REPRESENTING THE UNITED STATES
Dave Smith vying for world's best pizza

Dave Smith has become quite well-known locally for his ability to "toss dough" into very large pizza pies. He offers entertaining programs to children on the skill and even gives them a hunk of dough of their own to toss around. Smith is in New York City this weekend, representing the United States in an international pizza making contest.

Some of the world's top pizza makers from six countries will battle for the Fourth Annual America's Plate on March 10 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City, as a featured event of the NY Pizza Show, which takes place in conjunction with the International Restaurant and Foodservice Show.

An estimated 18,000 spectators and participants from all over the world will attend the three-day convention.

Among the competitors will be Dave Smith, owner and operator of Smith's Pizza Palace Plus in Emporium.

His pizza earned "Best Pizza in America" honors last September, giving him the opportunity to represent the United States in this international competition.

The America's Plate is an international culinary pizza competition that is held in New York every March. The award is an engraved silver plate. The trophy plate now resides in Spain after its team was awarded the coveted prize for being judged the Best Pizza in the World, following a twoyear streak from the Australian team, which had taken the Plate each year prior.

To earn a spot in the field, each participating country selects its best pizza team from a series of sanctioned competitions. The preliminary 2008 field features teams from France, Australia, Finland, China and the United States. Each team develops a specialty pizza which is evaluated by a panel of experts following international judging criteria. Recipes are a closely guarded secret prior to the event, and teams often bring flour, seasonings and even water from their homelands to ensure flavor consistency and quality. Judging is based on appearance, taste and commercial viability.

The United States has never won the America's Plate, and will be pinning its hopes on Smith.

China's team was dealt an unexpected blow last Thursday, when top chef Songlin Liu was denied a travel visa by the Consulate General of the U.S. This is the second consecutive year that the leading Chinese pizza chef was denied a nonimmigrant visa.