King of Crusts: Meet Village Idiot, The State’s 2022 pizza bracket winner
The competition was hot as an oven, but eventually a longtime Columbia favorite came out on top.
Village Idiot, which has been serving up pizza for more than 30 years in the capital city area, emerged as the winner in The State’s 2022 Pizza Bracket. The challenge began with 32 restaurants from across the Midlands, and readers were asked to vote for their favorite pizzerias in the area. The field was whittled down through several rounds, with Village Idiot ultimately taking the crown.
While the margins were close in the early rounds, Village Idiot dominated the final matchup against Bellacino’s, grabbing 93% of the votes.
During a recent conversation at Village Idiot’s original Five Points location — there are also locations in Forest Acres and at The Mills in Olympia — co-owner Brian Glynn said he was grateful for the thousands of votes his pizzeria received throughout the bracket contest.
“It means a lot,” Glynn said. “Any list or something like that, especially when it’s the customers who are doing all of the voting, it feels great. It is a bit of an affirmation that we are doing things well. We always try to do things better, but it makes you feel good to know that there are a lot of people out there who enjoy what you’re doing.”
Village Idiot was founded in 1990, and Glynn bought the business in 2003 after having previously worked there for a number of years. He co-owns the three pizza spots with his wife, Kelly. Village Idiot is known for its New York-style pizza, which it sells in whole pies or by the slice.
While Village Idiot offers pizzas with a host of traditional toppings, it also shakes things up a bit. For instance, in May it will offer a special elote pizza, which features barbecue and ranch sauces, corn, a blend of cheeses, bacon and roasted red peppers. Village Idiot partnered with Boca Grande Burritos owner David Grillo to create the elote offering, which is named for the famed Mexican street corn.
Glynn, an Albany, New York, native, has been working in pizzerias since he was 14 years old. As he chatted with a reporter recently in the kitchen of the Five Points Village Idiot, Glynn made several pizzas with a practiced, seemingly effortless efficiency. It’s the type of muscle memory that comes with more than three decades of tossing pies. Glynn estimates that he has made as many as a million pizzas since he was 14.
He said pizza remains a sort of cultural campfire in the food world.
“It is also a comfort food, and it’s a sharing food,” Glynn said. “You can sit down with some friends at a table with a pizza and everyone’s grabbing a slice. It’s social. ... It’s one of those foods that seems to, for whatever reason, make people happy. So, you never see a kid come in here and start crying when the pizza comes to the table.”
Glynn said a push toward using quality ingredients, including dough that is made fresh every day, helps keep people coming back. He also noted that, after more than three decades in business, Village Idiot has become a family tradition for many.
“(The business) having been here since 1990, there are memories that go with it,” Glynn said. “Whether they were in here when they were in college, I think it does bring back good memories for people.”
The Village Idiot locations are at 2009 Devine St., 612 Whaley St. and 4517 Forest Drive.
