Il Forno chef and co-owner Giorgiono Vignali won first place for the best authentic pizza in a recent pizza competition in Las Vegas, according to fellow co-owner Mat Tran, and the prize won them a whopping $15,000.
Mat is convinced they won because of the quality of all their homemade items—the dough, the mozzarella, the sauce and the sausage. “In addition, we had a little trick that added just the right extra flavor to make ours great,” Mat said. “We added a basil leaf to the middle of the pizza before baking it.”
Mat explained how the competition worked. “The contest went on for three consecutive days, and they had pizza-making contests in several categories, with hundreds of entrants,” said Mat. “We were entered in the traditional competition.” A traditional pizza was considered to be pepperoni and sausage.
“Each day, they judged a different component of the pizzas,” Mat continued. “The first day, we had to make our pizza dough from scratch in front of the judges. The second day, they judged our sauce making. They also sampled our homemade mozzarella cheese and homemade Italian sausage that we brought with us,” he stated. “The last day, we put it all together, and they picked the pizza they liked best. It was ours.”
Since the contest was sponsored by various pepperoni makers, the pizza contestants had to choose from one of four pepperoni brands to use on their final product. Mat and Giorgiono decided Hormel worked best for them.
If you want to try their award-winning pizza, made in their wood-fired oven, they are offering a special of any two-topping, 16-inch pizza for $16, or a 12-inch, two-topping pizza for $8. A 12-inch pizza, with up to six toppings, is only $13.
Il Forno also is offering summer specials. For lunch, any large sandwich, excluding the New York steak or Di Palma, is only $6.50, and a large calzone is $8.
During summer, kids under 10 can eat free for dinner. Dinner entrées, including soup or salad, are $16 each. For each dinner entrée ordered, you get a free kid’s meal.
“We’ve also started stocking some great new Italian wines that are a lower price, like moscato and Citra varietals,” said Mat. “Don’t bother cooking. Enjoy a great homemade meal or award-winning pizza with us.”
Il Forno is located on the west side of The Home Depot center, at Power and McKellips roads. For information or take-out, call (480) 807-0888.