Arroyo Grande’s Palo Mesa Woodfire Pizza shines in competition in Italy

Arroyo Grande Palo Mesa Woodfire Pizza is officially one of the best pizzas in the world, finishing in the top 50 in an international pizza competition.

The competition took place in the motherland of pizza: Italy.

The Arroyo Grande pizzeria placed in the top 50 for the world competition and placed in the top 10 among other US pizzas.

“This is the gateway to the village and its fantastic food,” said local resident Mike Neel.

The shop is a stable in Arroyo Grande. It’s on the corner of West Branch and Wesley Street with other locations in town and in San Luis Obispo.

“There was a competition in San Diego in October, I went down there and competed and that got me a spot on the United States Pizza Team,” said Palo Mesa Pizza Owner Michael Stevens.

The worldwide competition brought generations of pizza makers to fight for the world’s best pizza crown.

Locals rallied around Stevens, watching from afar.

“I’d get up in the morning and look at his Facebook post to see how much fun he was having. It just gave me a good uplifting way to start the day on the Central Coast,” said Neel.

“I saw that he was heading over to Italy. It’s exciting, the amount of people he is going into competition with and he’s just a local guy, so it’s pretty cool,” said Arroyo Grande neighbor Nick Duggan.

“I’m there amongst the best in the world, so when you get to stand there and hang out with people who have been doing it for generations and feel their passion it’s amazing and humbling,” said Stevens.

“It’s just a good representative of Central Coast, the type of people that come to live here and how invested they are in the community,” said Neel.

“Just knowing what I’m doing for people here on the Central Coast, it just feels good,” Stevens said.