Local pizza guy makes good

[BrianR]

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EL PASO -- New York transplant Larry Gold is taking a taste of the Southwest to Las Vegas.

Gold, owner of Hello Pizza in El Paso, is a semifinalist in the International Pizza Challenge at the 26th Annual International Pizza Expo.

"I invented a specialty pizza by putting garlic inside the crust with habanero," Gold said in telephone interview from Las Vegas. "I top it with New York mozzarella and olive oil."

The finals are Thursday afternoon at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The pizza -- Pizza Garzing -- is available at Hello Pizza
at 1071 Country Club Road.

"We've been working on it for about two and half months until I got the taste where I wanted it," he said. "The habanero gives a zing to it."

Gold said he thought the garlic and habanero would work well together.

"I didn't want it to be too hot in the beginning where people would put it in their mouth and go, 'wow this is too hot,'" he said.

"The way I wanted it, and the way it's worked out, is you eat it and you start feeling it a couple of minutes after and it leaves a nice aftertaste."

This is the third year of the pizza challenge.

Gold is going up against 60 other contestants. The winner will collect $10,000 in prize money.

"There are people from Italy, Germany, Australia, from all over the world, so you know there will be a lot of flavors going on," Gold said.

"I'm going to give it my best shot and make El Paso proud."

Victor R. Martinez may be reached at vmartinez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6128.

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I have eaten at Hello Pizza and I can highly recommend the place. Larry is a friendly guy who really knows how to cook and make a customer feel welcome. The only way I could improve the experience there is for him to start accepting credit cards as I normally don't carry cash and use plastic for everything. Bring lots of money...you will want to order several things at once!