It’s shaping up to be a week of winning here in South Florida: The Florida Panthers are newly crowned Stanley Cup champions, and two local restaurants won separate contests for serving stellar pizza.

This month, we decided to make our Best of South Florida Dining series extra-special by having both a popular-vote competition and a blind taste test with a panel of judges. After all, the topic of pizza gets a lot of love and deserves all the praise.

Readers could nominate any pizza style — and South Florida has oven-baked options aplenty. Out of more than 700 nominations, we ended up with six finalists because of a tie. The top vote-getters, in alphabetical order, were:

So who reigned supreme? Well, we can tell you that the readers and the judges did not have the same No. 1.

THE JUDGES’ PICK

On Tuesday, pizza fans tuned in for the blind taste test live on “Mike Mayo’s Lunchbox,” a streaming show in which the former South Florida Sun Sentinel columnist dishes about all things food. The panel of judges included Mayo along with Sun Sentinel entertainment reporter Rod Stafford Hagwood and chef Josie Smith-Malave, owner of Bubbles & Pearls restaurant in Wilton Manors, which hosted the event. Show producer Mike “Lubie” Lubitz also provided pizza commentary.

The contest was simple: A large cheese pizza was ordered from each restaurant finalist and given a letter, to keep judging anonymous. The pies were critiqued on taste, texture and appearance, factoring in ingredient quality and flavor (cheese, sauce, dough) and paying special attention to the cornicione (edges). Judges also took into consideration that the pizzas were reheated.

In the end, they had a unanimous winner: Sicilian Oven.

“A robust little slice with little blotches of red sauce, beautiful tiger-spotted undercarriage,” Mayo proclaimed as he picked up a slice, dangling it in the air. “The sauce is very good, very vibrant, not sweet, but it tastes like a ripe, beautiful tomato.”

Hagwood fell love in at first bite. “I’m going to buy this pizza a condo, I love it so much,” he joked.

How about that crust? “Beautiful! Just crispy and not big in the way of puffy cornicione, but just a crisp, beautiful flavor bomb. I love it,” Mayo said.

About those dollops of sauce on top, Smith-Malave said, “To me, when you get that bite, it makes it taste like lasagna because that’s what you love about the lasagna, is all that sauce and cheese kind of marrying together and melting in your mouth.”

Tomasso’s took second place, and Antonio’s was third best. See what the judges had to say about all of the pizzas, including an ASMR moment with Mayo crunching into the crispy crust of a Sicilian Oven slice, at Facebook.com/mikemayoslunchbox.

For more on Sicilian Oven, go to sicilianoven.com.

THE PEOPLE’S PICK

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for … With more than 1,300 votes counted, Antonio’s was the clear People’s Choice winner.

Antonio’s has been serving up slices since 1978, when Tony and Karen Suriani opened the original location on Federal Highway in Dania Beach. Now it’s an even bigger family affair with their sons, Stephen and Daniel, running their two current pizza joints. Both of them oversee the restaurant at 4551 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood, and Stephen is at the helm of the 3088 Griffin Road location in Fort Lauderdale — though “we all work together and collaborate to make it happen,” Stephen Suriani said. Plans for a third location, going back to Dania Beach, are in the works, he said.

Antonio’s menu also has salads, pasta, sandwiches, classic Italian dishes (The top seller? Chicken parm, of course.) and fresh seafood, as well as desserts such as N.Y.-style cheesecake and tiramisu. Another fan favorite: freshly baked rolls glistening with spoonfuls of garlic and oil on top.

“We’re actually known for our rolls,” Stephen Suriani said.

So how does it feel to be named the best pie maker in South Florida by the people?

“I’m really grateful to all of our amazing customers that made this happen,” Stephen Suriani said. “The readers are the judges and the ones with the taste, and they know good pizza …

“Myself being in the kitchen pretty much 100% of the time with my brother, and my brother overlooks all the recipes, we get the best, the highest-rated tomatoes that we use with our recipes, fresh garlic, all that stuff shows. They taste the difference.”

Antonio’s make New York-style pizza with a crust that’s “got that nice crunch to it” along with “great sauce and great cheese,” he said.

In addition to their high-quality ingredients and equipment (such as their prized Bakers Pride brick oven), the Suriani family pride themselves on using one secret ingredient: passion.

“It’s just about doing things the right way and with principle doing it,” he said. “Everything has its place when you make that pizza, and just do it with attention and detail.”

