Montreal chef crowned world pizza champion

The dough, the sauce, the smell.

Montreal chef Mirko D’Agata makes a delicious pizza, and the International Pizza Expo, held in Las Vegas this year, agrees – unveiling that he is the world champion of Neapolitan pizza.

“To think that I was the first, absolutely not,” explained the champion.

“Winning in a competition with around 90 pizzaioli directly from Naples,” said D’Agata. “It’s even more something that is going to up to my ego.”

“But I’m doing pizza in Napoletana since I was 14,” he added. “So it’s a really good result for me.”

Thousands of pizzeria professionals celebrated everything pizza in three action-packed days.

From hands-on demos to expert-led seminars to the world-class competition.

The event – has five categories – and the Neapolitan category where this executive chef of the Pizzeria NO. 900 chain took the top prize in was the most competitive category. It had 125 participants, including over 100 from Italy.

So, what’s his secret to making an award-winning pizza?

“There’s no secret,” D’Agata admitted. “The most important thing is having the right dough, at the right temperature, with the right fermentation, the right ingredient and use them as simple as possible.”

“And especially for the pizza marinara as the perfect cooking in the oven.”

All the culinary competitions at the event are judged blindly, making it equal for everyone.

As for his ingredients – he actually brought them to Vegas from Montreal which are all sourced from Italy.

Like oregano cultivated in the mountains of Sicily or their olive oil coming from the Puglia region.

The pizzaiolo had also finished second in the same competition back in 2019.

“For me, winning this title, it’s absolutely amazing,” said D’Agata. “I think that the most important thing is to think that we can do Neapolitan pizza everywhere in the world, just following some simple rules and apply them.”

“And show them now to the next pizzaioli,” he added. “How we can do things properly.”