Mirko D'Agata, executive chef of Pizzeria NO.900, which has 33 locations in cities including Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City,is an international pizza Napoletana champion
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By Laura Brehaut
Published Apr 23, 2025
4 minute read
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A taste of the world’s best Neapolitan pizza may be closer than you think. Mirko D’Agata, executive chef of Pizzeria NO.900, won the Pizza Napoletana division at the International Pizza Challenge during the 2025 International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas. Headquartered in Montreal, NO.900 has 31 locations in Quebec, one in Toronto and one in Lyon, France.
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Fresh off his win at the “pizza Olympics,” D’Agata was busy testing a new summer menu while opening a NO.900 location in Beauport — the fifth in Quebec City. “People are really happy about it, to meet us, to have a pizza made by me or my team,” he says in an interview with National Post. “I’m surfing on the amazing vibe of this result.”
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D’Agata sees the win as recognition of all he’s worked toward in the past 25 years, the last nearly 13 in Canada. Far from resting on his laurels, D’Agata is already considering the next challenge. “It’s the same thing when you start hiking in the mountains. After three hours, four hours, you arrive on top and say, ‘OK, it was hard. Now it’s beautiful. What’s next?'”
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Winners must wait three years before competing again in the same category. In the meantime, D’Agata plans to continue improving his Neapolitan dough, training pizzaioli and helping his team in the next competition. He’ll also focus on other styles, such as the Roman rectangular pizza al taglio they make at sister pizzeria Morso, which earned him first place at the 2019 Campionato del Mondo del Pizzaiuolo in Naples, Italy.
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Growing up in Turin, Italy, D’Agata would join his dad twice a month on Fridays to pick up pizza to take home. “I couldn’t stay still for more than five seconds,” D’Agata recalls, so his dad sat him in front of the oven. As he talked to the pizzaioli, the steadily burning wood captivated him. “My passion for pizza started from the fire, from the oven.”
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At 15, D’Agata started working at a pizzeria after school — ”Pizza Point, already an international name.” Since he didn’t have the scooter necessary for deliveries, D’Agata asked to make pizza instead. After six months of cleaning and carrying wood, he started stretching the dough. Six months after that, he dressed it. Step by step, he moved closer to using the oven.
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Chefs competing in the Napoletana division at the International Pizza Challenge can choose from three official variants: Margherita, marinara or Margherita Extra. D’Agata says he chose marinara for the same reason he couldn’t sit still as a kid. “I like hard things.” He explains that fewer than five per cent of competitors choose marinara. With no cheese and minimal toppings, there’s nowhere to hide. “Marinara is harder because you have just tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and oregano. So, there’s nothing that can protect you if you make a mistake.”
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During the challenge, D’Agata arrived at 5 a.m. each day to ensure all the elements were in place. “It’s fun to participate in a competition, but in the end, it’s still a competition,” he says. “I probably checked our dough 12 times a day to be sure that everything was right. I had four backups of tomato sauce with different amounts of salt. For me, it’s important. You always have a backup.”
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D’Agata says his victory marks the first time an executive chef from a group of pizzerias has won the Neapolitan category in Las Vegas. NO.900’s research and development chef, Fiodar Huminski, earned third place in the Traditional American category.
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“We’re proof that Canada has good pizza. We’re proud to see our passion and expertise recognized on an international scale,” Alexandre Brunet, president of NO.900, said in a statement.
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D’Agata refers to NO.900 as “the anti-chain.” They work artisanally, making their dough fresh daily. In addition to creating menus and training staff, he works with local producers to develop products, such as Les Viandes Bio de Charlevoix for all their cold cuts, and sources anything he can’t find in Canada from Italy.
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“When you have a franchise, it doesn’t mean you’re cheap. It means you can access better products at a better price. So, it just depends on you — what you want to achieve and what you want to offer people.”
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D’Agata and Huminski are working on a “secret” pizza project, launching in early fall. This summer, NO.900 will open an Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana-certified school in Montreal to train professionals in the art of Neapolitan pizza-making. “What I would like to achieve one day is that our pizzaioli are recognized as chefs, as we do in Europe.”
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The Neapolitan style holds a unique space in the pizza world, which D’Agata appreciates. Other pizzas may be crunchy, thick with loads of toppings or “really, really soft,” but Neapolitan has few ingredients, all of high quality. It’s baked swiftly in a searingly hot oven (905 F/485 C), and people usually eat it as quickly as possible, in five to seven minutes. “The colours — the vivid red of the tomatoes, the basil — that’s what I like. And it’s fast. When you prepare Neapolitan pizza in the pizzeria, we go fast. You stretch, you slap the pizza, you cook in 90 seconds. It’s a nice dance.”
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