The Great Pizza Throwdown of 2009

Saturday night there was a battle royale. Earlier in the month I challenged Dave, a good friend, food aficionado and one-half of food blogging couple Feasting on Life to a pizza throwdown. It finally took place last weekend.


Having put himself through college while working at Godfather's, Dave is the pizza guru in our circle of friends. In fact, if it can be created using a pizza crust, there's a good chance he's done it. As such, I knew I had to bring my "A" game.

But before we get in to the pizza, let me take a moment to acknowledge the fantastic spread put out by Dave's lovely wife Erica, another accomplished food aficionado and the driving force behind Feasting on Life.

Hard salami, mozzarella, tomato and basil skewers

The hostess preparing mint and split pea bruschetta topping (she made four in all, all of which were delicious. Recipes can be found here.)

Breadsticks

The spread, including olives, risotto balls, marinated eggplant and various dips.

Dave was also nice enough to prepare a couple of pizzas for people to eat while the competition pies were cooking.

This is a margherita being prepared.

The same one on the grill (he used a pizza stone on a charcoal grill).

And the margherita ready to cut.

Of course while he was doing this, I was hard at work...

drinking beer and caramelizing onions,...

rolling out dough,...

and chopping garlic, among other things.

Before long, the competition pizzas were ready to eat.

Dave's was a masterpiece of proscuitto, roasted red peppers, sweet Italian sausage, carmelized onions, mushrooms and goat cheese.

Mine, was a bit more risky, caramelized red onions, kalamata olives, and proscuitto on a chipotle crust, topped with sour cream rather than cheese.

Here they are side-by-side.

While there were certain things I was unhappy with, most notably the thickness of my crust, I was pleased with the outcome. Of course, as luck would have it, several of our judges hate olives. In the end, though I had a good showing, I was unable to beat the pizza master, to whom I tip my toque.

Dave's pizza was fantastic and he rightfully deserved the victory.

The 2009 Pizza Throwdown Winner

Special thanks to Erica, our gracious hostess and my own lovely wife Natasha for her excellent photography.

And to all you cooks out there, keep doing what you're doing, but you've got to ask yourself one question: Are you ready for a throwdown?

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