Did you know Winston-Salem is home to a nationally acclaimed pizza restaurant? Owned by Peyton Smith, Mission Pizza Napoletana ranked on Top 50 Pizza USA’s list for the 4th year in a row!
July 24, 2024

Owner and founder Peyton Smith first encountered authentic Neapolitan pizza in Naples two decades ago and was blown away by the experience.
In 2010, he began catering private events and parties using a trailer with a wood-fired oven. Four years later, Smith purchased a building in Winston-Salem’s Arts District and opened Mission Pizza Napoletana (MPN).
Since opening, the restaurant has received recognition several times.
- The Daily Meal listed the pizza restaurant among the Top 101 Pizza Places in America in 2019
- Food & Wine wrote that it had the best pizza in North Carolina in 2021
- Most recently, Smith himself was a semifinalist for the James Beard Award for Best Chef Southeast in 2022
Our team had the opportunity to interview Smith and learn more about the restaurant – and Smith himself. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Why Base Mission Pizza Napoletana in Winston-Salem?
The thing is, I’m from Winston-Salem. A person who’s not from here would never open this restaurant here.
This is in no way, shape, or form an attempt to be self-aggrandizing, but if I was doing this in the West Village of New York City, it would be stupid what my career would look like, the opportunities that would come my way, the money I would have in my pocket.
But my life is so rich here: I have a remarkable amount of personal and professional freedom. It’s insane for me to say that I want or need some other type of status that I’m gonna go after.
What were your initial goals for Mission Pizza Napoletana?
When I built this business, my business plan said that we would be the best restaurant in Winston-Salem and make the best pizza in North Carolina. I think there’s something powerful [about making a plan]…if I say it out loud I have to live up to it.
Those goals have never changed and are impossible to define. They are more about the process, the mindset, and the foundational objective. I might say being the best restaurant in Winston-Salem means XYZ. Other people will say they don’t agree with those criteria. That’s the funky thing about it.
The goals were necessary for me, especially doing something I had never done before.
Imagine it’s someone’s first time here. What should they order?
They should forget about the menu. They should let us know if they absolutely hate an ingredient on their pizza and how hungry they are – like level one, two, or three hungry – and then we’ll just bring them food.
What is the “pizzakase” experience listed on the menu?
I was with my brother at the bar, and I was like, “Why don’t we just go to work tomorrow, have candlelight only, put 10 people at the counter, and do a pizza omakase – a pizzakase?”
It’s fun because we get to do what we want, whatever enthuses us. A person might say they were in Tokyo last week, so I make them a Tokyo-style pizza. I can interact with them and they can ask questions.
Editor’s note: Omakase is a Japanese term that literally means “I’ll leave it to you.” It’s a form of Japanese sushi dining where diners leave the details of what they’re eating up to the chef.
What are your thoughts about putting ranch on pizza?
I think people learned to put ranch on pizza when they were in 5th grade eating school pizza and/or Papa Johns. Those pizzas objectively suck. They’re made with the worst ingredients, they’re prepared in the worst possible way by people who are not experts. So, for an adult to go into a high-performing establishment and say let me put ranch on this pizza…
Ranch has a place in the world, but it will not exist in this establishment.
What are your plans for the future?
The next step in my life is to transition my business so that one or two of these guys who have been with me forever can take over this business.
Diners can try Misson Pizza Napoletana’s incredible food at 707 Trade St NW on Wed-Thurs from 5-9 PM and Fri-Sat from 5-10 PM.
On a mission to try all the pizza Winston-Salem has to offer? Check out our pizza place guide!