Best of the West chooses perfect pizza

Readers’ votes for the West Island’s best pizza kept pouring in until the deadline. The five most nominated pizzerias – those which made our short list – were Restaurant GiGi in Pointe Claire, Restaurant Calzone in Kirkland, Spiros Pizza in Pointe Claire, Nikkos Pizza in Dollard des Ormeaux, and DelMonaco Prêt À Manger in Pierrefonds.

Each taste tester sampled one slice of all dressed pizza (or maybe two) – except for DelMonaco, which was nominated solely for its homemade tomato pizza – and scored each piece in five different 10-point categories. The pizza’s taste, texture, ingredients, sauce, and crust all came into play.

And just as no two pizza’s are the alike, neither were our judges’ opinions.

“It was close for me between Calzone and GiGi,” said reporter Raffy Boudjikanian. “Calzone won it for me in the end, because of the cheese.” He gave his winning pie 48 out of 50 total points

The Chronicle’s editorial intern Natalie Gill preferred the tomato pizza offered at DelMonaco, giving it 46 on 50.

“I just felt it was a real, traditional Italian pizza,” Gill said. “It was fresh. This one stood out, because it wasn’t generic.”

In the end, it was Calzone’s pizza that came in first, with a total of 261 out of a possible 300 points. Comments given by the judges included the words “crisp,” “fragrant,” and “piping hot.”

Close behind was Spiros Pizza, which was awarded 252.5 points out of 300 for its “good overall taste” and “perfect balance.”

In third, with 243 points, was Nikkos Pizza, separated from fourth-place Restaurant GiGi by only one point.

“It was really close,” said news director Marc Lalonde of Gigi’s 242-point score.

With 237.5 points, DelMonaco Prêt À Manger finished fifth, but received some very good comments about its tomato-only style: “The crust is super,” one judge said, while another pointed out the “exceptional tomato sauce.”

As for the Best of the West’s big pizza winner, The Chronicle editor Albert Kramberger said Calzone was hard to beat.

“It had all the ingredients. It was fresh. The crust was not heavy, and it had a nice crunch to it,” Kramberger said. “And it had just enough cheese.”

Lalonde described the Calzone slice as “the total package.”

“Great sauce, great ingredients. The taste stood out,” he said of Calzone’s balance of all the pizza elements. But, then again, with the five top pizza’s finishing so close together, you’ll be satisfied no matter which one you choose.

“It was tough to choose a winner,” Lalonde said. “When you’re trying the top five pizza places in the West Island, you can’t really lose.”