“Picking which pizzeria to visit can sometimes boil down to habit and convenience, but a new promotional contest now underway in New Orleans asks locals to branch out and take a critical look at a wide variety of pizzerias now working in different styles around town.  ‘I feel like New Orleans is actually paying attention to pizza now, and I want people to see what’s happening in this city,’ says local restaurateur Jeff Baron.” He’s an owner of three players in the scene — the Crescent Pie & Sausage Co., the Dough Bowl and Pizzicare — and in February he helped launch Pizza Wars to promote some of these restaurants and highlight the change in the scene.

“I’d like to see a real appreciation for how far pizza has come in New Orleans,” he says. Pizza Wars continues through April 15 and offers people willing to eat at 10 different pizza restaurants before that time the chance to vote on their favorite and enter a drawing for prizes.The participating pizzerias are Ancora, Crescent Pie & Sausage Co., the Dough Bowl (1039 Broadway, 861-2200), Louisiana Pizza Kitchen (the French Quarter location), the Midway, Pizza Delicious, Pizzicare, and any location of Reginelli’s Pizzeria, Slice Pizzeria and Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza.