Four awards for Bankstown Sports

 Aug 19, 2009

Bankstown Sports Club has won four awards in a just a few weeks - for best food and best venue.

Two awards came at Sydney's Good Food and Wine Show last weekend where the Club's popular wood-fired pizzeria at La Piazza was found to have the Best Traditional Pizza and the Best Gourmet Pizza (smallgoods division) in NSW.

Beating out pizza establishments across NSW, the pizza maker at Pizzeria Bellucci in La Piazza, 17-year-old Riccardo Moretti, won the award for Best Traditional Pizza Maker in the state final of the Dairy Farmers Best of the Best Pizza Challenge.  

It's the second time Riccardo has won the title. He will now go on to compete in the national titles in September.

His Casalinga (cheese) Pizza topped with gorgonzola, provolone, parmesan, mozzarella and roma tomato slices was deemed the Best Traditional Pizza by the judges.

Riccardo's older brother Michael Moretti also took out a prize in the Best Gourmet Pizza category Smallgoods Division for his Sacilia Pizza. The Sacilia has a tomato and pesto base and is topped with provolone and romano cheese, chargrilled Spanish onions, gourmet Italian sausages with fennel and sautéed mushrooms.

Riccardo, who lives in Kemps Creek and attended Cecil Hills High School, says his brother, who works with him at La Piazza, has always given him huge encouragement and support.

"I would love to go on to win the national title and open my own chain of stores around the world," says the enthusiastic Riccardo.

Bankstown Sports also collected two prizes at the recent MO Awards held at the Club. The awards for live entertainment have been running since 1975 and are voted for by the industry.

Bankstown Sports won the Best Venue Award and the Resident Technical Support Award - an important recognition of the value the club provides to its performers in making their work seen and heard at its optimum.

The other nominees in the technical award category were Blacktown Workers Club, Burwood RSL Club, Campsie RSL Club, Hornsby RSL Club, South Sydney Juniors Leagues Club and St Marys Band Club.

As well, Bankstown Sports' regulars Tony Pantano and Lisa Crouch took home the Best Vocal Performer (male and female) awards and Melinda Schneider and Troy Cassar-Daly won awards for best country artists.

Bankstown Sports Club's Assistant Secretary-Manager Mark Condi says, "It's a privilege and an honour to be recognised as one of the top venues for great food and live entertainment. We're continually working to make sure our entertainment and dining is first class. La Piazza has become a tremendously popular venue and is constantly abuzz with patrons and the fact that our shows are often sold out is an indicator of how much our members and guests love our live entertainment."

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