rapids, MI 49503]
5th Place – Vitale’s of Ada [400 Ada Dr SE, Ada, MI 49301]
6th Place – Salvatore’s [654 Stocking Ave NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504]
6th Place – Giordano’s [3333 W Shore Dr, Holland, MI 49424]
7th Place – Brick Road [1017 Wealthy St SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506]
8th Place – The Knickerbocker – New Holland [417 Bridge St NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504]
8th Place – Rocket Pies [435 Ionia Ave SW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503]
8th Place – Georgio’s Pizza [15 Ionia Ave SW #150, Grand Rapids, MI 49503]
Last Place – “Mom’s Secret Recipe” AKA: Little Caesars [245 Leonard St NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504]
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I’d encourage your business/friend group/family to try something similar and let us know what pizzeria floated to the top of your list!
Happy National Pizza Day, friends!
