Tour serves up taste of region’s top pies

Calling all pizza connoisseurs, an event just for you launches Jan. 12 in northwest Ohio.

The inaugural Toledo Pizza Passport is a self-guided tour of local pizzerias and Italian restaurants. For $25, the passport will give holders a slice of pizza or a menu item for no extra charge at each of 10 local restaurants in Toledo, Maumee, and Whitehouse.

“It’s a great stocking stuffer and supports local businesses,” said Heather Pacheco, associate director of events at The Blade.

The passports will be mailed to participants, but just 250 of them are available, Ms. Pacheco said. The Blade and its event division, Explore 419, are sponsoring the tour along with Monroe Superstore and Ace Sylvania Hometown Hardware.

The concept is similar to Coffee Quest 419, which sends coffee lovers to shops across the region. Coffee Quest, a spring event put on by Destination Toledo, wrapped up its seventh year in June. The pizza passport is taking its first outing in 2026.

The Blade decided to host a pizza-focused tasting event after seeing the success of the one run by its sister paper, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Ms. Pacheco said.

“They sell out every year with 20-plus restaurants,” she added.

In the Toledo area, “there are so many great restaurants that offer pizza and [we] thought it would be great to try it here,” she said.

Owners of some of the participating restaurants said the passport program will further spread the word about their businesses.

Lyndsy Miller, who has owned Amie’s Pizza Factory, 6710 W. Central Ave., for two years, said it will be interesting to see how people react. For example, if one customer has a passport and another doesn’t, the one who doesn’t will want to know how to get one, she said.

“It’s an extra way to remind people that I’m here,” she said. “The restaurant has been here for 25 years. This old place has got the goods.”

Among them, she said, are the shop’s top sellers: the Factory Favorite pizza with pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, onions, green peppers, beef, ham, and bacon, and a pie with special sauce, spinach, chicken, tomatoes, red onions, and garlic butter that won Amie’s the top prize in a pizza challenge.

Because they don’t serve single slices, Ms. Miller said Amie’s is offering a personal 4-inch pizza with up to two toppings for the pizza passport tour.

At Half Time Pizza, 7702 W. Bancroft St., co-owner Rachel Snyder said she wants passport holders to “get a taste of us” via a 6-inch personal cheese or pepperoni pizza.

Their full menu features 40 specialty pizzas and three make-your-own varieties. The pizzeria has been open for six years, launching just before the pandemic.

“We were able to make it through COVID,” she said. “We survived with window service.”

And the restaurant has been racking up awards at local pizza competitions ever since.

“We’ve done Pizza Palooza in Sylvania at the Centennial Terrace, 2022, 2023, and 2024, and won some awards at each one,” Ms. Snyder said. “We are very local and like to be with people through word of mouth.”

She and co-owner Abraham Valle decided to do the Toledo Pizza Passport because they “wanted to get people talking in some way other than just online or on Facebook.”

How it works

Pittsburgh’s Pizza Passport for 2026 launches Feb. 9 on National Pizza Day and will run for 10 weeks with 22 participating restaurants. Passports cost $50.

In Toledo, pizza lovers can start getting their passports stamped Jan. 12 and have through Feb. 27 to get to all 10 locations. That’s seven weeks of deliciousness for just $25.

“Passport books have a dedicated page for each restaurant on the tour, including the location(s), and times when passport holders can visit,” according to the event website.

Among the passport offerings, Home Slice Pizza, 28 S. St. Clair St., has “your choice of any pizza slice available on day of visit.” At M Osteria Pizza + Bar, 511 Monroe St., passport holders will get two slices of Margherita pizza. Zia’s Restaurant, 20 Main St., will give one personal pizza with a choice of pepperoni, Margherita, or Vegetali. And cheesy garlic bread is the free item at the Pizza Cat at 1801 N. McCord Rd.

Drinks aren’t included and can be purchased separately, as can any other item on the restaurants’ menus. There aren’t any age restrictions, but each person, young, old, or in-between, needs his, her, or their own passport.

To order one or find more information, head to theblade.com/​pizzapassport. Be sure to check event hours as they may differ from each restaurant’s normal operating hours.

As an added incentive, passport holders who are at least 18 years old can scan a QR code at each restaurant and enter to win a Gozney Roccbox outdoor pizza oven valued at $500.

The pizza oven is being donated by Ace of Sylvania, Ms. Pacheco said.

Contact Felicia Mason at

fmason@theblade.com