Recently, one third of the Stamford Pizza Tour found itself halfway across the world in the company of two seasoned guest judges and an enthusiastic newbie in search of a pizza to put through the wringer.

As luck would have it, two of the aforementioned guest judges had already logged quite a bit of time on the Barcelona food beat (going so far as to embark on their own, website-less, scorecard-less bravas tour, no less) and were able to point the Tour in the direction of Neapolitan Authentic Pizza, or N.A.P.

Establishment. As is the case with many restaurants in big cities, this place is tiny and the parking is horrendous (to give you an idea, it was a good 3300 mile hike from the car). The most striking thing about this particular locale is its simplicity: the restaurant is clean, the seating is comfortable, and the service is quick. That’s it and that’s all. The menu highlights little other than pizza (check those prices, no complaints here!), offering minimal salad and antipasto options as complements to the eponymous star of the show.

Pizza. Our pies of choice were a classic marinara (tomate, ajo, aceite de oliva, oregano, albahaca—translate it yourselves, kids, this is a cultured blog), a similarly classic Regina (cherry tomatoes, mozzarella de bufala, aceite de oliva, albahaca, parmesano), and a meat-laden heart-stopper that I can’t seem to find on the menu because I think it was a special.

To say the least, these pizzas are all fantastic. Now, it might be the wine talking (for €11, how could we not throw back a bottle…or two) but this pie could really stand up to the best of them. On top of a light and airy, yet perfectly charred crust, this pizza combines some of the best quality ingredients we’ve ever tasted on a pie including rich, delicious cheeses and fresh, house-grown herbs.

The sauce was very light and subtle—both in quantity and taste—which tends to fall into the background, especially up against the richness of a true to form buffalo mozzarella and the phenomenal showcase of Spain’s finest cured meats that you see above. The meat-topped pie also begins to reveal some minor textural shortcomings, overwhelming a delicate pie with an inherent heft and saltiness that throws off the overall balance a bit. That said, each pie had incredible merits and for what it’s worth, this is all we left behind:

Bottom line. If you’re in Barcelona and have somehow stumbled upon the Stamford Pizza Tour, go to N.A.P. and you’ll be happy you found us. Then drop us a postcard or something and let us know how you found us.

Establishment: 22/30
Pizza: 25/30
Hits the Spot: 9.3/10 
Large cheese: €5.50 (355 mm) [$7.20 (14")]

Nonna’s has been taunting us for months to the point that we even tried to hold off on the Stamford Pizza Tournament back in July until they opened, but to no avail. While they may have not made our summer deadline, Nonna’s is now open and serving pizza. And where there is pizza to be eaten, so too is the Stamford Pizza Tour.

Establishment. Nonna’s is a pretty by-the-book pizzeria, sporting a takeout counter, a display case full of specialty heat-to-order slices, and a pretty sizeable dining area for eat-in parties as well. The atmosphere is a bit hackneyed and confusing, melding the otherwise unfamiliar themes of classy Italian plates and artwork hanging from the walls and Hewey Lewis and the News blaring out of the speakers above them, but we were comfortable nonetheless.

Seating was ample and almost excessively private due to the cubicle-styled divider splitting the dining room in half. As a result, we felt just short of neglected, staring into our empty drink glasses as our waitress went sprinting by, stopping only to take our order (she dropped the bill in full stride). Nonna’s menu is very broad, featuring Italian specialties, pasta specials, dinner specials (countless iterations of chicken, eggplant, veal, and seafood dishes), soups, salads, sandwiches and wraps. Interestingly enough, conspicuously absent from the first menu we received was pizza, but rest assured, Nonna’s carries it in the form of traditional, gourmet, and Sicilian-style pies complemented by a charming offering of calzones and other dough-rolled, pizza-like delicacies.

Pizza. For all the knocks we had on this establishment, the pizza itself is pretty good. Our pies of choice, a plain pizza and a gourmet spicy chicken (sauceless, topped with chicken breast and sautéed hot cherry peppers) came out screaming hot (albeit not at the same time…which was weird) and were considerably larger than advertised.

The crust was dense, chewy, and flavorful with an excellent crispy bite and surprisingly faint brick oven char. We were pretty split on the sauce, as it had the clean natural sweetness and tang we’ve come to expect and was portioned almost perfectly, but it was starkly underseasoned and couldn’t exactly wow us with its bright subtleties. As advertised on the door, Nonna’s uses a healthy amount of Grande brand mozzarella cheese which, with its a creamy flavor and stringy snap, complemented this pie very well.

