Pahrump pizza shop racks up more honors at International Pizza Expo

Mia Ava East Coast Pizza kept building its trophy case at the International Pizza Challenge in Las Vegas, where the Pahrump shop finished third in the overall Non-Traditional division and added another high-profile result to a run of awards that has made it one of Nye County’s most visible small-business success stories.

Official 2026 results list Chris Battiste as the competitor for Mia Ava’s non-traditional entry, which scored 51.98 points in a field that Pizza Today said included more than 730 competitors. The challenge ran March 24-26 at Pizza Expo, which the trade publication describes as the world’s largest pizza industry trade show. Mia Ava also finished 19th in best cheese slice and took second in the nontraditional Southwest regional category, giving the restaurant top-three finishes in three of the four categories it entered.

For owners Gary and Catherine Rurans, the latest honors extend a streak that began soon after the business opened in June 2024 at 1971 S. Pahrump Valley Blvd. The shop, open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., serves New York-style, Detroit-style and Grandma-style pizza, along with sandwiches, salads and other items. In less than two years, it has gone from a new restaurant on Pahrump Valley Boulevard to a name that now shows up repeatedly on competition result sheets in Nevada, Ohio and beyond.

The competitive run has given the shop a strong local brand to go with its changing menu board. Mia Ava won Best Pizza in the Pahrump Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Best of Pahrump awards in 2024, then took second place in the traditional division at the 2025 International Pizza Challenge with a New York-style pie topped with Italian sausage and pepperoni. That event drew more than 440 contestants from around the world, and the traditional division came down to less than a point at the top.

The honors kept coming in November 2025, when Mia Ava earned third place in the California Pizza Challenge and first-place finishes at Pizza Expo Columbus in Columbus, Ohio, for America’s Best Pepperoni Slice and America’s Best Non-Traditional Thin Crust - NY Thin. Gary Rurans said then that the restaurant had reached third place several times, but those were the first titles it had ever won.

That pattern of repeat success matters in a town where local recognition can translate directly into customer traffic. Each new award strengthens the restaurant’s reputation with Pahrump diners, but it also gives the shop a bigger draw for visitors who plan trips around standout food. For a business that started only in 2024, the wall of honors is already doing what most new restaurants spend years trying to achieve: turning a neighborhood pizzeria into a destination brand.