A new culinary gem in the Lantern District, Truly Pizza, has brought home an international title for its cheese pizza. The pizzeria's win at the International Pizza Expo and Conference in Las Vegas in March is a testament to the restaurant's team working hard to make a good slice of pizza.
“Going into it, I felt very confident that we could win with whatever pizza we brought,” said Truly Pizza kitchen manager and chef Sergio Balderas. “I wanted to make a statement and felt that with a cheese pizza, it would put us on the map.”
When Truly Pizza decided to take on the competition in Vegas, they had to figure out how they were going to imitate their recipe, including their complicated three-day fermented dough.
Truly Pizza’s chef, Sergio Balderas, poses with his trophy for winning the International Pizza Expo’s competition for best cheese pizza. Photo: Courtesy of Truly Pizza
“We did a lot of testing here in Dana Point beforehand since being by the ocean is very different from being in the Vegas desert,” Balderas said. “We created our dough here, and then we had another Truly chef, Michael Vakneen, mimic the same recipe to make it work in Vegas. We had to adjust certain hydration to get it as we have here.”
Their dough is what makes their pizza so unique and was the key to winning this category, because there were no toppings to distract from the essence of the pie.
“Going to the competition, I knew we had something special with our dough,” Balderas said. “With my years of experience with pizza, and the special dough that we have, the team we created, the culture we built, I knew that was the recipe for success.”
Balderas was only one out of 100-plus that were showing off their pizzas in the “traditional” category. Each competitor had only 15 minutes to create, bake, and serve the judges their pizza.
“There were so many competitors in the whole competition, there (were) at least 300,” Balderas said. “For my division, there (were) at least 100; we were really stressed by that and our time constraint.”
Pictured is Truly Pizza’s international award-winning cheese pie. Photo: Courtesy of Truly Pizza
With the competition completed for him and his tough competition once the judges were served, it was a wait until he found out the fate of Truly Pizza. Once the awards were announced, Balderas discovered he had won the traditional category ahead of Anthony Berghela (Romo’s Pizza in New York) and Matt Hutchinson (Pizaro’s Pizza in Texas). The chef also won in the Southwest regional category ahead of Hutchinson and Alastair Hannmann (Al The Pizza Buddha).
Balderas officially joins the other award-winning chefs at Truly Pizza, including Michael Vakneen and Chris Decker. Like the pizzeria, Balderas has been in Dana Point for a little over a year and has been able to wow the community with the pizza they are creating. With the majority of locally sourced ingredients from all over the Orange County area, including produce from the Santa Monica Farmers Market, they are working on creating an experience for their patrons tehat they will remember.
“Our pizza is not just your typical pizzeria,” Balderas said. “We are trying to build a culture, a community, that anybody can come to our restaurant and enjoy and to have this amazing experience. When it comes down to it, our pizza, our atmosphere, our hospitality, we're trying to take everything to the next level, not just our food.”
The award-winning pizza and chefs can be found at Truly Pizza, where everyone can indulge in the cheese pizza that took first place in the international competition.