Best Pizza Bracket Challenge: The Lee County champion is crowned
Editor’s note: In the closing hours of the final News-Press bracket challenge polling, editors noticed suspect votes with international IP addresses from all over the world populating, and in some cases skewing, the results. It was determined by editors, in consultation with the polling company, that these were likely bogus votes. All international votes were filtered out of the championship matchup polls to determine the final results.
Talk about close.
Lee County pizza lovers have spoken and selected Joe Daddy’s as the winner of the best pizza in Lee County bracket challenge by the slimmest of margins.
The northeast Cape Coral pizza place edged Nice Guys Beer & Pizza Lounge by 16 votes — just one percentage point. The final numbers: Of 3,332 total votes in the final round, Joe Daddy's had 1,674 (50.240096%) to Nice Guys' 1,658 (49.759904%).
“I had no idea we would even get this far,” said Joe Caldrone, who opened Joe Daddy’s in 2010. “I didn’t even know what was going on. Customers kept saying things, but I wasn’t paying attention until the end of the second round. The way I look at it, that makes me ahead of the game.”
Quite a run to the title
Joe Daddy’s had a steady run to the championship, downing Pizzeria Di Biscardi, Saucy Meatball and No. 2-seeded Downtown House of Pizza along the way.
The New York style pizza place was ahead by less than a percentage point going into Thursday’s final day of voting.
They held on to win when voting closed at 2 p.m. Thursday.
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“I love my customers,” said Calderone, who started learning how to make pizza when he was 14. “They’re like family to me. They get mad if I don’t go over and talk to them. The most important part of a business is respecting your customers.”
Calderone takes his pizza-making very seriously.
He began learning how to make pizza in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, when he was 14, “from a bunch of guys from Italy.”
In his 30s, he “finally made a better pizza than they did,” but he didn’t stop there. “I’ll never stop,” Calderone said.
He considers himself a pizza purist.
“My job is to make good pizza and that’s it,” he said. “I rate all my pizzas when they go out. Pizza is a weird thing to make. It’s a moving target where you have to get as close to where you want it to be.”
Always 'looking to make a better pizza'
Calderone said his best-selling pizza is the Joe Daddy Special with mushroom, sausage, pepperoni and onions. Coming in second is The Works which has black olive, ham, sausage, mushroom, peppers, extra cheese, pepperoni and onions.
But the pie that is a consistent seller, week in and week out?
“The Margherita sells religiously all the time,” Calderone said. That has fresh mozzarella, fresh tomato, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and fresh garlic. “The ingredients have to go on in the right order. It makes a big difference. The Margherita had 20 steps to it, all in a certain order.”
After all these years, Calderone still looks for room to improve.
“I’m always looking to make a better pizza,” he said. “The one message I’d like to get out to the world is to cut your local pizza place some slack. If you get good pies there and then get one that is not up to snuff, give them another try.
“I hear 100 times a week that we have the best pizza. I try really hard to make sure you get a good pie.”
Nice Guys, meanwhile, beat out Tony’s NY Pizza, Citrola’s and Pine Island Pizza before just missing out against Joe Daddy’s in the final.
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“It was super fun and awesome to be a part of,” said Greg Gebhard, who owns Nice Guys with his wife Jovana. “We are super stoked to be second. We have zero hard feelings and definitely, congratulations to Joe Daddy’s. We are going to try it.
“Our customers are super behind us all the time and that’s really encouraging.”
Our best pizza in Lee County bracket challenge began in mid-February when pizza lovers sent in selections for their favorite mom and pop pizza joints in the area. More than 30 places were nominated and the top-16 vote getters were put into the Sweet 16 bracket to tip things off. Each week, votes were submitted from Monday morning until Thursday afternoon to determine who would advance to the next round.
Thousands voted each week. Thanks to all who participated.
You just may be on the clock for next year.
Joe Daddy’s: 2481 Del Prado Blvd. N., Cape Coral; 239-573-6600; joedaddyspizza.com
Nice Guys: 1404 Cape Coral Parkway E., Cape Coral; 239-549-7542; niceguyspizza.com
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Best Pizza Bracket Challenge: Lee County's winning pizzeria is crowned
