People are flocking to Cowabunga Pizzeria to try its award-winning pizza

A pizzeria just outside Toronto is getting swarmed by eager patrons after winning a major award.

Ever since winning the distinction of Best Cheese Pizza Slice in the world at this year’s International Pizza Expo, Hamilton restaurant Cowabunga Pizzeria has been flying high.

The first Canadian pizzeria to ever win a first-place award at the International Pizza Expo, co-owner Justin Tanada tells blogTO that the restaurant has been seeing traffic like never before in the weeks since their big win.

“For the past two weeks since we’ve been back, we’ve been selling out every single day,” he says.

“We have prepared triple the amount that we’re used to,” and, Tanada admits, they’re “hitting a ceiling,” in terms of what they’re physically able to produce each day just to fulfill the demand.

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According to Tanada, the cheese slice division is one of the most competitive in the entire expo.

“There’s competitors from all over the place,” he tells blogTO, “a lot of Americans, a lot of Italian.”

“A lot of them take it very seriously, especially when it comes to just the cheese, because this is really showcasing the dough, your sauce and your cheese, which are the most basic components to creating a pizza.”

Tanada tells blogTO that they’ve had patrons, not only from across the country in to try the award-winning slice, but from across the border, too.

When blogTO video reporter Briana Brieiro stopped by to taste test Cowabunga’s pizza, she ran into a patron who had come all the way from New Brunswick just for a slice.

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“We got lucky here,” he tells Briana, amid the packed and bustling restaurant “There’s stuff here already sold out at 11:30 in the morning.”

“I’m going to eat as many pizzas as I can,” he says.

You can try out Cowabunga Pizzeria for yourself at 536 Upper Wellington Street in Hamilton — but you’ll likely have to get in early if you stand a chance at scoring a slice.