When Novia Scotia pizzaiolo Silvio Schatz arrived in Las Vegas for the International Pizza Challenge on March 22, he stepped into a record-setting spring heat wave that saw ten straight days of temperatures in the upper 90s—a stark contrast to the 2° C (36° F) high recorded that day in the rural community he calls home, an hour southwest of Halifax.
But Schatz is no stranger to extreme heat. Inside the pizza chef’s wood-fired brick oven at Dear Emma, Pizza & Wine Bar in Bayport—about 10 minutes south of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Lunenburg—temperatures soar to 905°, transforming dough into Neapolitan-style pizza in just 90 seconds.
Schatz made the flight to the desert metropolis with Paul Adelson, owner-operator of Dear Emma, for the 2026 Pizza Expo, held March 24-26. “We came here to see how we could advance our operation, check out the new machinery, and see what other people are doing,” said Adelson, who named his pizza restaurant in honor of his wife. “It’s a love letter to her.”
The eatery, the first Adelson has ever owned, with its bright blue exterior and wide dining terrace along remote Highway 332, seats 55 and has a staff of four, just 200 meters (660 feet) from one of the area’s numerous Atlantic coves.
Adelson, who studied food and restaurant management, is no stranger to entrepreneurship. His father, Stanley Adelson, founded the Firkin Group of Pubs in Toronto in 1987 and grew it into Canada’s largest pub company, with 21 English-style locations, before retiring in 2020. Adelson got his start working in the family business.
“Running a restaurant is my destiny. It’s in my blood,” he said. “You develop a sixth sense in this industry and a higher level of expectation for your product.”
That expectation may have led the younger Adelson to Naples, Italy, where he received 60 hours of professional training at the True Neapolitan Pizza Association (Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, or AVPN), a nonprofit that promotes and protects authentic Neapolitan pizza. A year later, he brought Schatz to the institute for immersion into pizza making.
Despite handling a pizza paddle for just two years, Schatz (pictured below) saw the International Pizza Challenge as an opportunity to put his skills to the test as a pizzaiolo against 680 of the world’s best pizzaioli.
Pizza makers competed in eight divisions, including Traditional, Pan and Neapolitan. Schatz competed in the Neapolitan division’s VPN (Verace Pizza Napoletana) style certified by the AVPN, which allows only four dough ingredients—finely milled Italian-style flour, water, salt and yeast. Simple toppings include San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella, basil and olive oil. The dough must be hand-stretched and baked in a wood-fired oven at 905° F for 60-90 seconds.
“We came into this competition like two blind mice,” Schatz said. “We had no idea what to expect and brought just a few ingredients from home. We also didn’t know you could practice your pies on-site, so we wound up scrounging around the show floor, hoping suppliers would have what we needed.”
Though new to pizza making, the German-born Schatz was far from inexperienced in the culinary arts. He completed a three-year program as a qualified chef at a hotel and restaurant school in Villingen-Schwenningen in 2013, including an apprenticeship at a two-star Michelin restaurant in Konstanz. Accompanied by his now wife Lisa, he then worked in New Zealand and Australia as a chef before arriving in Nova Scotia in 2019. A coincidence brought him together with Adelson when Dear Emma launched two years ago.
Working at a seasonal restaurant open from April through December may have put him at a disadvantage. Unlike entrants from year-round pizzerias, Schatz was stepping onto the competition during his off-season hiatus. “I hadn’t been making pizza on a daily basis,” he said. “Plus, we were preparing dough in our hotel room, hoping the desert air would allow it to rise the way it does in Maritime Canada.”
When his name was announced, Schatz carried his ingredients in a plastic tub to the competition line—wearing a modest Dear Emma T-shirt, shorts and chunky black boots. His tattooed right forearm and back of his right hand were on display.
He began working dough and toppings in the cavernous convention hall next to other pizzaioli as hundreds of spectators and fellow competitors—including members of PMQ’s U.S. Pizza Team and the World Pizza Champions—watched from the grandstand, many wearing starched-white chef jackets emblazoned with colorful emblems reminiscent of NASCAR racing uniforms.
Competitors moved at their own pace. Behind them, a single row of pizza ovens stretched the length of the prep line—double-stacked rectangular versions stood next to igloo shapes typical of Neapolitan ovens. After 90 seconds of baking, competitors carried their Napoli-style pies to the judging station where each pizza was blind-tested by three accredited chefs on appearance, crust, sauce, cheese, toppings and overall taste. The Neapolitan division was especially competitive, with the field filled to its maximum of 110 registrations.
Later that evening, Schatz received important news. In a tightly scored field where 50 ranked as the highest possible score, he earned 36.8 points: a solid showing for a first-timer among world champions.
“It’s not the best score, but I’m happy with it given I was up against competitors with multiple awards to their name. We make great pizza at our restaurant, and I’m heading home with lots of enthusiasm,” Schatz said.
After a whirlwind week in Las Vegas, Adelson and Schatz returned to Bayport, inspired and ready to continue bringing a true taste of Napoli to Nova Scotia. Dear Emma’s new season opened April 2.
By Juergen Barbusca