Nonna’s really sets itself apart with its dedication to freakishly overtopping its pizzas with excellent gourmet toppings to the point that it’s almost comical but still greatly appreciated. Every square inch of our spicy chicken pie was covered with chicken and red peppers, and was packed to the brim with amazing flavor for a slow, spicy burn in conjunction with the smooth, creamy cheese. All in all, a very good pie.

The bottom line. If you can get past the inherent strangeness of the service atmosphere as a whole, Nonna’s certainly delivers with a very big, very good pizza, and very flavorful gourmet topping options.

Establishment: 19/30
Pizza: 23/30
Hits the Spot: 7.8/10
Large Cheese: $12.95

Flying their unmistakable neon banner over Bull’s Head, Coalhouse Pizza is one of the newest pizza establishments in Stamford and the subject of many, many requests; some glowing recommendations, some just out of curiosity.

The Pizza Tour returned to Stamford with a vengeance on our excursion to Coalhouse, toting along an absurd number of guest judges including fellow Stamford bloggers, JR of Streets of Stamford and Kate of Stamford Notes, as well as about six other disciples of the Tour clawing themselves back onto the bandwagon.

Establishment. Coalhouse Pizza sports a snazzy blues- and jazz-inspired feel that, once you get over how wildly out of place it is in Stamford, is rather unique and charming, albeit approaching obnoxious levels of trendiness. Prints of blues and jazz icons dot the walls and cover the tables while their sounds flood the warmly lit restaurant for some top-notch ambiance. Unfortunately for us (and fortunately for them) the place was absolutely jam-packed, so we had to wait outside in the Arctic tundra and take what we could get table-wise (which is mostly our fault for not realizing that the triumphant return of the Stamford Pizza Tour would draw such a crowd of guest judges). That said, Coalhouse is set up well enough for moderately large crowds and was very accommodating to our stupidly large party, equipped with a couple outdoor propane heaters and serving us rather quickly once we got inside. The menu at Coalhouse includes hearty salads, a limited selection of pasta dishes and sandwiches, and a conversely extensive selection of ribs and chicken wings in addition to a very wide spectrum of specialty pizza offerings and high-quality, gourmet topping options.

Pizza. Once we got settled, we ordered a large Blue Skies (marinara, mozzarella, basil, olive oil—a margarita pie) and a large Freight Train (margarita + crumbled sweet Italian sausage, onions, and mixed peppers).

As expected, the pies were extremely thin and unfortunately, considerably smaller than their 16" billing would lead us to believe. The crust had a distinct yeasty flavor, a surprisingly slight char, and very little bite relative to the coal-fired pies we’ve sampled in New Haven. The sauce was in rather short supply on such a delicate pizza, but had the natural tang and sweetness of crushed tomatoes and was very well-seasoned. As for the cheese: what cheese? While Coalhouse prides itself on their use of “preservative-free, fior di latte mozzarella” (cow mozzarella for us laymen), and while it tasted very fresh and delicious, there wasn’t nearly enough of it on any of our pies to make a difference. The biggest knock we could find on this pie (and it’s pretty big) was the texture. This pizza was pretty floppy and insubstantial, especially for a coal-fired pie, lacking the characteristic crispness and char that we’ve come to expect from such pizzas.

As such, this pizza absolutely needs toppings, but boy do they deliver with some top-shelf ingredients. We were very happy with our sausage, pepper, and onion number featuring delicious, bright, and fresh flavors that set this pie (and to an extent, this restaurant) apart from other, less ingredient-conscious ones.

The bottom line. Coalhouse Pizza, the trendy new kid in town, clearly has the best of intentions with its use of quality ingredients and close attention to detail, but has yet to work out all of the kinks and live up to its neon-soaked hype.

Establishment: 22/30
Pizza: 19/30
Hits the Spot: 5.4/10
Large Cheese: $12.75

Located amidst ritzy trinket shops and shoe stores in the heart of New Canaan, Pinocchio Pizza bills itself as “the crown jewel of the five pizza restaurants owned by the DiFabio brothers,” and has been featured prominently on B-level syndicated daytime television for its employees’ pizza chucking “skills.” While we’re sure they can stretch dough with the best of them, we’re here to judge whether or not they can cook it.