While the classic cheese and pepperoni pizzas are predictably the most popular, Antonio’s also bakes specialty pies such as the Grandkid’s Pizza. They top a cheese pizza with homemade beef meatballs and ricotta cheese, and sprinkle it with fresh basil and grated Romano cheese once it comes out of the oven “because that’s what the grandkids liked on their pizza,” he said.

Davie resident Vicki Griffith, who nominated and voted for Antonio’s, mentioned another specialty pie: The Kristina, which features tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella and crispy eggplant and basil on top.

“Their eggplant beautifully breaded put on a pizza in these bite-size chunks is unbelievable!” she wrote in her nomination form.

“I have a thing about undercooked sauce and their sauce is perfect,” she added. “The toppings are fresh and delicious. They have the best meatballs in town, so put them on a pizza and you’re in heaven.”

She also has a tip to kick your pizza-eating experience up a notch: “I like to take the crust after eating my pizza and dip it into the wonderful garlic sauce that they put on their rolls.”

The Kristina is also Dania Beach resident Rose Ann Di Dio’s favorite pie, but she mentioned other pluses about the restaurant in her nomination.

“They put family traditions in the dishes they prepare and they are the ones (who) actually cook the food,” she wrote. “Every dish is prepared thoughtfully and with expertise, so that means everything is delicious from start to finish.”

Aventura resident Katie Prelaz wrote in her nomination that Antonio’s “always hits the spot!”

Why? Because the crust is “crunchy where it’s supposed to be crunchy, chewy where it’s supposed to be chewy, cheesy cheese, saucy sauce.”

For more information on Antonio’s, visit antoniosfl.com.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law on Monday that prohibits the intentional release of balloons in most circumstances.

DeSantis signed the bill after overwhelming majorities in the state’s legislature approved the measure. Those who violate the law would be subject to a $150 littering fine.

Prior to the signing of CS/SB 602, Florida law allowed for the release of biodegradable balloons, as well as the release of up to 10 balloons at once. The updated law now eliminates those exceptions.

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The law has exceptions for government research balloons, such as those used by the National Weather Service for forecasting. Also, those under age 6 are exempted from the law.

According to an analysis of the bill, advocates for the legislation say that balloons “can pose a significant danger to wildlife and become a nuisance to the environment.” Advocates for the bill say that balloon debris is among the five deadliest types of marine debris that pose a risk to marine wildlife.

The Coalition for Responsible Celebration has been urging state governments to implement bans on balloon release as it promotes responsible balloon usage.

“The CRC strongly supports HB321, signed into law by Governor DeSantis, which bans the intentional release of balloons,” Maria Stockham, executive director of the Coalition for Responsible Celebration, in a statement. “Balloons bring joy to celebrations. Promoting responsible use and proper disposal ensures that balloons stay out of our waterways and powerlines, contributing to a healthier and cleaner community for all. This law reinforces our commitment to sustainability and the preservation of Florida’s natural beauty.”

A Florida man eating in a diner with his wife recently sneezed so forcefully it caused parts of his intestines to exit his body through a surgical wound, according to researchers.

The case, published in a May 2024 edition of the American Journal of Medical Case Reports, describes the unnamed man as a 63-year-old with a history of prostate cancer.

During treatments for a post-cancer recurrence, he encountered various health complications, and the man underwent a cystectomy, a procedure to remove his urinary bladder, 15 days before the diner incident, leaving him with a healing surgical wound on his abdomen.

The morning of the sneeze, the man’s doctors reported that he was healing well and could remove staples binding the wound together.

He and his wife went out to breakfast at the diner to celebrate.

“During breakfast, the man sneezed forcefully, followed by coughing. He immediately noticed a ‘wet’ sensation and pain in his lower abdomen. Looking down, he observed several loops of pink bowel protruding from his recent surgical site,” the researchers write.

Stunned, the man covered the protuberance with his shirt and considered driving himself to a hospital, but feared changing positions would make the wound worse and called an ambulance instead.

Arriving paramedics covered the wound with a pad and gave the man painkillers, rushing him to a nearby hopsital.

There, measurements showed his vital signs within normal limits.

“Three Urologic surgeons carefully reduced the eviscerated bowel back into the abdominal cavity,” the cast study continues. “They inspected the full length of the small bowel and noted no evidence of injury.”

The journal notes that the case is an important one because it fills in gaps in the literature about dehisence, the bursting of wounds.

“While wound dehiscence is a well-known complication, this case is important because evisceration through the abdominal surgical site after cystectomy is poorly described in the medical literature,” the article concludes.