Pizzeria Leopold has been named the winner of the 2025 Denver Gazette Pizza Bracket, beating out CHAR Stone Fired Pizza in the final round with 57.5% of the vote.

The Lakewood pizzeria emerged from a competitive field of 32 shops across the metro area in the March Madness-style tournament. CHAR advanced to the finals after defeating Cosmo’s Pizza with 79% of the semifinal vote. Leopold secured its spot with a 69.3% win over Marco’s Coal Fired Pizza, Colorado’s only VPN-certified Neapolitan pizzeria.

Pizzeria Leopold, 1990 Wadsworth Blvd., was founded in 2018 by Chris and Lindsay Lyons, who took over a former sandwich shop called Deli Italia and gradually transformed it into a full-scale pizzeria. The couple sources imported Italian flour, olive oil, and organic ingredients to craft their pizzas, which blend East Coast inspiration with a unique, house-developed style.

“I thought we’d be doing 10 to 20 pizzas a day,” said Chris Lyons, chef and co-owner. “Now we’re doing over 100 — sometimes 250.”

Lyons, a Colorado native raised in Germany, credits his pizza passion to his father’s hometown of Schenectady, New York, and the family’s visits to a local pizzeria called Marino’s. His wife, who is from outside Boston, also comes from an Italian American family.

“Our style is a mix of the pizzas we grew up with,” he said. “It’s not New York or New Haven — it’s ours.”

Lyons gave props to his opponent, CHAR Stone Fired pizza, a Denver-based food trailer known for its thin, blistered crusts and East Coast-inspired flavors. Despite its mobile setup, CHAR quickly built a loyal following and made an impressive run to the final.

“Mark from CHAR Stone, I mean, he’s a phenomenal guy, a great pizza maker as well,” Lyons said.

Pizzeria Leopold has grown in its seven years of operation, even surviving early pandemic challenges with steady support from the Lakewood community.

“It makes me emotional to think about it,” Lyons said. “We couldn’t have done this without the neighborhood showing up for us again and again.”

The couple, who have three children and a fourth on the way, said building a family-friendly space was always part of their vision.

“We want kids to grow up coming here, then bring their own families back someday,” Lyons said.

This is not Leopold’s first pizza bracket victory—they also won a similar contest in 2021.

Lyons said the Denver Gazette bracket was meaningful because the votes came directly from Denver Gazette readers.

“It wasn’t critics or editors deciding—it was the community,” he said. “And that means everything.”