Establishment. Pinocchio Pizza is a quaint, welcoming dine-in establishment in the otherwise cold, black heart of New Canaan. Offering take-out and delivery options in addition to its small but comfortable dining room, Pinocchio is about as traditional a pizzeria as you’ll find in these parts with its quick, smart-assed table service, relatively family friendly atmosphere, and respectable assortment of by-the-slice offerings. The menu consists primarily of Italian fare, soups, salads, overpriced (in New Canaan they just call this “priced”) pasta dishes and Italian dinners as well as traditional and gourmet variations of pizza. Additionally, the menu gushes about Pinocchio being featured on TV, its chefs being members of the World Pizza Champions (America’s premier pizza team, of course) and its pizzas winning countless awards at the 2008 North American Pizza (and Ice Cream) Show in Columbus, OH (where they know plenty about pizza, we’re sure…)

Pizza. Pinocchio is known for one thing: lying. If Pinocchio himself (the good one, not the awful Roberto Benigni one) told you that this was a good pizza, or anything resembling a good pizza, he’d end up looking like this:

This pizza was as ill-conceived as casting your 50-year-old self to play a school-aged puppet/real boy. Pinocchio’s pie features a puffy, chewy, breadlike crust that’s difficult to chew and near impossible to taste. The cheese, billed as being from the mid-western king of cheeses, Grande, was pretty good aside from it being a bit salty and there being twice as much of it as there needed to be. The sauce was by far the strongest element of this pie (which isn’t saying much, we know), with a clean taste of fresh, tangy tomatoes and traditional Italian flavors. The problem here, is that the pizza was dominated so violently by the bland, spongy crust, the excess cheese, and an overall heavy, cumbersome texture, that the sauce was almost a non-factor. Hot out of the oven, this pizza was so incoherent and sloppy that we were all eating with forks. Further, our topping of choice, sausage, added a completely unnecessary saltiness and the stale taste of mop water to this horrible pie, doing nothing to complement the other “flavors” present. Sure, the guys at Pinocchio Pizza might be very well-versed in their “pizza skills,” but if they are, cooking a good pie is certainly not in their repertoire.

The bottom line. Beware the smoke and mirrors, Pinocchio’s victory in the North American Pizza (and Ice Cream) Show is not at all reflective of how terrible this bready mess of a pie is; maybe they won “Most Improvement Needed.”

Establishment: 19/30
Pizza: 14/30
Hits the Spot: 4.5/10
Large Cheese: $13.99

Located on Wall St. in Norwalk, Fat Cat Pie Co. is a newcomer to Norwalk’s anemic pizza scene with a bit of a following. Priding itself on an extensive wine list, a vast artisanal cheese selection, and super thin crust pizzas incorporating fresh organic ingredients, Fat Cat Pizza Co. is certainly different from many, if not all, of the pizzerias we’ve reviewed until now.

Establishment. We were met at Fat Cat Pie Co. by sprawling, minimalist bar and dining areas, decked out with hardwood floors, dark painted ceilings, IKEA-esque furnishings and extremely dim lighting bordering on uncomfortable darkness. The decor is rather stark and generally nonexistent, giving the restaurant a very clean, antiseptic feel and the look of an expensive loft of someone without the time to unpack. Needless to say, there’s a lot of wall for all sorts of dining sounds to bounce off of, and while even we were having some trouble hearing our otherwise attentive and helpful waiter on a not-so-crowded evening, we can only imagine how impossible conversation is when the place is hopping on a Friday night. Fat Cat’s menu was predictably bare (we’re sensing a theme here), consisting of pizzas and salads as well as cheese plate appetizers, mildly enticing deserts (like cookies with whipped cream; exorbitantly priced, but probably still delicious), and a reasonably priced, very unique beer and wine selection.

Pizza. Our pizzas of choice were a plain cheese pie (don’t do this), one topped with house-made sausage, and one with eggplant and fresh, chopped red onions. It’s rather interesting that this restaurant calls itself Fat Cat, as this was the thinnest freaking pizza we’ve ever eaten with a crust no thicker than a Mission tortilla and barely half the flavor. Cooked to a crisp, cracker-like consistency, Fat Cat’s crust is laughingly brittle and would easily shatter if dropped. The sauce—likely a conservative splash of crushed organic tomatoes and not much else—was about as bland as the decor, with little to no distinguishable taste and barely enough of it on any given pie to even lend itself to the overall texture. Fortunately, the cheese was a more-than-passable fresh, organic mozzarella with a satisfying snap and almost smoky notes that was disappointingly underportioned on two of our pizzas (one of them being the plain cheese pie).

However, Fat Cat Pie Co. really came through on the topping front, as both the house-made (!) sausage and eggplant toppings added much-needed flavors to pizzas that were essentially built as vehicles for these additions (as such, the plain cheese pie was an abomination). Also worth mentioning are the spice caddies that follow each pie to the table, complete with the basics (black pepper, red pepper, chili powder) and some less traditional toppers (Turkish and Bangkok seasonings) that, while unique, only hammers home the point that Fat Cat is more about gimmicky toppings and spices than a quality by-the-book pizza.

