They took No. 1 in both the Critic's Choice and People's Choice categories. Here are the final totals:
Critics Choice:
Papalino’s
Mulligan’s
Boombozz
People’s Choice
Papalino’s
Mulligan’s
Bearno’s
My thoughts: I had Papalino's, Mulligan's and Flanagan's on top with Boombozz trailing Flanagan's by one point. I was surprised to see the good showing of two places not usually thought of as pizzerias, but in fairness, both were worthy, and the crowd's and critics' opinions on Mulligan's support that.
Also, I realized after sampling that there's a problem with doing a pizza throwdown in a setting like this: Pizza is best when it comes sizzling from oven to peel to plate. Pizzas had to be delivered to the competition setting, the auditorium in the Episcopal Church of the Advent on Baxter, so what we got was the equivalent of delivered pizza. No matter how you slice it <heh>, pizza suffers from even a short trip in the insulated box, and none of the crusts were up to what they should have been. Fortunately, this handicap hit everyone equally, but it's worth mentioning.
Participating pizzerias were Papalino's, Mulligan's, Flanagan's, Boombozz, Bearno's, Spinelli's and Za's. Where was Wick's? I'm told that the organizers had room for seven, and accepted entries on a first-come, first-served basis.
The event, which also included a silent auction, was jammed. Beneficiaries were Gilda's Club and the Original Highlands Neighborhood Association.
I didn't take notes, so sorry, I can't recall all the specifics.