Westford's Best Pizza 2012: Quarterfinals
We're down to eight finalists in the annual tournament to see who has Westford's best pizza.
Domino's was eliminated in Week 1, and British Beer Company and The Willows were taken down in a tiebreaker last week.
Now we have our seedings in the contest to see who has Westford's best pizza.
Papa Gino's (#1) vs. Sandrino's (#8)
This year Sandrino's has made it to the final eight after finishing tenth last year. But can they dethrone the defending champion?
Silver Palate (#2) vs. Nashoba Pizza (#7)
Nashoba's back again this year in the seventh slot, while Silver Palate looks to advance to the semifinals after they were upset by Papa Gino's in our last tournament.
Westford House of Pizza (#3) vs. Pizzeria Presti (#6)
Main Street vs. Forge Village, this showdown pits two old school pizza joints. Will the new residents within walking distance of Pizzeria Presti down at Abbot Mill have any impact on this faceoff?
DiNapoli (#4) vs. Mangia Mangia (#5)
The newcomer takes on last year's runner up in our last quarterfinal contest.
And one more thing to keep in mind: like last week, if one of these contests ends in a tie, both restaurants will lose and the restaurant they would have faced will receive a bye next week in the semifinals.
katie
1:20 pm on Friday, November 16, 2012
I can't imagine any of these lower seeds advancing...
DJ
1:56 pm on Friday, November 16, 2012
Just bring the trophy to Papa Gino's already..and commence of $0.99 celebatory slices and pictures with Slice the PG Mascot! Oh and vote for all four categories people! #TGIF
Amber
3:46 pm on Friday, November 16, 2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/13/papa-johns-obamacare_n_2123207.html
I'd rather it be a local non-chain contest.
DJ
4:34 pm on Friday, November 16, 2012
Be nice Amber, Papa Gino's is no Papa John's. Papa Gino's is a locally founded and owned regional 'chain' that I am sure a few of the other tourny competitors look up to or would like to be as successful as.
Papa Gino's has barely 200 regional stores vs.Papa John's 4000 stores (internationally). Papa Gino's just sticks to the basics, slinging delicious grease wheels to NE residents and are worth a mere (haha) 200 Million. PJohn's, besides supplying awful 'pizza' is traded publically on the NASDAQ and worth 1.2 Billion. Its a Pizzas to pickeld eggs comparison.
And you would be surprised how many of the Pizza parlors competing are invested in more than just the Westford locations...
Amber
12:02 am on Saturday, November 17, 2012
DJ-
Local is always better. You have to try to support the little guy (assuming he's pushing a good product). Mass-produced just tastes generic to me.
Of course, you have the philosophical arguments about which style of pizza is best...the thin greasebombs vs a thicker hand tossed vs a true deep dish pan experience. A watery, bland sauce or something full of flavor?
When I was in college, there was Giovanni's Pizza. Non-chain, one solo shop. A robust merlot-red sauce (that the guys would add a little jalapeno juice to if you asked nicely), perfect chewy hand-tossed crust. Best pizza ever. Everything I tried here before being diagnosed with all of these allergies had thin, wilty slices, grease dripping off of it, with wimpy boring pureed-tomato sauce. I kinda decided New England pizza sucked. ;)
Sadly, I can no longer taste test...nobody really does gluten-free pizza well, though there is a passable one at this little corner pub in Manchester. But it's all thin crust and I miss a good deep dish. I find thin crust is only good if it's intended to be thin and crispy. Thin and wimpy, yuck. It's like wilted lettuce in a salad. Crust should be more than a cheese delivery device, it should bring something of its own to the table.
Andrew Sylvia
12:59 pm on Saturday, November 17, 2012
Hi Amber,
You're more than welcome to vote/comment for/submit pictures of/write a blog post on behalf of Sandrino's. (the only contestant up against a chain)
Everybody can do any of those things for any of the candidates.
Andrew Sylvia
1:07 pm on Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Okay, had to delete some comments per the contest rules.
If you have a comment about a pizza place, that is great, positive or negative. But any disparaging comments toward other users will not be allowed. We want everybody to feel comfortable commenting here.
P.S. -- There was a comment that was okay that was referencing one of the ones that was not okay. My apologies for not keeping a closer eye on this, and thanks for bringing it to my attention.
DJ
1:11 pm on Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Pizza Wars! This is getting intense! I love Papa Gino's!
katie
1:12 pm on Tuesday, November 20, 2012
And I had a nice large pepperoni pizza from Silver Palate last night, hot and delicious!
Mike
1:19 pm on Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Apologies, Andrew. I wasn't fully understanding the rules.
Just to see that I have this straight: A comment that might be considered negative about a pizza place, such as that Papa Gino's is using its employees to shill for the contest, would be OK, but personally disparaging comments about an assistant manager of a store would be forbidden.
Was that accurate? ;)
Andrew Sylvia
2:32 pm on Tuesday, November 20, 2012
That is absolutely correct, the rules say employees have to identify that they're employees. If you have some proof on that, please e-mail me, I'll be happy to double check. Just don't make your claims here, please.
katie
12:33 pm on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
How is it that the Papa Gino's poll has more votes than the other three combined? Doesn't make much sense.
So, the poll is the only thing that matters for this round? Comments etc are irrelevant?
Andrew Sylvia
1:55 pm on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Hi Katie,
Thanks for the question -- the score is a combination of poll votes/comments/uploaded photos. Each one of those is one point and a blog post in support of a pizza place is 50 points.
Scores are reset after each round.