The bottom line. Fat Cat Pie Co. makes a super-thin, underflavored, overpriced, gimmicky edible plate of a pizza that is only as good as the toppings offered and made us stare longingly at the conversely huge salads (which doesn’t ever happen).

Establishment: 22/30
Pizza: 14/30
Hits the Spot: 3/10
Large Cheese: $9.00 (13")

Located on West Ave., Outpost Pizza is one of the lesser known pizzerias in town. Touting a "father and son place, putting Stamford on the map for great tasting pizza," Outpost is admirably audacious with a menu full of claims that the Stamford Pizza Tour was made to test.

Establishment. There's not a whole lot to say about Outpost's establishment, as they're primarily takeout only with but one table and a few chairs in a relative hole in the wall next to a liquor store on the South End. That said, Outpost pizza was far more inviting than we expected considering its lackluster location and comparative obscurity around town with a bright, clean establishment, its walls blanketed with photos of loyal customers. The service was what one would expect from a takeout only, counter service operation: quick and marginally personable, keeping you there no longer than you want to be. Outpost's menu is surprisingly diverse, including appetizers, salads, pastas, traditional Italian and Greek favorites, hot and cold sandwiches, the creatively badged "Wrap Pack," and pizza, backed by a brazen guarantee.

Pizza. Outpost's pizza is rather unsurprisingly very, very good (or else they'd be bled dry from buying other pizzas from around town for their dissatisfied customers). The crust is very thin and airy with a very unique flavor, cooked to crispy perfection without being too crusty or brittle. Outpost advertises their exclusive use of Grande cheese (the Wisconsin-based purveyor of the finest Italian cheeses money can buy) and it's evident, as the cheese had a unique, fresh taste that wasn't greasy or salty, and an amazingly gooey texture. We can't say the same about the sauce, however, as it was in short supply and from what we could gather, was painfully mediocre despite its alleged Brooklyn origins. The pie's temperature was adversely affected by the 12 minute long journey from Outpost to Pizza Tour HQ, but it held up well considering the circumstances. Our usual topping of choice, sausage, was very good and complementary to a very good pizza overall.

The bottom line. Outpost is takeout only and off the beaten path for most, but their pizza is certainly worth the drive, as it definitely comes through on its guarantee of being one of the better pies in town despite not living up to its impossibly lofty claims.

Establishment: 14/30
Pizza: 23/30
Hits the Spot: 8.5/10
Large Cheese: $10.75

AWARDS WON:

2009 – Best of West Side/South End

Located in Stamford's East Side on West Main Street, Antonio's Restaurant was a late entry on the Pizza Tour and unlike the other late entries, is an actual pizza restaurant. Considering the torrent of bar pies we've experienced lately, we were excited to take the Tour back to a true pizzeria for a change.

Establishment. Antonio's is exactly what you'd expect of a sit-down pizzeria with a few extra quirks that make it unique. After scoring a parking spot that wasn't chained up by the adjacent dry cleaner, we walked into the restaurant through a lattice tunnel reminiscent of the queuing area at It's a Small World to an instrumental rendition of The Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin." When we weren't preoccupied playing Name that Tune with the ever changing pan flute Muzak offerings, we were very relaxed in a low-lit, clean, and comfortable dining room, eating basket upon basket of warm, free bread. An interesting, mysterious back room (party room?) also exists at Antonio's with fewer tables, plastic tablecloths, and what appears to be a dance floor accessible through a side door labeled "Steak Mix" (your guess is as good as ours). In any event, Antonio's menu consists of both Italian and Mexican specialties, thus providing a unique opportunity to order tacos with your pizza.

Pizza. Antonio's pizza is pretty good. The crust is relatively thick and very crunchy with a strong, yeasty flavor and a unique, slightly overpowering bite. The cheese was delightfully stringy in contrast with the crust's bold textures and was moderately flavorful without being very greasy at all as well. Unfortunately, the sauce did not complement the rest of the pie at all, as it was underflavored, underproportioned, and to be blunt, boring. Regardless, this scorching hot pie stayed as such throughout the meal and was rather filling (both clearly the results of the thick, crunchy crust slab). Our topping of choice, skimpily distributed sausage, was not one of the better ones we've had, exuding a considerable amount of grease and oil with very little flavor payoff. Overall, Antonio's pizza was rather good with some unique, not necessarily complementary texture components and a traditional flavor we haven't seen in a while.

The bottom line. Antonio's is a nice place to eat with a slightly quirky ambiance echoed by the mostly traditional but still unique pizza.

