FOOD

Cafe Napoli or Margherita's Pizza? The winner of our Delaware's Favorite Pizza Challenge is ...

2-minute read

Tammy Paolino
Delaware News Journal

Well, we've reached the end of the road, folks.

It was a delightfully fun month filled with mozzarella, pepperoni, half mushrooms and a whole lot of anticipation.

But we have a winner in our "Munch Madness'' Delaware's Favorite Pizza Challenge.

From front to back, finalists, Cafe Napoli's cheese and mushroom and pepperoni pies; and Margarita's mushroom and pepperoni and cheese pies are featured during the Delaware's Favorite Pizza Challenge bracket finals held in the News Journal's newsroom in New Castle, Monday, March 27, 2023.

In case you are arriving late ...

A close-up of finalist Margherita's Pizza mushroom and pepperoni pie is featured during the Delaware's Favorite Pizza Challenge bracket finals held in the News Journal's newsroom in New Castle, Monday, March 27, 2023.

Before the challenge began, we asked readers to share their favorite place for pizza in Delaware and received more than 900 nominations. We then listed the restaurants and pizzerias in a March Madness-type of bracket. Readers voted in Sweet 16, Elite 8 and Final Four elimination rounds earlier this month.

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The first round of our challenge featured the biggest upset of the tourney when No. 1 seed Grotto Pizza (located in each county in Delaware) got stuffed by Pizzeria Mariana (Newark). 

Pizzerias making it to the Final Four semifinals were: Cafe Napoli, Pizza By Elizabeths, Tony & Dominick's Pizza, and Margherita's Pizza. 

On Tuesday, we announced our Top Two contenders — Cafe Napoli in Milltown and Margherita's Pizza in Newark — and put it to readers to decide from there who would be the last pizzeria standing, the king of all pizza slingers in the Small Wonder.

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Just for fun, we also assembled a panel of journalists and part-time pizza tasters for a blind taste test in our newsroom, sampling both cheese and half pepperoni/half mushroom pies from our top two places.

So, who gets bragging rights?

State Investigative Reporter Meredith Newman gets ready to sample from Cafe Napoli's mushroom and pepperoni pie during the Delaware's Favorite Pizza Challenge bracket finals held in the News Journal's newsroom in New Castle, Monday, March 27, 2023.

Like the glow of youth, March Madness and affordable streaming services, all good things must come to an end eventually, so Friday we closed voting at 5 a.m. on our Top Two and are ready to announce our winner.

While the folks at Margherita's Pizza certainly gave Cafe Napoli a run for its money, in the end, Cafe Napoli is the reigning champion of our 2023 Delaware's Favorite Pizza Contest.

Congratulations to the entire team.

And thank you to everyone who had fun with us along the way, supported local indie businesses and voted in our contest.

Stay tuned for another bracket challenge soon, Delaware.

Breaking News and Enterprise Reporter Esteban Parra takes a bite out of Cafe Napoli's mushroom and pepperoni pie for judging during the Delaware's Favorite Pizza Challenge bracket finals held in the News Journal's newsroom in New Castle, Monday, March 27, 2023.

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