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July 2004
TEAM OZ: THE RACE HEATS UP!

Cabooltures’ Best of the Best Australian Pizza competition has exceeded all expectations to date.

The competition’s friendly rivalry is starting to get serious as the time draws near to the national final to be held in September at the Fine Food Show in Melbourne. The winner of Australia’s Best of the Best will be flown to New York to compete against four other nations in an attempt to win PMQ’s America’s Plate and become the world’s best pizza maker.

Last year’s Best of the Best pizza champion, Theo Kalogeracos, said that since winning the 2003 title his business has increased by 40 to 45 percent because of the interest pizza lovers have towards tasting the Australian champion’s pizza.

He has been hunted down by all media sources for interviews after winning such a prestigious event, which in turn has lifted his profile and provided free advertising and marketing that most of us can only dream about. The average pizza shop couldn’t afford this type of exposure. This could also be a good reason for the interest in the Best of the Best competition.

“Those at Caboolture had a dream that this competition could one day turn into an international event to find the world’s best pizza chef, but they didn’t think that it would be so soon,” said Lori-Jay Ellis, Dairy Farmers’ national business manager.

To date, the only states to have been judged are Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia in July. The NSW judging is some time in August.

The following is just a short profile on those that have been judged and their

winning pies.

Caboolture Best of the Best

Victorian Winner

The winner of the Victorian State Finals of the Caboolture Best of the Best Pizza Challenge is Fadi Kurban of Colombo’s, Balwyn. Triumphant at the March 23rd cook-off at the Sofitel Hotel, Fadi goes into the National Finals to be held in Melbourne in September, at Fine Food Australia. As pizza supremo at the Whitehorse Road 800 seat icon restaurant, Fadi says the two ingredients that make pizza perfection are love and passion. His winning trio of pizzas were:

Colombo's Special: This pizza features a combination of fresh basil, grilled lamb, mozzarella, fresh lemon and a range of seasonings and sauces, with yoghurt on the side.

Mediterranean Seafood: This pizza includes Mediterranean olives, spring onions, prawns, calamari, mussels in a special wine and lemon marinade, topped with mozzarella.

Wild Mushroom Special: This is made with crimina, shiitake, Portobello and white mushrooms, mozzarella and fontina cheeses, mushroom pesto and special sauces.

Caboolture Mozzarella is the major sponsor of this premier pizza competition, encouraging innovation and celebration of one of Australians’ favourite foods.

The finalists came from all over Melbourne and included the following competitors. Johnny Kondoutsikos from Balsamic Restaurant in Ringwood; Zoran Milasinovic from Blue Room Restaurant Café Bar in South Melbourne; Tony Napoli from Sam’s Boatshed Restaurant in Williamstown and Fabio De Lutiis owner of Fabio’s Pizzeria in Hampton.

Some of the pizza toppings used in the entries this year included, among other things, Moreton Bay bugs, kangaroo, frankfurts, caviar and homemade barbecue sauce.

Experienced food consultant and stylist Maureen McKeon and Dairy Farmers’ cheese expert David Faragher assisted all five finalists. The judges, lead by Head Judge and inaugural Best of the Best Grandmaster Sidney Roberts, performed the most difficult task of the day by tasting over 15 gourmet pizzas in three hours.

The pizzas were all judged for originality, creativity, menu balance, use of ingredients and total appeal.

WA and Qld finalists decided in Caboolture Best of the Best Pizza Challenge

Daniel Robinson of Bar Pizza on Glyde, Mosman Park in Perth was triumphant at the June 7th cook-off at the Burswood Wine and Food Festival. The festival ran over four days and saw thousands come through the doors.

One of Daniel’s creations enjoyed by the judges, audience and Dairy Farmers’ people working behind the scenes was Pear & Prosciutto consisting of fresh pear, cherry tomatoes and prosciutto topped with Parmesan and a sprinkling of pine nuts. He also entered the aptly named Pizza On Fire that was made of smoked ham, peppered salami, fresh mushrooms, Italian sausage, chives and chilies complemented by pineapple, cherry tomatoes, red onion, anchovies and a mozzarella/cheddar mix. Prawn And Salmon rounded out Daniel’s trio and was made up from capers, red onion, avocado and fresh prawns topped with rocket, smoked salmon and sour cream.

The Queensland state champion is Anthony Ferris from Fratelli Pizza in North Buderim. Anthony’s exotic mix of winning pizzas included:

New Orleans: Tomato sauce, mozzarella, king prawns, Cajun spiced chicken breast, smoked oysters, marinated baby okra, bacon, red onion, capsicum and garlic.

Malay: Lime and chili sauce, mozzarella, reef fish, king prawns, calamari, scallops, Moreton Bay bug, mussels with fresh lime wedges and Asian herb.

Little Egypt: Tomato tahina sauce, mozzarella, falafels, grilled aubergine, feta, fire roasted capsicum, sun dried tomato, onion, olives, topped with baba ghannouj and hummus.

Queensland was decided at Augello’s restaurant in New Farm, Brisbane. One of Augello’s co-owners, Simon Best, was the national champion in 2002. He was on hand along with lots of supporters and a number of representatives from the media to see the finalists’ cook-off.

Other competitors who came from Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast were Glenn Whitehurst from The Lido Woodfired Decadence, Ascot; Emmanuel Polichronis from Slice, Pizza, Pasta, Life, West End; Peter Strommer from Vivaldi Pizza & Pasta, Maroochy Waters and Rob Gough from Graze Café & Pizzeria, Mooloolah.

Both Daniel and Anthony go into the national finals to be held in Melbourne in September, at Fine Food Australia. Here they’ll not only compete for the national title, but also for the chance to represent Australia in November at the America’s Plate Pizza Challenge in New York.

The Caboolture Best of the Best Pizza Challenge is supported by co-sponsors Blodgett Pizza Ovens, Visy, Skope Refrigeration and Natural Gas.

Good luck from PMQ Australasia to the finalists and we will see you in September to present the winner with his or her trip to New York.

– PMQ –

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