Establishment: 21/30
Pizza: 20/30
Hits the Spot: 6.5/10
Large Cheese: $9.95

Located just outside the heart of Stamford's downtown, 122 Pizza Bistro bills itself as a "hot spot" and pushes its "nuovo" martini bar and wine list a lot harder than it does its pizza. Regardless, 122 Pizza Bistro stands out with an alluring presence in an otherwise dead stretch of town.

Establishment. 122 Pizza Bistro has all the makings of a trendy contemporary pizzeria except for the requisite hipster/foodie following (or any real following, for that matter) and the lack of decimal places on the menu. We walked into a low lit dining room to find ample, comfortable, (and in places, velveteen) seating separated quite effectively from Bistro's full bar. Dotted with eclectic fixtures, decor, and unidentifiable breadlike appetizers, this incredibly glorified pizzeria feels very lively and modern, especially given its location on a rather dull stretch of Broad St. The service here was insanely quick, but rather brusque and businesslike as, evidently, a trade-off. 122 Pizza Bistro offers a relatively broad menu including dressed up iterations of traditional Italian appetizers, salads, pastas, and gourmet entrees as well as a unique selection of specialty pizzas including the likes of "California Club" and "Tri-Color Salad" variations in addition to traditional offerings.

Pizza. Despite Bistro's gussied-up-pizzeria-of-the-new-millennium facade, they too serve a bar pie (but it comes on a fancy wooden peel). The crust was moderately flavorful despite being very thin, but it was spongy and less crisp than we would have preferred. The sauce was extremely flavorful, so much that that it overwhelmed the rest of the pie with a veritable spice rack of bold spices and seasonings. However, the overall pie managed to break through this flavor avalanche with a delicious, equally bold medley of Italian cheeses complemented very well by our topping of choice, sweet Italian sausage. The wooden peel, while extremely gimmicky, insulated the super thin pizza very nicely, keeping it piping hot for as long as we needed to eat it. All in all, this pizza was extraordinarily flavorful, but its boldness was divisive amongst our judges, coming across too strong for some and just plain weird to others (not at all helped by its lackluster texture). It was a unique, moderately good bar pie with some strong flavors that not everyone will love.

The bottom line. 122 Pizza Bistro is a intimate, trendy restaurant on the cusp of downtown that serves an alright bar pie with a very unique taste.

Establishment: 23/30
Pizza: 19/30
Hits the Spot: 7.3/10
Large Cheese: $9.45 (12")

AWARDS WON:

2009 – Best Seat

Located at E. Gaynor Brennan Golf Course, Zody's 19th Hole has lineage dating back to the original 19th Hole, which closed in 2004, reopened with new owners after a city-mandated $1.3 million renovation as the pluckily named Fore Seasons, later changed names to Fore, then again to the Clubhouse Grill, before fizzling, dying, and rising from its own ashes as the aforementioned Zody's. After a five-year sabbatical, the original owners have returned triumphantly to their loyal fans as well as tired, sweaty golfers.

Establishment. Catering to a unique demographic, Zody's is accommodating to just about everyone with its separate dining room and lounge areas, outdoor seating, and full bar, thus drawing far more business than the abysmally designed parking lot can handle. The dining room is spacious and offers excellent views of the course while the lounge has more of a bar feel as it's a bit more cramped, often loud and rambunctious, and always crowded. While we can't speak for the service in the dining room, the lounge service was very quick, but not very personable or attentive. Zody's offers a diverse menu including pastas, sandwiches (as well as their Italian counterpart, the panini), wraps, salads, mouthwatering entrees, and of course, pizza.

Pizza. Zody's offers a 12" bar pie, which is convenient because anything larger wouldn't have fit on our tiny table in the lounge. Nevertheless, the crust was exceptionally good, being crispy, slightly chewy, and very flavorful with the perfect amount of char. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the sauce and cheese, as they fall rather disappointingly into the bar pie mold. The sauce was rather bland and in short supply atop this pizza, while the cheese, although somewhat flavorful, was nothing to write home about. However, this pie came to the table screaming hot and stayed as such through most of the meal while remaining perfectly intact, thus enabling us to suck it down in under 10 minutes, so there's something to be said about that. Our topping of choice, grilled chicken, added an interesting complementary texture (especially given the perfectly cooked and charred crust) but little flavor (it is chicken, after all). Overall, Zody's fits the mold of a bar pie and will satisfy an appetite, but it certainly doesn't stand out in a city so full of them.

The bottom line. Zody's is a very nice establishment with a respectable bar pie and a diverse, tempting menu that will almost certainly convince you to order something else.

Establishment: 21/30
Pizza: 19/30
Hits the Spot: 5.8/10
Large Cheese: $9.99 (12")