The 15th Annual Columbus Pizza Challenge
09/29/04: I recently attended the 15th Annual Columbus Pizza Challenge (benefiting Children's Hospital) at the Buckeye Cafe. I must say, this was a great event. Now, I didn't attend for the charity, and I didn't attend for the contest. I was there for the pizza.
Here's how it works. They invite 20-25 local pizza shops to compete and donate their pizza (for the Children's Hospital. As an attendee, you pay a $10 admission price, and get all the pizza you can eat. Now, $10 for all-you-can-eat pizza is sort of high, but that's not the value of the event. The value lies in being able to sample all of the different pizza places with one price. There were lots of Mom & Pop stores, along with a few of the chain stores.
All of the pizza places had good pizza, but one of them personally stood out to me. Cici's Pizza (at Westpointe Plaza in Hilliard) had several great tasting pizzas, and they were generally pretty nice. (They also make awesome cinnamon rolls.) While talking with the guy at the booth, he told me that they run a pizza buffet for $3.99 everyday, lunch or dinner. (The price varies from area to area, but I've heard that it's pretty cheap everywhere.) They've got great pizza, and if there's a store near you, I totally recommend checking them out. Visit their website at www.cicispizza.com to find a store in your area.
The People's Choice winner was Adriatico's, which had some sort of thick crust pizza. That kind of pie isn't exactly my cup of tea, so I didn't think it was great. (Plus, it was the 20th booth I went to, and I didn't want to fill up on thick crust.) It did look tasty though. Jimmy's Pizza and Gahanna (Bexley) Pizza Plus came also placed with the Judges, well as with the People's Choice.
Other honorable mentions (in my opinion) include: Lido's Pizza, Morone's Italian Villa, and Pepperz Pizza. For more information on those, see the list I've prepared below. (Note: Many of the menus didn't have addresses, so you'll have to call to find out where they're located.)
Adriatico's Pizza (614) 421-2300
Cici's Pizza (www.cicispizza.com) (614) 777-8930
Gahanna Pizza Plus (www.bexleypizzaplus.com) (614) 428-9878
Jimmy's Pizza (614) 263-2678
Lido's Pizza (614) 459-5858
Morone's Italian Villa (614) 457-7444
Pepperz Pizza (www.pepperz.com) (740) 549-4475
The bottom line is this... If you ever find out about an event like this in the area, go for it. It's nice to be able to sample lots of places under one umbrella, and all for one low price. I'll definitely make an announcement on the site if I hear of anything else like this. Until then, enjoy some of the best pizza Columbus has to offer.
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