All Over Albany

TOP 2010: Round 1: Troy

The first round of the Tournament of Pizza, sponsored by Sunmark Federal Credit Union, now makes its way to Troy. The matchups in this cheeeeeeese round:

DeFazio's vs. Giuseppe's

I Love vs. Pop's

Some big-time reps in this bracket. DeFazio's is renowned, but Giuseppe's was a huge favorite in the crowd voting. I Love is the returning bracket champ, but Pop's is a well-organized newcomer.

Let's hope for some exciting pizza performances! We had a fitting venue: the ever impressive EMPAC at RPI.

A quick note about how all this works: The four judges -- Renee, Albany Jane, Joe and Daniel B -- taste the pizza blind. That is, they don't know which pizza they're tasting during judging. They taste the competitors side by side. The scoring is on a 100 point scale -- each judge represents a quarter of those possible points.

DeFazio's vs. Giuseppe's

	DeFazio's	Giuseppe's
Crust	16	8
Sauce	17	11
Toppings	14	14
Overall taste	28	21
Totals	75	54

Post game:

DeFazio's made an early exit from the 2008 TOP, but it returned with some serious quality this year. The judges praised the shop's "light and pillowy", "like an artisan bread" crust with a "well-charred" bottom. They enjoyed the "really nice tomato flavor" of the sauce. And they liked the herbs sprinkled on the pie (though they almost universally thought there was a bit too much cheese). Remarked one judge, who gave DeFazio's a near-perfect score: "This is really speaking to me."

Giuseppe's made a nice showing, but it was up against a tough competitor. The judges said the Watervliet shop's pie looked great and had nicely browned cheese. But it was tripped up by a crust that was described as being a little tough. Even so, one of the judges did score Giuseppe's slightly ahead of DeFazio's.

I Love vs. Pop's

	I Love	Pop's
Crust	16	7
Sauce	11	5
Toppings	15	7
Overall taste	30	11
Totals	72	30

Post game:

I Love returns with a solid performance. The judges enjoyed the Troy shop's thin crust, though they said they might have enjoyed it even a little more done. They also praised the "good and salty" flavor of I Love's cheese with its "well-browned spots." Overall, the judges called it a "well-balanced" slice and "a good example of New York thin crust" pizza.

This was a tough first outing for Pop's. The judges commented that the Cohoes newcomer's sauce was a little too much for the rest of the pie. They also weren't digging the pizza's parmesan cheese. But Pop's is a new shop with what appears to be an already loyal following, so it looks like good things are ahead for it.

Up next

Round 2 is shaping up to be quite a matchup in Troy, with two Collar City titans -- DeFazio's and I Love -- facing each other.

Tomorrow: the Tournament of Pizza heads to Albany.

Many thanks to EMPAC for providing us with space for this round -- easily the most technologically-advanced TOP site ever.

Earlier:
+ Results from Round 1 in the Schenectady bracket
+ Results from Round 1 in the Saratoga bracket

The 2010 Tournament of Pizza is sponsored by Sunmark Federal Credit Union, which now offers banking from mobile devices. They even have an app for iPhones and Android phones.