International Competition Places Orange County Pizza Chef as One of World’s Best

Pietrini Pizza Owner Blair Pietrini and son Head Pizza Chef Landon Pietrini stand at Pietrini Pizza in Los Alamitos, Calif., on April 20, 2023. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

An Orange County restauranter has won 5th place in the United States’ largest pizza competition held in Las Vegas in March.

Pizzaiolo Landon Pietrini of Los Alamitos’ Pietrini Pizza Napoletana restaurant took home the award for his Margherita Pizza competing against 71 other chefs in his division at the STG Neapolitan Pizza Competition March 30.

“I think I was more nervous about the strict competition guidelines than anything else,” Pietrini joyfully recalled recently to The Epoch Times while kneading pizza dough on the restaurant’s white marble countertops.

A pizza made by Landon Pietrini and his father Gene Pietrini, in Seal Beach, Calif., on Sept. 19, 2020. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Pietrini’s now award-winning pizza took longer than most to get jury-ready.

“In making the dough within the hotel room, I brought in all my own ingredients and tools... It’s a 24-hour process to create it,” Pietrini said.

Neapolitan-style pizza is considered by many chefs to be an art in itself due to its thinner crust which expands forming a puffy outer crust that can easily overcook.

At Pietrini Pizza Napoletana, the restaurant has already achieved recognition including receiving the 2022 Los Alamitos Small Business of the Year award and being named as having one of the top 10 pizzas in Orange County by the Orange County Register.

For the restaurant’s owner—and Landon’s mother—Blair Pietrini, her son’s accomplishment highlights the family’s ongoing deep passion for creating delicious pizzas after losing her husband, Landon’s father and fellow restaurant owner Gene Pietrini just over a year ago.

Pietrini Pizza Owner Blair Pietrini and son Head Pizza Chef Landon Pietrini stand at Pietrini Pizza in Los Alamitos, Calif., on April 20, 2023. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

“Landon has taken pizza making to new heights and still experimenting for perfection, which is just what Gene always did in the kitchen,” she told The Epoch Times. “It was such a huge, surreal accomplishment, and I am so proud of Landon to place in this competition.”

All chefs were given the same instructions for the competition.

But according to Blair, there was one special ingredient that went into her son’s pizza.

“I mean, it sounds weird, but the most important ingredient of our pizza is the emotion and passion that goes into them,” Blair said. “For us, this restaurant is an extension of our home and our family, and customers telling me that they’re comfortable here is the best compliment we could ever receive.”

Pietrini Pizza Napoletana is located at 5262 Katella Ave., Los Alamitos, and opens Wednesday–Sunday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.