Edward Stalewski of Mercurio’s and Marcus Medina of Hella Pie Pizza Co. Claim Pizza Category Wins

After submitting applications to participate in the California Pizza Contest for seven years, Salvatore “Tore” Trupiano is heading back to San Diego, California, with $10,000 and two contest wins under his belt. In addition to placing first in “The Big Cheese” category of the California Milk Advisory Board-sponsored event, the owner of Mangia e Beve Modern Italian Kitchen is the 2025 Grand Prize winner, having bested contest rivals from the “On the Menu” and “Innovative Wildcard” categories with his Creamery Crown pizza.

“They say the seventh time is a charm, and it turned out to be true for me,” Trupiano says Tuesday in Napa, California, where the California Pizza Contest is held at the Culinary Institute of America at Copia.

Entries are selected during a blind-judging process, with a dozen pizzamakers ultimately chosen to compete in the California Pizza Contest judged by Tony Gemignani, Laura Meyer and Glenn Cybulski, who says in a winning entry, “I can taste the different cheeses instead of just mixing them all together.”

Meyer adds, “It’s hard to stand out with a cheese pizza when everyone else is also making a cheese pizza.”

Salvatore ‘Tore’ Trupiano explains how he makes his winning pizza, the Creamery Crown.

Creamery Crown: The Big Cheese

Entries for The Big Cheese category must include California mozzarella and at least two other California cheeses. Trupiano’s Creamery Crown pizza features a base of whole-milk mozzarella and gouda. To top the pizza, he dredges dollops of cream cheese with buttermilk and seasoned flour, then fries them.

Trupiano leaves room for a ¾-inch crust and brushes it with olive oil before sprinkling dry jack cheese along the edge to create a frico effect – though he stresses the pie is not baked in a pan. “This was a fun pizza to make,” Trupiano says. “Normally, you have a raised edge that (the frico) caramelizes against. This was without the edges, so I used some olive oil as a binder to make the dry Jack stick to it.”

After pulling the pizza from the oven, Trupiano creates a post-bake swirl using crème fraiche. The most eye-catching part of the Creamery Crown is the dollops of fried cream cheese, which rise above the base of the pizza and almost resemble chicken nuggets. Trupiano tells Pizza Today the fried cheese reminds him of boba – the chewy tapioca balls found in iced tea drinks – because they are hard on the outside but gooey in the center.

Before the baking portion of the California Pizza Contest, contestants give a brief speech to discuss their journeys in the pizza industry. “I know pizza; I know kitchens,” Trupiano tells the group of judges, spectators and other contestants, adding that his parents immigrated to the United States from Palermo, Sicily, before purchasing a pizzeria. Admitting that his mother did not want him to go into the restaurant business, Trupiano says he is supportive of his children following in his footsteps. “The next generation is what’s up and coming.”

The Iron Crust: On the Menu

The Iron Crust is a skillet pizza that reflects Edward Stalewski’s Pittsburgh roots.

Edward Stalewski takes home first prize in the California Pizza Contest’s “On the Menu” category with his cast-iron skillet pie, “The Iron Crust.” Stalewski, who works at Mercurio’s in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, says the pizza is inspired by his hometown’s steel mill history.

“Pittsburgh is full of steel happy, rough-and-tough kind of people, blue-collar people,” he says. “I wanted to make a pie that signifies the people – that sort of Pennsylvania tough. Heavy duty.”

After the cast-iron pan is coated with unsalted butter and extra-virgin olive oil, Stalewski’s 36-hour dough proofs in the pan for between 1 ½ and 2 hours. Then, he spreads a blend of low-moisture, whole-milk shredded mozzarella and California white cheddar around the edge and par-bakes the crust for about 10 minutes. “You’ve gotta get it nice and bubbly,” he says.

After the par-bake, Stalewski adds more mozzarella and cheddar as well as cupping pepperoni and a chunky tomato sauce. The pizza gets a final bake for about 15 minutes and should sit for 1-2 minutes before being released from the skillet using a spatula. The Iron Crust is finished with gouda, whipped ricotta, chiffonade basil and a drizzle of garlic oil.

Stalewski says his nephew and a friend came to support him in Napa, and “Over the last two or three weeks, I’ve been making (The Iron Crust) religiously. The feedback from everybody has been tremendous, and I couldn’t make this pizza without their input.”

Hellapeno Za’pper: Innovative Wildcard

Marcus Medina puts finishing touches on the Hellapeno Za’pper.

Marcus Medina of Hella Pie Pizza Co. in Tracy, California, is the winner of the California Pizza Contest’s Innovative Wildcard category. The Hellapeno Za’pper is inspired by grilled, bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers.

“I started working at the farmers markets, and the barbecue spot next to me did a bacon-wrapped jalapeno popper. Smelling it and tasting it every Saturday inspired me to make this pizza,” Medina says.

The pizza uses a buttermilk ranch base with room for a 1-inch crust. Medina spreads California mozzarella and cheddar evenly, followed by fresh jalapenos and ranch seasoning.

After a quick par bake, the Hellapeno Za’pper is topped with breadcrumbs and Medina’s “Millionaire’s Bacon,” which he prepares with brown sugar, cayenne pepper and salt before cutting it into large pieces and distributing them liberally. He bakes the pizza until golden brown and lets it cool for 60 seconds before piping a seasoned cream cheese blend on top. “To create balance, smaller and larger stars will yield best results,” his recipe reads, adding that smoked hot honey can be drizzled on top or served on the side.

“California cheese has so many varieties that I could basically do exactly what I wanted, achieve everything I wanted and kept it super local,” he says.