Colorado Boy’s head pizza-maker didn’t let a little snow storm delaying his specialty ingredient rattle him as he was preparing to compete at the International Pizza Challenge in Las Vegas last week.

The special-ordered hedgehog mushrooms arrived at the hotel’s front desk just in time for Pat Maas to shine in the competition March 20.

The Ridgway Colorado Boy Pub & Brewery kitchen manager was competing in the International Pizza Expo’s “nontraditional” pizza challenge for the first time – a category with a pool of 100 competitors. He placed 35th overall.

Maas decided to compete in the “nontraditional” pizza challenge, allowing him much more latitude in the creation of the pie, compared to a cheese pizza or traditional category.

That was a decision that he thought would make the competition easier, “but it turned out to be the opposite,” he said.

The team at Colorado Boy prepared for the competition for weeks, trying different flavor combinations with test pizzas to get it just right. Then they loaded up all the ingredients (except the mushrooms delayed by the snowstorm) and headed to Vegas, where roughly 500 competitors in the pizza baking contest converged to battle.

Colorado Boy Pub & Brewery Kitchen Manager Pat Maas holds the pizza he created for the nontraditional category of the International Pizza Challenge in Las Vegas last week. Maas’ pizza included hot oil, three cheeses, hedgehog mushrooms, artisanal spicy capicola, mustard microgreens, honey and lemon zest. He placed 35th in the competition.

Natalie Booth, the brewpub’s general manager, said they managed to get the mushrooms overnighted to Las Vegas before the competition. At the last minute, they arrived at the hotel’s front desk and Maas was able to use them for the special recipe.

In the end, he created a pizza with dough made here in Ridgway and kept cold until competition, topped with a hot oil base (the same one you can get at the restaurant here). Then he sprinkled on mozzarella and provolone, as well as the hedgehog mushrooms. When the pizza came out of the oven, he topped it with spicy capicola, an artisan meat cured by Colorado Boy regular Brian Hoefling of Ridgway. Then he finished the pie with mustard microgreens from Monarch Farms of Montrose, as well as manchego cheese, a little local honey and a dusting of lemon zest.

The pizza Pat Maas made at the competition.
Photo courtesy Daniel Richards.

All this happens in 30 minutes, with a crowd standing around the competitors, asking questions. There’s also the pressure of working with a camera overhead, showing a live view of the assembly of the pizza, shown on a monitor to the crowd.

Then there’s the whole matter of baking a pizza in an unfamiliar oven, at a much lower altitude. Judges tasted and scored the pie, and Maas ended up beating a few world champions in the rankings.

He’s already strategizing for next year’s competition, hoping to bring home the top prize. He’s building on a sixth-place finish in the cheese pizza category in another international competition in Atlantic City.

“Obviously a win would be huge and I think we’re capable of it here,” Maas said. “I really love the pizza that we make.”

Maas said he was thankful for all the help with the competition, including support from Colorado Boy co-owner Daniel Richards.

“Pat is an amazing pizzaiolo dedicated to perfecting the craft and willing to go out and compete against the best of the best… beating world pizza champions,” Richards said. “His pizzas in competitions have been amazing and I am proud to have him represent Colorado Boy.”