Have you noticed the large number of pizza restaurants you can find in Costa Rica? Fast food pizzerias and more gourmet style pizzas by some of the best Italian chefs in the country, a variety of toppings and combinations, that is what the festival Pizza Rocks wants to showcase.

Starting this Monday, April 24 and for six weeks, 23 restaurants and pizzerias will compete to get rid of the concept of “fast food” and with the purpose of finding the best pizza chef in the country.

4Dmentes is the company organizing this festival, the same that in the past has organized the Burger Fest, Burger Rocks and Ceviche Tour, this time it challenged a group of chefs to create the ideal pizza, with the only requisite being that it must be new and cannot be listed in the regular menu of their restaurants.

“The idea of these events is to have the public taste a simple dish that many would consider is not gourmet at all, and challenge the chefs to take it to a gourmet level”, explained Silvia Murillo, director of the gastronomy platform of 4Dmentes.

The participating restaurants are: Sole Mio, A House Pub & Grill, Alma de Amón, Antologías, Bell’Italia, Damarco, El Portón, 8avo Rooftop, Domenico, Filipo e Il Padrino, Il Volpino, La Fabbrica, Olio, Olivia’s, Pizza Pub, Pizza Woods, Pizza República, Pizzoteca, Sapore Trattoria, Saúl Bistró, Siamo, Las Tejas (Hilton) and El Portón Rojo.
Each of the pizzas participating will be evaluated by 5 judges, Italian chefs Giuseppe Tarnero, Piero Schettino, Giovanni Strigari and Maria Gabriella D’Arsie an Costa Rican chef Doris Goldewicht.

Aspects to consider include: Flavor, texture, temperature, smell, creativity, portions, visual presentation and the quality and quantity of the ingredients. The level of service given by the waiters will also play a role. Judges will go to each of the restaurants separately and at different hours, at the end of the six weeks they will pick the three best. The winner gets a recognition for the chef and the restaurant.

The public can also participate, visiting any of the restaurants and ordering the special for Pizza Rocks, all the pizzas in the festival will have a cost of approximately $30 (if the method of payment is a BAC or Credomatic card) or close to $40 (using any other form of payment); you can upload a photo of your favorite pizza to Instagram or Facebook with hashtag #PIzzaRocksCR and the name of the pizza.

Each of the pizzas served at Pizza Rocks will be for two people and will come with two beverages, you can choose between Coca Cola, Stella Artois beer, Bicicleta Cono Sur wine, S. Pellegrino water or Acqua Panna.

The public will vote for their favorite pizza and they will participate to receive a gift card by Credomatic.