Gusto's world champion pizzamaker versus our 1-year-old and 7-year-old kids.

But the staff were gracious and accommodating, offering a table in the back with a comfortable berth between us and other tables, and an offer of a high chair. A busser asked if we wanted the wine glasses removed, which we did, and he whisked them away. The waiter was indulgent and professional, and he didn't groan when he saw the baby and the kid. In return, our baby only threw a discreet tantrum. 

I let the waiter know that we were there especially to try the pizza made under the guidance of Tonino Cogliano, who won first place in the Pizza Napoletana Division of the International Pizza Challenge in Las Vegas last month. 

Here he is making that winning pizza at the competition.

Newly acquired Weekly restaurant reviewer Daniel DeCamp came away from his own meals with a positive glow. 

And a party of four elderly folks, who sat at the counter in front of the glowing pizza oven and had just eaten, promised that we would enjoy the heck out of the pizzas. 

We ordered the Margherita cheese pizza—housemade mozzarella, tomato sauce, basil—for the kids. The waiter was wise enough to ask if we wanted to hold the basil, knowing that some kids don't trust the colorful and flavorful herbs that enhance a meal. We decided to order it as is. 

Our 7-year-old is in a notoriously picky phase. She can discern whether she will like a dish or not before even hearing the ingredients. If she doesn't like the phonetic sound of a food item, she will reject it—she doesn't even need to know what it is. Her senses are that acute.

But cheese pizzas are pretty safe ground, and she liked this one. A lot. So did me and my wife. A cheese pizza that's simple and wholesome enough for kids and yet sophisticated enough for adults: it's like the Shrek of pizzas. It was delectable. The melted white cheese sat on top of the tangy (but not tart) sauce. The pie was sliced up unevenly by hand, which, to me, added a human touch to what can otherwise be a process of factory precision and homogeneity (I'm thinking of giant Costco pizza just a couple blocks away from Gusto).  

We ordered the special of the day pizza, a concoction of Cogliano's: artichoke, arugula, mozzarella, olive oil, thinly sliced and sparse fennel, no sauce. And it was a delight, the nutty bitterness of the fresh and raw arugula, piled high like a salad atop the pie, was allayed by the firmness and milkiness of the cheese, which stretched like webbing. (Gusto general manager/owner Denis Boaro said the cheese is made on the premises.) The crust was chewy, dry and delicious, nicely balanced between rigid and soft, bubbled around the edges. 

Those people were right. We enjoyed the heck out of our pizzas. Our baby even diligently gnawed on a chunk of crust. 

Colgliano, whose English is still coming along (Boaro is a willing interpreter) works regularly in an Italian restaurant in Paris, but will be at Gusto until Tuesday. Take advantage.