Ansonia ‘Pizza Battle’ Triggers Facebook Debate

Mayor David Cassetti announces the winners Saturday. Photo from the city’s Facebook page.

ANSONIA — A friendly community competition to name the city’s best pizza caused some heartburn online over the weekend.

The city, for the first time, held a best pizza” contest as part of its annual Harvest Festival, which was, by all indications, a wonderful family-friendly event on Saturday.

The contest was held in front of Ansonia City Hall with 10 judges from city government and the community at large. It was set up like the old Coke v. Pepsi” challenge. The judges tried a slice, but didn’t know from where the gooey goodness originated. Each entry was then scored on a number of factors, from flavor to presentation.

Dave Conti, of Red Planet Pizza, won first place.

Rosa Mina, a pizzeria at 384 E. Main St, took second place.

Chifrijo, a Peruvian restaurant at 242 Main St., took home third place.

But when the winners were announced on Facebook, a culinary controversy ensued.

Red Planet Pizza is not a brick and mortar restaurant within Ansonia city limits, readers pointed out on Ansonia’s official government Facebook page. The flyers published prior to the event said the competition was limited to restaurants in Ansonia.

While Conti owns Arrow Printers, a custom print shop that’s called Main Street home since 1970, he doesn’t sell pizza to the general public. Red Planet Pizza isn’t a restaurant.

Conti is, however, a highly-skilled chef who regularly wins pizza (and barbecue) competitions all over the country. He’s available for private parties and the like.

The win kicked off a debate on various Ansonia community group pages. Wasn’t the competition to promote traditional Ansonia pizzerias, of which there are plenty in the city?

As of 12 p.m. Monday, the city’s official Facebook page had 181 comments. Ansonia, CT Community Updates and Forum, a Facebook page, had at least two posts about the competition. One thread has 90 comments.

Some questioned whether a deep state pizza competition conspiracy had been hatched.

The first comment on a city Facebook thread: That was rigged.”

Only brick & mortar public pizza businesses should be allowed, because people want to try the winner’s pizza out, and all of us cannot afford to spend hundreds on a private caterer to come make it,” another person wrote.

In a Facebook comment, Greg Martin, Mayor David Cassetti’s director of constituent services, responded to the controversy. He said that Red Planet could enter because:

1. The pizza was made in Ansonia, though Conti does not live in Ansonia

2. Red Planet is a limited liability corporation with an Ansonia address (Arrow Printers)

3. Conti has a track record of winning amateur pizza contests

At the end of the day, it was a great event and the public were treated to 13 free pizzas,” Martin wrote.

In a separate comment, resident Nancy Marini suggested next year’s contest have more specific requirements or subcategories.

Overall, the Harvest Festival has really become a fun community event,” she wrote. Never did I think there’d be wallabies on Main Street and my boys thought that was awesome. Great job to the cultural committee that put so much time, energy and passion into this event.”

The wallabies is a reference to a petting zoo that was part of the festival. The harvest fest also featured live music, crafters, and a kids’ zone.

The Ansonia Cultural Commission is a group of volunteers, by the way. While the first best pizza” competition had a hiccup, the city is churning out community events on a regular basis — and it’s beyond your typical municipal offerings.

In addition to the annual summer concert series, the group and the city organized Rock the Valley,” an all-day concert at Nolan Field; a recent free screening of Teen Wolf” for families, and coming up; Ansoni-Con,” an event to be held at the Armory on N. Cliff Street to benefit the teen room at the Ansonia library.

And, of course, the Harvest Festival wasn’t just a pizza competition.

Check out the photos below from the city’s Facebook page:

Finally, here is the list of participants in the pizza competition, as listed by Martin in a Facebook post:

Roma, 150 Wakelee Ave.

Casa Bianca, 669 Main St.

Santini’s, 124 Beaver St.

Frank’s, 284 N. Main St.

Zani’s, 184 Wakelee Ave.

J R B’s, 41 Bridge St.

Dominos, 137 N. Main St.

Chifrijo, 242 Main St.

The Hub, 313 Main St.

Red Planet, limited liability company with address listed as 311 Main St.

Rosa Mina, 384 E. Main St.

Crave, 102 Main St.

Copper City, 82 – 84 Main St.

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